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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1962)
MtUKOKD MAIL 'iKSBUNf, UtMVUU Oiit'GON Miraculous Landing Made by Plane With Telephone Repairman eaairfipajasisNwiw ;rw.'S ftf fp. iuwa We practiced making turns by manipulating the throttles and ailerons. We decided that Capt. R. E. McKenna, 48. learned to fly while an Army enlisted man in Ha waii in 1935. He served as a fighter pilot during World War II and joined Untied Air Lines in 1945. During ihe Korean conflict he flew Military Air Transport serv ice planes. A resident oi San Jose, Calif., he and his wife have four children. Until he was 13, McKen na's home was in the New York borough of the Bronx, a few blocks from the Bronx Zoo (on 181st st. and on 163rd st.) Then his family lived in Kearny. N.J. His mother, Mrs. Henry Ander son, now resides in Ocean Grove, N.J. we could attempt a landing if we found the right airport. Fortunately the ideal field was only about 15 miles away - Mather Air Force base. It has an 11,000-foot runway, 300 feet wide and good emergency equipment. And the wind was TAIL ASSEMBLY LOST This United Air Lines DC7 took off from Fresno, Calif., Oct. 13. en route to Oregon via Sacra mento, Calif., with 34 telephone repairmen aboard being sent to repair storm damage. Near Sacramento the airliner's rudder and most of its vertical stabilizer unaccountably tore away from the tail assembly. In what a CAB spokesman called "a near miracle" the aircraft commander, Capt. R. E. McKenna, made an emergency landing that left all aboard unscathed. (TJP1 photo) Editor's note - You're piloting a DC7 and you have 34 passengers behind you on an emergency flight. Suddenly the rudder and stabilizer snap off. A night-' mare? It happened for real Oct. 13 on a United Air Lines flight from Fresno. Calif., to Oregon carrying telephone company repair men into the storm-wracked northwest. Near Sacramen to. Calif., the tail assembly ripped apart. Aircraft com mander R. E. McKenna, 48, a native of the Bronx, N.Y.. made a "near-miracle" land ing. Here is his story.) By CAPT. R. E. McKENNA As told to United Press International ' San Jose, Calif. -(UPU- Thank God the visibility was excel lent. We had been flying on in struments from Fresno but we broke out of the clouds at 5,000 feet when we began CARL FISHER is a man people like and respect. His four years in the Oregon legislature prove that he gets things done with fairness and dis patch. He will work for new jobs and pay rolls, an improvement in the lumber indus try, a firm stand on the Cuban problem, and . i Kuvemmeni. y' VOTE FOR HIM MKMflnVMMi ' ..'IS"' liQ-l, O't. Vpi Coeo, Co"an. Ixl HE nil making our descent to land at Sacramento. Suddenly I felt an unusual vibration in the rudder con trols. It was a very rapid horizon1;' movement of the tail. While I was thinking little thoughts, I was doing what any pilot instinctively does when something unusual hap pens - he slows down , Our speed had been 250 knots (285' miles per hour) and I was in the act of cutting down 25 to 30 knots when the airplane went wild. There was a heavy shock and a loud noise. The plane began bouncing violently up and down, from one side to the other. At that moment, I learned later, the rudder had lorn loose and flew off into space. The right wing dropped in a DO-degree bank. 1 swung the wheel 'way over to Hie left to raise the wing but it had little effect. And the rudder pedals were limp. There was only one thing left to do - open the throttles on the right hand engines. This literally pulled the wing back to level flight. Now our main problem was to keep the aircraft right side up. After we got the right wing up. it started to go the other way. The plane was wal lowing from side to side -what we call yawing. Each time it rolled one way I'd gradually open the throt tles on that side. It didn't take long to realize that only the engines could hold us headed I straight, although the ailerons helped keep the wings level. Muscle Control The wheel took lots of muscle to control and first officer R. E. Robbers helped out. But his main job was to let the people on the ground know about our predicament. Flight engineer Victor Han sen briefed the stewardesses, Elizabeth Teal and Mary Jane Rhoades, and they passed the information on to the pas sengers. We had another Unit ed Captain, O. D. Glassburn, riding in the cabin and he look charge of preparing the passengers for a possible emergency evacuation. The telephone men coop erated wonderfully. There was no panic. Meanwhile, we were dis covering that keeping the plane level and headed In one direction was something like learning to ride a bicycle -the more practice you have, the easier it gets. Repair Work Hear Completion After a two-week bout with the problems created by the