In a feat of flying finesse, a pilot managed to land his small, two seater aircraft in the black of night in a cornfield east of Sarnia around 11pm Thursday night.
St. Clair Fire Chief Walt Anderson says they, along with Sarnia Fire and Rescue, Sarnia Police and Lambton OPP responded to an area between Waubuno Rd. and Telfer Rd. off Plank Rd. following calls from eyewitnesses.
Firefighter Dustin Cope was on top of the 115 ft ladder on the Brigden aerial truck, trying to spot something with their infrared camera. When he turned around, he spotted a light out in the field.
"The pilot amazingly seemed fairly calm," says Chief Anderson. "He had gotten out, and when he heard people, he climbed on top the plane with a flashlight, trying to get their attention. The guys on top of the aerial truck could see the flashlight and that helped a lot. He seemed relatively good and walked out with the guys through a couple of cornfields to Lambton EMS."
The plane, says Chief Anderson, came out virtually unscathed.
"The plane was intact. It went through the cornfield so it had a lot of corn wrapped around things, but it didn't appear to have any major damage," he says.
Chief Anderson says the pilot told them his plane sputtered, the engine conked out, came back and then stalled for good.
