BRUNSWICK — A small private plane made an emergency landing at Brunswick Naval Air Station on Wednesday morning, Nov. 11, after experiencing loss of power.

James Jordan, of Bangor, took off from Bangor International Airport en route to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire in his Cessna
172 single-engine plane for a business meeting on Wednesday morning. About 50 minutes into his flight his engine critically failed at 4,500 feet.

“I think I blew one of the cylinders,” Jordan said.

He notified air traffic control at Bangor that he intended to land at Portland International Jetport. Then, he changed plans again as the situation became more severe.

“I didn’t think I could make it to Portland,” Jordan said. “I already had a visual (sighting) on Brunswick, and called the tower to tell them that I was going to divert and make an emergency landing there.”

The base Fire Department sent out two crash trucks and an ambulance, plus patrol cars from base security. Jordan, an experienced pilot with nearly 3,000 hours flying time, safely landed the plane just after 7:30 a.m.

Advertisement

“This a normal operational procedure for any emergency landing,” base security officer John Lippolis said. “But, because it was an unscheduled landing, we inspected the aircraft, just like we inspect any vehicle coming through a base gate, cleared it and turned it over to the tower and base air operations.”

Cmdr. Dave Ivezic, BNAS air operations officer, commended his sailors and staff for their performance.

“We provided the airman what he needed,” Ivezic said. “The staff did a fine job supporting an airman in distress.”

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: