Pilot unhurt after hard landing
<p><strong>Joe Angle</strong> had to make an emergency hard landing in his experimental plane Tuesday morning after having engine trouble while taking off from the Kalispell City Airport. Angle was not injured in the crash. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
A Kalispell pilot was uninjured after making a hard landing at the Kalispell City Airport Tuesday morning.
At about 9:45 a.m., Joe Angle was taking off in his small experimental plane, the Challenger II. He was only about 200 feet off the ground, however, when his engine quit, a mishap he found to be the result of a spark plug popping out.
“I had lots of decisions to make and not a lot of time to make them,” Angle said.
Angle tried to put the plane back down on Airport Way, a small, mostly dirt-and-gravel road that crosses past the south end of the runway, and managed to land it just off the road, facing north.
“I didn’t quite make it to the road,” he said.
He estimated the entire time from takeoff to the hard landing was only about 45 seconds.
While Angle was uninjured, his plane suffered from the landing. The nose gear was torn off, the landing gear broke and an elevator was damaged. He was the only occupant.
“Most of it is pretty fixable, I think, it’s just a matter of coming up with the money. I imagine I’ll have to do some engine work, too,” he said, adding jokingly that “donations are welcome.”
Angle has been a licensed pilot since 1997 and said he had never had to make such a landing before. His Tuesday morning plans had been to take the plane out for a joyride after recently having readjusted the plane’s propeller.
“It was a beautiful morning for it,” he said.
The incident will be reported to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.