LONGMONT — A single-engine propeller plane landed safely on Hover Street on Sunday evening, missing streetlights, trees and holiday traffic.
“This is absolutely amazing,” said Tim Barth, airport manager at Vance Brand Municipal Airport, as he noted the lights on both sides of Hover. “There is no wiggle room.”
According to Barth and Longmont police, the pilot – John Pritchard of Lafayette – and his teenage daughter had been flying back to Boulder from Plattsmouth, Neb., when their Piper Cherokee Archer II began to have engine trouble. Sgt. James Sawinska said the pilot got permission to divert to Vance Brand, then realized he wasn’t going to make it.
“He had a choice of the roadway or off to the side,” Sawinska said.
Mary Reynolds was leaving the Twin Peaks Mall parking lot around 5:25 p.m. when she saw the plane pass overhead.
“I thought, that is really low,” Reynolds said.
Will Elwood, who was home from Montana State University in Bozeman, was in the Target parking lot with his father, Rob, when they also saw the plane — though they didn’t hear it, Will Elwood said, since the engine was off.
“We drove out to find it … and realized he’d landed on the road,” he said. “He didn’t cause an accident or anything. It was really impressive.”
“There’s a whole lot of things that could have gone wrong,” agreed Community Service Officer Steve Sisson, of the police department’s traffic unit.
The plane landed near Rogers Road, facing north. The Elwoods helped push the plane to the Roger’s Grove parking lot, to get it out of the way of traffic.
Traffic was briefly backed up on Hover but began moving in both directions again soon after the landing.
Longmont Police dispatch estimated the landing at 5:27 p.m. Police contacted Barth and the Federal Aviation Administration. No one was injured in the landing.
The cause of the engine failure is not yet known. The Piper had taken off at 2:15 p.m. CST.
An Air West Flight Center mechanic was called to the scene to tow the plane to Vance Brand, by way of Ninth Avenue.
The pilot declined to comment on the landing.
Scott Rochat can be reached at 303-684-5220 or srochat@times-call.com.
