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Thread: Unplanned landing on lake shore drive 1

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    2,575

    Unplanned landing on lake shore drive 1

    I just saw an Oshkosh related story in the news. A couple from Ohio had rented a Ercoupe, they fly out of Ohio State, and flew up and spend a great week camping with the plane at Oshkosh, what could be better or more romantic when you are a young couple, long as you don't demand too much luxury in the toilet department.
    They were on their way back, a 5 hour flight, weather was good , and made a stop for fuel, all was good. As they neared Chicago the pilot felt a loss of power as the rpms dropped with the fixes pitch prop. He opened the throttle, but didn't get any more power, he knew they had fuel and the engine was running but not much power. He found the tower frequency at Chicago Midway, but it was 6 miles away, but the controller was alert and asked if the could make Lake Shore Drive? That's the scenic freeway that runs 20 miles around the lake, and was, as usual full of traffic. They could not climb over a bridge so went under it and a small miracle landed cleanly on the road without touching a car or any damage, braking to a stop in about 400 feet.
    All were fine, the plane was towed to Midway were FAA examination revealed the throttle cable housing had come loosed in the engine compartment so when the pilot opened the throttle it was slack at the carburetor so did not add power.
    A happy ending and they are back flying again. It might have been nice if Mayor Daley had not ruined Meigs airport the was right there on the lake for so many decades.
    And one other thing, the pilot said he recalled Bob Hoover saying if faced with an emergency keep flying as long as you can right to the ground under your best control.
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 11-29-2018 at 09:31 AM.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    918
    The most astounding detail was landing on LSD and NOT hitting a car. Every time I'm on it the thing is a parking lot. It did make all the news back then. Glad they were OK.

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