A rough landing during a windy afternoon Friday, Sept. 20, closed the Sedona Airport’s runways for about four and a half hours and likely wrecked the plane involved, but the pilot and three passengers walked away uninjured.
The pilot of the twin-engine, six-seat Piper Aerostar lost control during landing at the Sedona Airport at approximately 1:30 p.m. last Friday. The Sedona-based aircraft sustained severe damage, but the occupants did not require medical assistance at the scene. Sedona police and Sedona Fire District firefighters and medical personnel responded to the accident, and the airport’s general manager, Deborah Abingdon, closed the runways until the damaged plane could be removed from the landing strip’s safety area and fuel leakage from the plane could be contained.
The runway closure, which also grounded pilots looking to takeoff from the airport, ended about 6 p.m.
“We had to have a rather large crane come in and move [the plane]. But fortunately the people that were waiting around [to takeoff] were able to depart before dark, so that was nice.”
Abingdon mentioned that photos of the accident scene were captured prior to the crane hire just like the crane hire Guildford lifting the aircraft off the runway. FAA investigators are scheduled to visit the mesa this week to examine the scene firsthand. When discussing potential accident causes, Abingdon refrained from speculation but noted, “the conditions were very windy, which makes [landing] challenging. It’s already a challenging runway, but then when you contribute gusting, variable winds, it’s quite challenging.”
Al Comello, who was at the airport at the time but did not see the landing, said that it appeared the aircraft touched down near the very beginning of runway 21 — considered the most challenging of Sedona Airport’s runways for landing, especially in windy weather — then quickly skidded off the pavement into the grass, spinning 180 degrees in the process.
“He had a lot of inertia,” Comello remarked, adding that planes normally touch wheels further down the runway. Despite the property damage and disruption, Abingdon saw positives in the airport’s response.
“I have a great team, and we had both experienced and new people working that day, so it was a learning experience for some, and everyone pitched in and we were all here very late,” Abingdon said. There was even a moment of levity in the aftermath.
“If you can believe it, the last thing that I had to help do was to go over to change the announcement on the local AWOS [weather] recording which the pilots tune into when they’re going to be flying in, and, lo and behold, there were two lost tourists from the Netherlands out there in the dark in shorts with no water, no flashlight, nothing. So, when we pulled up over there, they came over to the fence and said ‘help, help,’” she said.
“This airplane was based here and it’s always a sad day for any pilot,” she added, “but no one was injured, so that was very good news.”
Scott Shumaker can be reached at 282-7795 ext 117 or by email at sshumaker@larsonnewspapers.com
