On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 06:51:18 GMT, wrote in
Message-Id: :

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.

No.

Plane cartwheeled a few times per
witenesses, burst into flames, but the pilot walked away with no injuries!

Fortune can be merciful occasionally.

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.

There's something wrong with that explanation. If the aircraft had
not yet landed, it would only require the application of full throttle
to continue to sustain it in the air. A climb might be difficult (but
possible) under such conditions if full flaps were extended.

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.

It would be interesting to know what other landing options were open
to the pilot at that time, and what lead him/her to choose a downwind
landing at a closed field.

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

Agreed. The first report will likely appear he
http://www2.faa.gov/avr/aai/iirform.htm . Later he
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp#query_start

I find nothing on either web site about the accident you mention yet.

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.