Tow Operator Responds to Unusual Call After Plane Lands

A small plane’s emergency landing on a rural roadway in northeastern North Carolina became one of the most unusual calls veteran tow operator Tim Walter has handled in more than two decades.

“That is the weirdest call I’ve ever gotten,” said Walter of Lantz’s Towing. He had been dropping off a vehicle when a homeowner told him a plane had landed on the road.

Walter, who has 22 years with the company and 27 years as an assistant fire chief, responded to Scotland Road in Camden County, near the Virginia border, where a man and woman had just completed the emergency landing.

Focused on reaching a safe stretch of roadway, the pilot forgot to lower the landing gear, causing the aircraft to skid roughly 150 feet on its underside. Walter notified 911, and local firefighters secured the scene.

Once cleared, Walter used his tow truck to lift the aircraft so its landing gear could be lowered. The plane was then removed from the roadway.

Authorities said no one was injured, crediting the pilot’s quick thinking with preventing a far worse outcome. Source: https://www.dailyadvance.com