Columbus Day storm, Pacific Northwest Bell is just about "out of the woods" on mop-up work, company officials re port. Damage estimates to Paci fic Northwest Bell facilities exceed S2 million. About 115, 000 telephones were storm silenced at some time during the 10 days following the storm. Company officials add ed, however, the peak number out at any one time was con siderably less-60,000 Near perfect weather has been a boon to restoration ef forts although fall rains pose a definite threat to continued service in many areas. A large number of phone cables have sustained damage but arc still operating. The water proof covering protecting in ternal wires of thousands of feet of cable has been split and cracked, subject to mois ture penetration. Still on Job Thus, 12-hour-days will continue for a great many telephone people until perm anent restoration can be made. Many out-of-state work ers from other Bell System companies are still being held on the job, although some installer-repairmen have relum ed to their jobs in California, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. Con struction crews and cable splicers remain in heavy de mand. Another convoy of tower-equipped trucks arrived from central and southern California early last week. Normal installation work such as new service and change of address orders are still on a restricted basis. Installation and repair forces relieved from restoration work arc completing as many of these orders as possible. Servicemen WITH WING Marine I'fe. Rodney L. Knvrier. son nf Mr. and Mrs. i Alvin C. Snyder. 343 South Grape st., is serving with the Third Marine Aircraft Wing at the El Torn Marine Corps Air station, Santa Ana, Calif. A .,' '! .. ii mA AmaAA sikw ma mm m nwm m i You'v probably heard the on about only tha very young benefitting from the enrichment of wetor by tha addition of fluorides. But think ahead. Kids grow up fait. 4v Can you imagine tha first generation of Medford old folks (or Senior Citizens, if you will) with dental cripples a rarity? They'll be full-faced, smiling, able to handle tha high-protein diet they need . . . and they'll be THRIVING on it. This is a chance for All Medford voters to contribute toward the dream of a mora robust, healthier, happier population of All ages. Kids only? No. EVERYBODY benefits from fluoridation. Your committee for BETTER DENTAl HEAITH. (M AH C r h 'u-fd'in. Mr Jfjn E"g tn, CO 5 sk'vpu B'vd light and in the right direc tion. Two Drawbacks But there were two draw backs: we would be landing in darkness, and the runway was wet from the recent storms, meaning we would probably skid. Capt. Glassburn and the stewardesses handed out blan kets and pillows for passen gers to use as protective pad ding. The Mather tower was alerted-thcy were wonderful, giving us all possible infor mation about conditions on the ground. Then we began our ap proach. 1 never worked so hard in all my life, and my arms are still sore from strug gling with the wheel and the throttles to keep the plane reasonably level and lined up with the runway. Every time the nose swung, a wing would drop down. But we had to land on the first try. ! didn't want to risk turning the plane over on its back a couple of feet off the ground. It would be simply a mat ter of luck and timing if we hit the ground with our nose pointing straight ahead. With no rudder, we had no direc tional control. Just as we touched the run way, the nose swung slightly out of line. The plane ran off the side of the runway and into the mud, ground-looped back onto the runway and stopped, heading in the op posite direction. No one was hurt and we didn't even blow a tire. IS had been 53 minutes since we discovered the emergency. The passengers slid down emergency canvas chutes through a rear exit. We were all on the ground and some body pointed to ihe tail and said "take a look up there!" What a shock: The entire rudder was gone, along with the upper two-thirds of t..e broken off squarely, leaving Everybody went inside for vertical stabilizer. They had a five-by-fivc-foot stub. coffee. p i i w uhi.i i ii .i w in m ii "i . a ijamn n w i s iawi Y t . ., .i ...n ...... m.,-m.r,. ,t' wii-lJfAl .,,, fmeim- 1 JtaWSWl NEVER NABBED CULPRIT 1 Woodstock, Conn.-Sfti-Thc Woodstock llorsethief Detect- J ing Society made an? embarrassing announcement J Wednesday. It reported it has rounded up nary a culprit i since it was founded in 1793. II Our New Location CORNER 6th and GRAPE INSURANCE AGENCY FREE PARKING rijfr'iVTinanriMTIMrt fri ' ! ' ;i,l,iv-' lr - 1 ft.mt r NU-WOOD CEILING TILE 12"x24" and 16"x32" There will be a factory representative on hand together with a TRUCK LOAD of ceiling tile to help layout your ceiling. BIG SAVINGS ON LUMBER 2x4x6 D.F.S4S I ea. 1 x 6 T & G V 1000 Ft. 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