Back to the previous page
OCEAN SPRINGS - A small airplane made a forced landing on U.S. 90 a half mile west of Mississippi 57 during peak traffic time at 5:20 p.m. Saturday. There were no injuries or property damage.
The spectacular landing was made by pilot Parker Rhett of 318 Fairview Drive, Biloxi. Rhett and his passengers, David Allen and David Kooienga, both of Ocean Springs, were on a return flight from Atlanta, Ga.
Ocean Springs police, assisted by the Jackson County Sheriff s Department and Ocean Springs firemen, closed U.S. 90 until a mechanic was brought to the scene and repaired the engine, which enabled Parker to make a successful take off from the highway. Capt. Kerry Belk of the Ocean Springs Police Department said Parker flew the airplane from U.S. 90 to the Old Ocean Springs Airport on Government Street.
Belk said one of the three occupants of the airplane attributed the safe landing to the landing speed of the airplane being about the same as that of the vehicles on the highway below.
Belk said the specific problems that caused the Beechcraft Sierra's engine to lose power were not known Saturday night. He said the mechanic was able to make enough repairs to put the airplane back into the air within 45 minutes.
