Pawtucket, Rhode Island – July 22, 1978
On Friday, July 21, 1978, a 25-year-old transport pilot working for a Barnstable Massachusetts aviation company picked up a single-engine Beechcraft Musketeer at a sales dealership in New Bedford, Mass. The aircraft was to be delivered to an airshow in Connecticut. The pilot left New Bedford and flew to Falmouth, Mass. where he spent the night. The following morning, he took off for Connecticut. While in route over Rhode Island, the engine began to sputter and cut out, and then stopped completely. The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in an open area in Pawtucket. The open area was hilly and bumpy with power line poles across it. The plane hit the ground and bounced until it slammed into a pole. The aircraft was wrecked, and the pilot suffered two broken wrists.
Source:
The Falmouth Enterprise, “Pilot in Crash ‘Scared Lucky'”, July 25, 1978.
