TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

'Nothing Sinister' About Iraq-Bound Training Plane

Highlands Today photo by DOUG CARMAN

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

By BILLY TOWNSEND and DOUG CARMAN, The Tampa Tribune Highlands Today

Published: February 22, 2008

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 Defense Department'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 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.

New Engine Cut Out

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."

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

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

"It's nothing more than a training plane," he said. "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."

Headed For Kirkuk, Report Says

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

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

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

According to an Air Force publication in October, 12 Cessna 172 aircraft would be deployed to Kirkuk 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 has changed little in 50 years, Oliver said. "They're all over the place. We've probably sold tens of thousands of them."

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

Editor's note: The Cessna company has produced about 40,000 model 172 airplanes, also known as Skyhawks. An earlier version of this story had a misleading number.

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT