PA16 Clipper landed on Golf Course
XDgb14· 7 mrt
March 4, 2008
What do you do when your son is late to a tennis tuneup and team tryouts are two days away?
A Lake Villa man hopped in his Piper Clipper airplane Saturday, breezed above the congested roads and landed at a golf course across a highway from the tennis club, where skis on the underside of his four-seater glided across the snow-covered fairway.
Police received worried calls about a plane circling twice, then touching down at the Crane's Landing golf course at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort. Officials thought they might have a crash, with victims to attend to
Instead, they found Robert Kadera, 65, and his 14-year-old son trudging through the snow, Prince racket and a bag of tennis balls in hand. They had parked on the 7th fairway, just 20 feet south of the retaining wall for Illinois Highway 22.
"We're all pretty dumbfounded," Lincolnshire Police Chief Randy Melvin said Monday. "I don't have any idea what the guy was thinking. ..... He was going to park his plane across the street like nobody would notice."
Police are investigating the possibility of charges, which at the minimum could include trespassing, he said. Kadera didn't ask Marriott Lincolnshire for permission to land at the golf course, Melvin said.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that it is investigating the incident, which occurred at about 1:50 p.m. The FAA "will look at what happened and why," said spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.
It will review the pilot's certification, whether rules of flight were followed and whether the aircraft was properly maintained, she said. The FAA could impose civil penalties that could result in revoking the pilot's certification, she said.
Lincolnshire police told Kadera he could not fly the plane home and had to hire a towing service to move it. Ultimately, a crane lifted the plane onto a truck during a seven-hour ordeal Saturday.
"We've towed planes before, but not under these circumstances," said Marcy Vole, manager at Ernie's Wrecker Service in Vernon Hills.
On Monday, Kadera, an electrical engineer and Navy veteran, disassembled the plane at Ernie's so that he could transport it home.
Kadera said he didn't want to discuss the particulars of what happened because of potential charges against him. His son, Isaac, a sophomore at Carmel High School in Mundelein, was on his way Monday afternoon to try out for the junior-varsity tennis team.
He said by phone that on Saturday he was running late for a tennis date with a friend at The Lincolnshire Club, which is across the road from the Marriott resort.
He was scheduled to meet his friend at 2 p.m. and was running late when his dad came up with a suggestion: Rather than taking 45 minutes to drive from their Lake Villa home, the pair could fly in the family's 1949 Clipper and make it in 10 to 15 minutes, Isaac said.
His father, who has about 40 years flying experience, had outfitted the plane with skis. Kadera said he had quick access to the plane because he has parked it this winter on frozen Deep Lake, near their home.
Saturday the duo tried to land twice, unsuccessfully, before coming to a stop at Crane's Landing. "I wasn't really scared. My dad's a good pilot," said Isaac.
He never made it to his match, and without his friend's cell number, was unable to tell him why. At school Monday, friends treated the tale of a plane landing on a golf course and subsequent police action as an outlandish excuse, he said.
"I left my friend hanging," Isaac said. "He still doesn't believe me when I told him why."
Bron
1 REACTIEWhat do you do when your son is late to a tennis tuneup and team tryouts are two days away?
A Lake Villa man hopped in his Piper Clipper airplane Saturday, breezed above the congested roads and landed at a golf course across a highway from the tennis club, where skis on the underside of his four-seater glided across the snow-covered fairway.
Police received worried calls about a plane circling twice, then touching down at the Crane's Landing golf course at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort. Officials thought they might have a crash, with victims to attend to
Instead, they found Robert Kadera, 65, and his 14-year-old son trudging through the snow, Prince racket and a bag of tennis balls in hand. They had parked on the 7th fairway, just 20 feet south of the retaining wall for Illinois Highway 22.
"We're all pretty dumbfounded," Lincolnshire Police Chief Randy Melvin said Monday. "I don't have any idea what the guy was thinking. ..... He was going to park his plane across the street like nobody would notice."
Police are investigating the possibility of charges, which at the minimum could include trespassing, he said. Kadera didn't ask Marriott Lincolnshire for permission to land at the golf course, Melvin said.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that it is investigating the incident, which occurred at about 1:50 p.m. The FAA "will look at what happened and why," said spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.
It will review the pilot's certification, whether rules of flight were followed and whether the aircraft was properly maintained, she said. The FAA could impose civil penalties that could result in revoking the pilot's certification, she said.
Lincolnshire police told Kadera he could not fly the plane home and had to hire a towing service to move it. Ultimately, a crane lifted the plane onto a truck during a seven-hour ordeal Saturday.
"We've towed planes before, but not under these circumstances," said Marcy Vole, manager at Ernie's Wrecker Service in Vernon Hills.
On Monday, Kadera, an electrical engineer and Navy veteran, disassembled the plane at Ernie's so that he could transport it home.
Kadera said he didn't want to discuss the particulars of what happened because of potential charges against him. His son, Isaac, a sophomore at Carmel High School in Mundelein, was on his way Monday afternoon to try out for the junior-varsity tennis team.
He said by phone that on Saturday he was running late for a tennis date with a friend at The Lincolnshire Club, which is across the road from the Marriott resort.
He was scheduled to meet his friend at 2 p.m. and was running late when his dad came up with a suggestion: Rather than taking 45 minutes to drive from their Lake Villa home, the pair could fly in the family's 1949 Clipper and make it in 10 to 15 minutes, Isaac said.
His father, who has about 40 years flying experience, had outfitted the plane with skis. Kadera said he had quick access to the plane because he has parked it this winter on frozen Deep Lake, near their home.
Saturday the duo tried to land twice, unsuccessfully, before coming to a stop at Crane's Landing. "I wasn't really scared. My dad's a good pilot," said Isaac.
He never made it to his match, and without his friend's cell number, was unable to tell him why. At school Monday, friends treated the tale of a plane landing on a golf course and subsequent police action as an outlandish excuse, he said.
"I left my friend hanging," Isaac said. "He still doesn't believe me when I told him why."
Bron
PH-FLY· 7 mrtHm, beetje decadent! :rolleyes:
7 mrt