Did you know that as a result of the fires / tower closure / poor pilot
judgement, a Mooney crash landed at Montgomery, or I should say, on the
freeway just west of the runway. Plane cartwheeled a few times per
witenesses, burst into flames, but the pilot walked away with no injuries!

Initial talk says the pilot was landing with a tailwind that had to have
been 20 kts at Montgomery (with a closed Tower) realized he wasn't going to
be able to land and stop with useable runway leftover so he initiated an
emergency go-around. Pilot was quoted saying the airplane just would not get
any lift on the go-around and so he "put it down" on the freeway albeit not
to gracefully.
Initial reporters were stating that he was attempting the landing with the
known tailwind so he could use the ILS for 28R. Obviously the reported and
the pilot in this case didn't know about a backcourse? Hmmm.

Should be interesting to read the reports on this when they are done..

JB


"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
From a TV news broadcast:

It appears that forest fires have forced the evacuation of SoCal
TRACON and Montgomery Field Tower. LA Center is handling LAX traffic.