Me in the News
Student Pilot Makes Safe Landing
By Casey Hicks
August 7, 2008Berkeley Byers was only two weeks into his training as a glider pilot when he had to make an emergency landing near State College, Pa.
Byers, 18, of Wheeling was on his first flight without an instructor at the Ridge Soaring Gliderport in Julian, Pa. Another pilot, Duane Callaghan, was towing the Grob 103 glider when his Piper Pawnee’s engine lost power.
The flight seemed normal to Byers for the first 100 feet, but then he noticed slack in the tow-line. The rope pulled taut, and Callaghan signaled to Byers to release himself from the tow to avoid collision.
“I thought it was it was a test of emergency procedures for several seconds,” Byers said, but he soon could tell that something was wrong with Callaghan’s plane.
After a sinking moment of realization, Byers remembered his training. His plane was too low to safely turn around and make it back to the gliderport. His only option was to keep going straight and land.
“I remembered hearing the pilots talk about how corn was soft, and gliders usually hardly damaged if an inexperienced pilot overshot the runway into it” he said.
Byers brought his plane down safely in a cornfield causing no damage to his glider. Without power to his Piper Pawnee, Callaghan landed in a nearby field and caused some damage to his plane. Neither pilot was injured.
Byers credits his instructor, Tom Knauff, for preparing him so thoroughly for emergencies. The calm Byers felt surprised even himself.
“It’s lucky I knew what to do,” he said.
The accident did little to shake Byers’ love of flying. He is a chief master sergeant in his Civil Air Patrol unit, and he hopes to one day earn his private pilot license.
“I would love to fly again,” he said. “It’s impossible to see an accident like this coming.”
Byers is a recent graduate of The Linsly School, and he plans to attend West Virginia University in the fall to study political science.