| Area Pilot makes emergency landing on Plano, Texas golf course |
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| Monday, 02 February 2009 00:00 | |||
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PLANO - A 24 year-old Arthur City man made a forced landing on a Plano, Texas golf course Thursday afternoon, when the engine on his Cessna 172 aircraft quit. According to the Plano Star, Lance Sparks walked away without injury and no one on the Prestonwood Country Club was injured. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, Sparks' 1964 Cessna 172 aircraft, which seats four persons, is registered to Christopher Lance Sparks, whose address is listed as 1303 South F. Street in Hugo, Okla. FAA medical records list his address as County Road #134, Arthur City, Texas. Plano Star reporter Stephanie Flemmons quoted Sparks as saying that his aircraft started experiencing engine problems and he tried to re-start the engine without success. "You can still fly a plane without an engine," Sparks told Flemmons, "just not very far." Sparks said the accident did not shake his confidence in flying and that he would be back in the air as soon as possible. The FAA listed the matter as an "incident" on their official website and attributed the cause of the forced landing to engine failure. Their report indicated that Sparks was alone in the aircraft at the time of the landing. Photos of the aircraft published by the Plano Star (http://www.planostar.com) indicate the plane suffered only minor damage to the right wingtip, and ended up nose down in a sand trap on the golf course. A video posted on the newspaper's website indicated that surface winds were very gusty after the landing.
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