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MYSTERY SOLVED Grounded Plane Was Not From Iraqi Air Force

Was Bound For Iraq, Though

Doug Carman/Highlands Today

Officials with the Highlands County Sheriffs Office and the Federal Aviation Administration investigate a single-engine plane Thursday afternoon after it landed in Venus Wednesday.

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By Douglas  Carman | Highlands Today
and BILLY TOWNSEND | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2008

Updated: 02/21/2008 07:53 pm

'Iraqi' Plane Lands In Fla. Photo Gallery

Iraqi Plane In Highlands Is Training Aircraft, Officials Say

By BILLY TOWNSEND

The Tampa Tribune

And DOUG CARMAN

Highlands Today

VENUS An airplane labeled Iraqi Air Force made an emergency landing on a rural central Florida highway — near a town called Venus, no less.

The rest of the story, though, may be less interesting than the setup.

The plane was a common Cessna 172 Skyhawk, bound for Iraq to be used as a trainer through the Department of Defense's Foreign Military Sales program, said Doug Oliver, a spokesman with Cessna, the aircraft's Wichita, Kan.-based owner and manufacturer.

It made an uneventful landing about 4 p.m. on County Road 731 in remote southern Highlands County, said Capt. Randy LaBelle of the Highlands County Sheriff's Office.

The pilot, calm and uninjured, was taken to Sebring Regional Airport, where he was picked up by an airplane. His name was not available.

Eyewitness Ron Jones said he was driving along County Road 731 on his way to Venice about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday when he saw the plane blocking the road.

The pilot told him the downed plane was with two other planes that continued toward Miami, Jones said.

"He was not shaking, he was just, 'No big deal,' " Jones said.

The plane had just received a new engine in Miami, flew to an airport in the Tampa area for a paint job, and was headed back to Miami when the new engine cut out, Oliver said.

The markings on the plane did worry Jones a bit.

"There was something not normal," he said. "To see 'Iraqi Air Force' on it was pretty odd."

On the fuselage was stenciled "YI-138," identifying the plane as Iraqi, and an Iraq emblem.

Later, all markings were covered with foil and paper — probably, Oliver said, by the pilot, to "keep people from panicking, but it didn't do any good."

He said, "It's nothing more than a training plane. There's nothing sinister about it."

Highlands Sheriff Susan Benton and her deputies had to contend with a few onlookers and a lot of news crews.

"We've worked plane crashes before," Benton said, "but nothing that has started out as a military secret event, then turned into a military contractor testing out a plane.

"Early on, there was a real scurry."

The plane was guarded by a single sheriff's deputy until Cessna employees arrived at 3 p.m. to begin disassembling the plane by the side of the road.

An official from the Federal Aviation Administration also checked out the plane Thursday afternoon. He described it as a routine investigation but declined further comment.

Daryl Mayer, a spokesman for the Air Force's acquisitions division, confirmed that the Cessna was a part of the Foreign Military Sales program. He said the Air Force paid about $340,000 for the plane.

According to an October Air Force publication, 12 Cessna 172 aircraft would be deployed to Kirkuk for work as trainers at the newly created Iraqi Air Force Flying Training School.

Upon its return to Miami, the Air Force would have inspected the plane, broken it down and shipped it in a container to Iraq.

The Skyhawk is widely used as a trainer and has a design that's changed little in 50 years, Oliver said. "They're all over the place. We've probably sold 10,000 of them."

He added, "If the writing said "Canadian Air Force," I don't know if anyone would have noticed."

Reporter Billy Townsend of The Tampa Tribune contributed to this report. He can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.

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