NAPA; Pilot and Two Pals Walk Away from Crash Landing

May 29, 2007
Three friends took off from Concord's Buchanan Field for a day of salmon fishing and crabbing in Humboldt County

Ten minutes after taking off and 4,000 feet above Napa County, Norman Pease realized that something was seriously wrong with his single-engine Cessna 206.

Pease and his two passengers had taken off Monday morning from Concord's Buchanan Field at 7:15 for a day of salmon fishing and crabbing in Humboldt County.

"All of a sudden, there was this huge vibration like I've never felt before," Peace, a rancher from Orinda with 38 years of piloting experience, told The Chronicle hours after crash-landing in a muddy marsh 4 miles southwest of the Napa County Airport.

"Then we began to lose power and began dropping altitude," the 69-year-old pilot said.

He turned to his two passengers -- Otis McCain, 72 of Lafayette and Kenneth Crain, 84 of Orinda -- and began brainstorming about what to do next.

Even though he is an experienced pilot, three heads, in this case, were better than one. Pease radioed for help, while the three hoped the vibrating would stop.

"It was going to be a good day, but it didn't work out that way," said Pease.

At first, he couldn't get through on an emergency radio frequency, then he finally reached the Concord tower. They asked how much fuel and how many passengers he was carrying.

"I just wanted them to give me a heading to Napa," Pease said. "They gave me Travis. I wish they'd told me to tighten my seat belt."

He thought he could make it to the Napa County Airport for an emergency landing. But the plane was losing power too quickly. It was clear the Cessna wasn't going to make it to any runway. Pease's passengers kept an eye on the ground while Pease kept control of the disabled aircraft.

The only questions that remained were: Will it be a wet or dry landing? Will power lines or homes get in the way?

Slowly, the plane descended and Pease spotted a clearing -- but first he'd have to make it past a levee. The next thing he knew the plane touched down. Tall grasses whipped the plane's sides. Then: Crash!

The front landing gear hit a pothole and the Cessna flipped forward, coming to rest on its roof. McCain and Crain had their seat belts tight and walked away with bumps and bruises. Pease, whose seat belt was loose, bumped his head and fell on his seat belt which left him with a nasty bruise on his thigh. He needed two sets of stitches to close cuts on his head.

"I'm thankful we weren't more seriously injured," he said.

After climbing out of the upside down plane, the three men stood on the muddy marsh and called from their cell phones for help. Rescue crews from the Napa County Sheriff's Department arrived, treated their wounds at the scene and took them to Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa for observation. They were released late Monday afternoon.

Pease said he's ready to fly again. "Planes are good tools," he said.

And while Napa County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Chris Perry credited Pease with making a textbook emergency landing, Pease said he is upset that his favorite, newly upholstered plane is wrecked. The tail's bent. She's a goner, he said.

"It would've been textbook if the plane hadn't turned over," Pease said. "We were awful lucky to find a spot to set 'er down with no power lines."

As with all plane crashes, the Federal Aviation Administration will look into the accident.

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