Plane lands on freeway [Archive]

vapilot2004

14th Oct 2006, 09:12

Miami Herald had this:

Governor candidate lands plane on I-4Reform Party gubernatorial candidate Max Linn suffered minor injuries after emergency landing in the plane he was piloting.
ORLANDO - (AP) -- Reform Party gubernatorial candidate Max Linn landed his small plane on Interstate 4 near downtown Friday and was taken to the hospital, a campaign spokeswoman said.

Linn, a former flight instructor from St. Petersburg, was the only one aboard the Cessna 172, campaign officials said.

He was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center and expected to be kept overnight, but the injuries were not life-threatening, campaign assistant Nora Wing said.

Tom Macklin, Linn's running mate, said Linn left St. Petersburg for the roughly 100-mile trip to Orlando at about 12:30 p.m., but made an unexpected landing in Lakeland after experiencing trouble. The plane was looked at there, about halfway to Orlando, and Linn continued flying at about 1 p.m., Macklin said.

Macklin said Linn's plane experienced engine trouble or failure about 45 minutes later, forcing him to land on the interstate. The plane appeared to have landed on its wheels and did not suffer extensive body damage.

Linn owns a plane, but was flying one leased from St. Petersburg-based Bay Air Flying Service because his was in the shop, Macklin said.

The owner of Bay Air was flying to Orlando and did not immediately return a telephone message.

Macklin said he still hadn't been able to talk with Linn, but some other campaign staff had. He said they were concerned he was still being treated in the trauma unit, but continued to believe he would recover quickly.

Macklin said Linn had a degree in aviation from Louisiana Tech and was an experienced pilot.

''Having flown with Max, I know that as we have flown across the state of Florida we're always looking for potential landing sites, given the fact that anything can happen,'' he said.

The incident closed a lane of the major east-west interstate for an hour, according to police dispatch reports. Crews were able to push the plane into the median.

Linn rarely flies alone, campaign spokeswoman Liz McCallum said. She didn't know why he was on the plane by himself Friday.

Before running for governor as a third party candidate, Linn was known in Florida political circles as a campaigner for term limits.