Plane ran out of fuel
Aug 20, 2009
The Cessna 206 plane that landed on Masaka highway on Wednesday had run out of fuel, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The emergency landing was a result of “excessive fuel venting from a fuel cap exacerbated by unreasonably bad weather i
By Jude Kafuuma
The Cessna 206 plane that landed on Masaka highway on Wednesday had run out of fuel, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The emergency landing was a result of “excessive fuel venting from a fuel cap exacerbated by unreasonably bad weather in the area,†read a statement issued at Kampala Aero Club in Kajjansi yesterday.
At approximately 11:00am, the six-seater plane made what officials described as “a successful forced landing on the Masaka Roadâ€.
A team of CAA officials was immediately dispatched to the scene. It established that the aircraft was airworthy and that it was safe to take off from the road after refuelling. The director of the Kampala Aero Club Flight Training Centre, Captain Jeremy MCKelvie, flew the aircraft back to Kajjansi in the afternoon, using the road as a runway over a distance of about 300 metres.
The pilot who made the heroic landing, Captain Steven Considine, is a US citizen from Indiana with over 8,000 hours of flying experience in Uganda.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Political Science and a Masters in Sociology at Indiana State University before he became a pilot at the age of 35. Considine came to Uganda in November 2005 after working as a volunteer in constructing houses in the aftermath of the Katrina hurricane that hit California earlier that year.
The survivor-pilot, as he is called, is a chief flying instructor at Kampala Aero Club.
“I felt a sense of accomplishment that I did something most people cannot think of in such an emergency. What happened was a serious mechanical problem, the first in my 20-year flying experience,†he commented.
According to the director of aero club, there have not been any fatal accidents on domestic commercial aircrafts in the 15 years since in-land flights started in Uganda.
The Portuguese couple, Pedro and Fatima Lobo do Vale, who were travelling on the plane, left the country yesterday morning for Tanzania to continue with their Africa tour.
“If there had been no road to use as a runway, I would still have saved their lives by calmly landing the plane in an open space or in Mpanga forest,†a bemused Considine said.
The Cessna 206 plane that landed on Masaka highway on Wednesday had run out of fuel, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The emergency landing was a result of “excessive fuel venting from a fuel cap exacerbated by unreasonably bad weather in the area,†read a statement issued at Kampala Aero Club in Kajjansi yesterday.
At approximately 11:00am, the six-seater plane made what officials described as “a successful forced landing on the Masaka Roadâ€.
A team of CAA officials was immediately dispatched to the scene. It established that the aircraft was airworthy and that it was safe to take off from the road after refuelling. The director of the Kampala Aero Club Flight Training Centre, Captain Jeremy MCKelvie, flew the aircraft back to Kajjansi in the afternoon, using the road as a runway over a distance of about 300 metres.
The pilot who made the heroic landing, Captain Steven Considine, is a US citizen from Indiana with over 8,000 hours of flying experience in Uganda.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Political Science and a Masters in Sociology at Indiana State University before he became a pilot at the age of 35. Considine came to Uganda in November 2005 after working as a volunteer in constructing houses in the aftermath of the Katrina hurricane that hit California earlier that year.
The survivor-pilot, as he is called, is a chief flying instructor at Kampala Aero Club.
“I felt a sense of accomplishment that I did something most people cannot think of in such an emergency. What happened was a serious mechanical problem, the first in my 20-year flying experience,†he commented.
According to the director of aero club, there have not been any fatal accidents on domestic commercial aircrafts in the 15 years since in-land flights started in Uganda.
The Portuguese couple, Pedro and Fatima Lobo do Vale, who were travelling on the plane, left the country yesterday morning for Tanzania to continue with their Africa tour.
“If there had been no road to use as a runway, I would still have saved their lives by calmly landing the plane in an open space or in Mpanga forest,†a bemused Considine said.