Reno Fire Official Lands Safely On Interstate 80 In Nevada
Pilot, Three Passengers Uninjured In Emergency Landing
A Reno, Nevada Fire Department official was bringing three passengers back to Reno from a volunteer medical trip to Mexico when the Cessna 172 they
were flying developed engine trouble.
“I knew I had to land the plane,” said Joe DuRousseau, 60, of Sparks, the pilot. And the best option open to him was Interstate 80.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that DuRousseau positioned his airplane between the cars on the freeway, and landed after flying under (yes, that's
under) the Vista Boulevard overpass.
“I went to switch fuel tanks and it said there was 7.5 gallons left,” DuRousseau said. “Then the engine wouldn’t start and we had to land on the
freeway. Traffic was light and I picked a spot between traffic.”
Joan and Aimee Abittan and Tamara Anderson were DuRousseau's passengers at the time of the landing. They are part of a California-based non-profit
that provides medical services to rural villages in Mexico.
State highway officials closed I-80 for about an hour after the landing. The airplane, which had been converted to a taildragger, had a damaged
tailwheel and rudder as a result of the landing. It was pushed to the side of the road, which allowed the traffic to begin moving again, and a crew
later disassembled the plane, put it on a trailer, and take it to the airport.
The NTSB will investigate the incident.shari - 2-25-2010 at 08:09 AM
Strange weekend for the flying docs...our team here chose to play it safe and not fly in the poor weather for which I was glad...and the other
team...had quite an adventure...sure happy they landed safely.Woooosh - 2-25-2010 at 09:19 AM
any landing you walk away from is a good one. Glad they are all fine. Now they have to gorilla-glue the tail and rudders back on and get back to
saving lives.arrowhead - 2-25-2010 at 12:29 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by capt. mike
“I went to switch fuel tanks and it said there was 7.5 gallons left,” DuRousseau said. “Then the engine wouldn’t start and we had to land on the
freeway.
BS. He ran out of gas. Anybody that knows the fuel system of an old square-tailed 172 can tell you that. Read the longer articles. He headed for Reno,
but it was fogged-in. First the stopped at an airstrip south of Reno to wait. Then he took off and headed for Reno again. When he got to Reno it was
still fogged-in, so he headed for an outlyer airport Northeast of Reno. When he almost got there, they called and said Reno was clear, so he turned
around and headed back. Didn't have the fuel. When he says "the engine wouldn't start", that means he ran those tanks dry.Bajahowodd - 2-25-2010 at 01:53 PM
You may be absolutely right about pilot error. But, at least this time, there was a happy ending. Lesson learned, I hope.Barry A. - 2-25-2010 at 02:29 PM
----which is why you almost always "top your tanks" when on the ground on a long cross country trip with limited strips, or bad weather. No gas
available, no take off!!!
Thank goodness this had a relatively happy ending.
Barrycapt. mike - 2-25-2010 at 03:57 PM
Arrowhead is right on the $$ likely.
no one trusts the gas guages on light singles.
no such needle position that says 7.5 gals!! that's a joke.
they were lucky - and yes i bet ran em dry.
maybe a vapor lock or frozen water in the valve line when he switched. but too cold for vapor lock. might have had carb ice.
there is NO excuse for running a plane out of gas while in the air except if you are ferrying over an ocean!!
i trust my shadin fuel totalizer - it is right to a 10th of a gal and confirmed. but before i had that it was power setting and time via stop watch,
and always land with an hour in the tanks.
