Fire crews called to Zelie airport

By Jim Smith

Eagle Staff Writer

FRANKLIN TWP, Beaver County — Some anxious moments played out Sunday evening at the Zelienople Municipal Airport.

A distress call came in about 5:50 p.m. when the pilot of a light plane looked at the instrument panel and realized there was a problem.

“There was a malfunction of the landing gear,” said Chief Neal Nanna of the Harmony Volunteer Fire Company.

The landing gear would not properly deploy on the single-engine 1971 Piper Arrow. The 33-year-old pilot, Ross Edmondson of Sewickley, Allegheny County, would have to make an emergency landing.

“The plane will be landing, with the wheels up,” according to an initial call that came into the Butler County Communications Center.

Franklin Township firefighters and police in Beaver County were alerted. Harmony and Zelienople in Butler County were called in to assist.

Nanna set up fire crews at each end of the airport runway and positioned another crew in between.

“That way we could come in at any direction,” he said.

Emergency personnel waited for 15 minutes or so as Edmondson circled the airport, burning off as much fuel as possible before bringing the plane in for a landing.

The aircraft’s maximum fuel capacity is 50 gallons, The plane is one of several belonging to the Condor Aero Club, based at the Zelienople airport.

A club member. Edmondson was flying the two-man plane with a passenger, a student pilot, aboard.

When he finally made the decision to touch down, Edmondson gave the student a textbook lesson.

“It was a perfect belly landing,” Nanna said. “There were no problems.”

The plane was later hauled away to undergo a mechanic’s inspection.