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Skowhegan Pilot Avoids Injury After Landing in the Woods

July 15, 2009 - CHESTERVILLE — A Skowhegan man piloting a single-engine float plane escaped injury when he was forced to make a crash landing in a remote area in Chesterville near the Vienna town line Tuesday.

The pilot, Parker H. Tyler, 62, of Skowhegan, was able to get out of the plane and walk about 400 feet through a brushy, wooded area to Egypt Pond Road. From there, he flagged down a passerby for help, according to Franklin County officials.

Tyler, a longtime pilot, rents a hangar at Central Maine Regional Airport in Norridgewock, according to Mike Willey, a member of the airport's advisory board. He said Tyler is an experienced pilot and took off from the Norridgewock field earlier in the day, but Willey did not know his destination.

"The most significant thing about all this is how well the emergency-locator transponder worked," Willey said.

The beacon, now required in all light aircraft, activates on impact. The signal is picked up by a satellite-aided tracking system used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that pinpoints a distress location within the United States or its surrounding waters, according to NOAA.

The information is relayed to NOAA's Satellite Operations Center in Suitland, Md., and then is sent to a rescue coordination center operated either by the U.S. Air Force for land rescues or U.S. Coast Guard for water rescues.

The Air Force picked up the signal from Tyler's plane, contacted the Maine State Police dispatch center in Gray, and the call was relayed to the Franklin County dispatch center, officials said.

By that time, firefighters and police were already on the scene.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash and inspectors are expected on the scene this morning, according to Franklin County Sheriff Dennis Pike.

Tyler could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but Willey said airport personnel had gone to pick him up and bring him home.

NorthStar Ambulance treated Tyler at the scene, but he declined to be taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.

By BETTY JESPERSEN, Morning Sentinel July 15, 2009


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