Who Gets to Tow an Airplane?

By George L. Nitti  It’s not every day you see a small aircraft perched intact atop a flatbed wrecker. That’s exactly why Jesse Nichols, owner of JN Wrecker of Bonham, Texas, felt the time was right to share a story that unfolded more than two years ago, back on September 23, 2022 — a story that, until now, mostly lived in local news clips and the memories of those who witnessed it.

“Who gets to tow airplanes?” he asked, laughing. “It’s just not something you see every day.”

That Friday afternoon in Savoy, Texas, a small aircraft made an emergency landing on eastbound Highway 82. The plane suffered an engine failure, forcing the pilot to bring it down directly into oncoming traffic. Miraculously, there were no collisions. Damage to the plane was minimal, but the real challenge lay ahead: clearing the aircraft from the roadway and transporting it without further compromising its condition — all while preserving it intact for the FAA to investigate.

The call came into Jesse’s company as a heavy wrecker job — possibly requiring airbags to lift the plane. But instead of rushing in blindly with big equipment, Jesse and his operations manager drove out first to inspect the scene.

“What we found,” Jesse recalled, “was that a simple solution might actually be better.”

Instead of using a heavy wrecker or suspension straps that might damage the aircraft, the team used a 2019 Ford F-750 with a 24-foot Vulcan LCG 16 medium-duty flatbed — rated for 16,000 lbs — to gently remove the aircraft from the highway. The first move was a temporary one: hooking into the front tow-bar point of the plane, raising the nose landing gear onto the tilted bed, and dragging it clear of traffic. This quick maneuver got vehicles moving again while the FAA assessed next steps.

Once out of harm’s way, the real ingenuity kicked in. Knowing the aircraft needed to stay intact, Jesse’s team came up with a plan: using a large I-beam to support the rear landing gear. They jacked each side of the aircraft, settled the landing gear wheels securely into the beam, strapped it down, and winched the entire assembly onto the flatbed. This kept the wings — spanning about 30 feet — above the bed and avoided stressing the fuselage.

Jesse remembers the airplane mechanic having them hook to the propeller with nylon slings and gently pull while they rolled the rear tires over skates and cribbing into the beam. The mechanic explained that the propeller was the strongest part of the plane because of how the engine was mounted. Jesse also used a tractor to handle the beam and position it just right. “It was a fun recovery for sure,” Jesse said, “especially since no one was injured, and it was out of the ordinary, and required some thinking outside the box.”

“A trailer wouldn’t have helped — the wingspan was too wide for anything,” Jesse added. “But this worked. It was safer and faster than any other method we could’ve tried.”

A police escort followed them as they transported the plane to a secure construction yard, one of the few places with enough gate clearance to accommodate the wide wings. It was held there until an FAA team arrived from Houston to investigate and later disassemble the plane for transport.

For Jesse, the takeaway is simple: “Sometimes, simple is better. And experience makes the difference.”

He credits his crew for helping come up with the plan and emphasized that the job didn’t require fancy tools as much as clear thinking and know-how. “People think if you get it done in 15 minutes, it should be cheap. But sometimes you’re paying for experience — not just labor.”

While the event was covered by local TV at the time, Jesse admits that stories like this tend to get buried fast. But the image of an airplane secured to a rollback, wings hanging wide, never really left him. “It’s eye-catching,” he said. “And for small towns like ours — around 10,000 people — moments like this don’t just stand out. They stick.”