Plane makes emergency landing in field

Written by T.S. Romney
June 22, 2014
Plane made an emergency landing in a field in Hurricane early Sunday morning. Hurricane UT June 22, 2014 | Photo by T.S Romney St George News

HURRICANE – A small plane, carrying three passengers, including a 4-year-old boy, had to make an emergency landing in a field around 869 South 400 West in Hurricane early Sunday morning.

Myron Porter, of St. George, took off from the St. George Municipal Airport Sunday morning in his Zenith Zodiac plane which he has been modifying. On board, in addition to himself, was his son-in-law and his 4-year-old grandson. As they were flying over the Hurricane Valley the plane began to show signs of low fuel.

“The gas gauges were not working properly,” Porter said. “I thought we had more gas than we did.”

Porter and his family were attempting to make it to the Hurricane airport to refuel when the plane ran out of gas.

“We were just about a mile short,” Porter said. “I decided to set down in this field.”

Emergency crews were called in after the plane executed its emergency landing.

“We received the call around 8:26 a.m.,” said Hurricane City Police Sgt. Brandon Buell. “We, along with fire crews and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, responded. The pilot’s experience definitely came into play on this incident.”

All three passengers  were reportedly fine, and refused transport to the hospital.

Porter has been flying since 1960 and used to do it professionally, he said, now it is more of a hobby.

The Hurricane City Police Department took photos as well as collected information and will be turning this investigation over to the Federal Aviation Administration and working with them.

Porter was working to load his plane on a trailer to get it out of the field around 10:45 a.m.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T.S. Romney currently lives on a road halfway between Zion and Purgatory. He began his writing and cartooning career at the age of 5, which received negative reviews and was quickly washed off the wall. A former law enforcement officer, an award winning children’s book author, columnist, and cartoonist; T.S Romney brought his talents to St. George News in 2014 as a journalist,. He is also the cartoonist behind the popular SO. Utah Comic Strip. To see this comic strip go to https://www.facebook.com/soutahcomics.

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4 Comments

  • My Evil Twin June 22, 2014 at 2:03 pm

    Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing! Glad they were all able to walk away from this one.
    I do have to wonder if it was a malfunction, or if it really was low on fuel. Don’t they usually do a “pre-flight” before taking off?

  • Bender June 22, 2014 at 7:57 pm

    Nice save Porter. Lady luck favors you this time. Use your dipstick, and then check it again, before you park your grandkid’s bottom in that homebuilt again.

  • huh July 5, 2014 at 10:26 am

    WHAT WRONG WITH LANDING? LOOKS LIKE THE NOSE POINTED DOWN A BIT BUT OTHER THAN THAT, LOOKS GOOD.

  • WHUZERDHOPSON July 11, 2014 at 9:30 pm

    Have read several comments from some of you armchair aces…. no matter how thorough your preflight, no one can foresee a mechanical malfunction. I happen to know the pilot, and those that do too, would save wise cracks for cartoons

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