Within a 1/4 of a mile of the airport, their plane was jolted by a Piper
Cadet which that literally wedged itself on top of their Cessna 152 as
seen in the photo. With no choice both pilots of the Cessna 152 and Piper
Cadet had to land their aircraft piggybacked. No one was hurt, but everyone
was a bit shaken by the experience.
The instructor reported "In my
40 years as a pilot, I've never been through anything like this, I thought
we had had it." The aircraft was landed on a grassy area just north of
the airport's single runway. "Blacktop causes sparks,"
Both pilots had been in contact with the airports Unicom station.
Van Gee said he heard the Piper's pilot, 19 year old Jay Perrin of Melbourne,
radio his position. "He called in and said he had a Cessna in sight." Minutes
later, Gee said he felt a jolt.
"We knew something was on top of us," Van Gee said.
"The nose wheel
of the other plane went through the windshield." The back wheels of Perrin's plane wedged in the sides of the Cessna. Perrin
was descending for landing, but he didn't notice the Cessna 152 flying
below him, officials said. " He must have been seeing another Cessna in
front of us," Gee said. With the other plane in tow, both landed and, "nobody
got even a scratch," Van Gee, 65, said. |