Plane crash-lands at Fairfield County Airport

LANCASTER - Two men survived a rough landing Saturday at the Fairfield County Airport.

"After we took off, the light for the landing gear indicated there was something wrong," said Jon Lester, co-pilot of 2001 Socata Trinidad 20.

Lester, 55, was flying with pilot Dwight A. Nippert, 46. Both men are of Lancaster.

"We circled the field and they told us that the nose wheel had not fully come down," Lester said. The first emergency calls into the 911 center came at 12:30 p.m.

When it was clear that there might be a tough landing Lester texted his wife, Jenny, that they were having problems.

She arrived at the airport before they made their landing.

Also responding to the emergency, were firefighters form Greenfield, Bloom, and Pleasant townships, along with Lancaster. The Fairfield County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio Highway Patrol also responded.

Jenny said her husband had been flying for four years and was an accomplished pilot with a commercial license.

Lester said that once they knew the landing gear wasn't in place, they circled the field to burn off fuel and then came in very slow.

Nippert handled the landing and Lester handled all the other controls.

"Considering what it was, it was a very smooth landing," Lester said. "We came down nice and slow and glided to a smooth landing, with the nose tipping into the ground at the end.

As the plane touched down and fire engines and medic units rushed to the end of the field to the aircraft, the two men got out.

"No one was injured in the crash," said Lt. Chad Johnson, Greenfield Township Fire Department.

By 1:15 p.m., airport personnel were moving the aircraft into one of the hangars for further investigation of what went wrong with the nose wheel.

"I'm just glad they all made it down safely," Jenny said.

cburnett@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4346

Twitter: @CarlBurnettJr