Cessna 210 flies fine with 5 foot of wing missing
Originally Posted by Jersey Evening Post 16 August 2005:
AN Irish pilot flew for nearly two hours with over five feet of the aircraft's left wing missing before diverting into Jersey on Friday afternoon.
An Airport stand-by was called at 4.50 pm when the pilot reported having difficulties, including no readings from his auxiliary fuel tank. However, that fuel tank which began the flight in the wing-tip was later found on the ground in Ireland. The plane landed safely at the Airport at 5.10 pm.
Remarkably, the pilot was able to fly and steer the five-seater Cessna 210 after it was reported to have struck the top of a tree shortly after take-off from the Brittas House airstrip, about 18 miles east of Shannon.
There were three passengers on board the Pacific Network Air craft, two of whom were understood to be engineers being taken to Lisbon to repair a Boeing 767 on the ground there.
Measurements taken today show that 5 ft 3 in were lost at the back of the wing and 4 ft 3 in at the front. Investigators from the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit are looking into what happened and a spokesman said that they had located debris from the private plane near the airstrip. It is also believed that the US Federal Aviation Authority may become involved, as the registration number N6593W is American.