Correction to my previous post: Mount Comfort's elevation is 862 ft. with a
5500 ft. x 100 ft. runway.

"Art Varrassi" wrote in message
...
According to the article posted below, the pilot reported that he was at
7000 feet when the engine stopped and that "he couldn't possibly make it
to the nearest airport, Mount Comfort, which was about seven miles away".
The elevation of Mount Comfort is 811 ft. with a 3,850 ft. x 100 ft.
runway.

Not to belittle his commendable job of putting the plane down safely, nor
to assume that I could do the same as easily, but it would seem to me that
7 miles from 7000 ft. would be within a reasonable gliding distance for
most GA aircraft, and to say that "he couldn't possibly make it" there
doesn't sound right to me. Even factoring in a delay to sort things out
and make some decisions and therefore starting a decent from 6000 ft.
direct to an airport 7 miles away would still seem more plausible to me
than trying to land on a highway during the day.

Anyone agree or disagree?

Art Varrassi
CP-ASEL

"Mike Proctor" wrote in message
t...
Carburetor ice? From the picture, it looks as if there was a fair
amount
of water vapor/fog in the air. IIRC, the temperature in that area was
ideal for carb ice formation.


Yep, according to this article:

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/1...3/detail.html#