Congressional candidate unhurt after crash landing airplane
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SEATTLE -- Republican congressional candidate Jim Postma was not injured Monday evening when he crash landed his small airplane at the Spanaway Airport.
Postma said he was flying his twin engine Beechcraft back to Spanaway from an afternoon trip to Friday Harbor when he had trouble with his landing gear.
At roughly 7 p.m., he put his landing gear down and was about to touch down when he aborted the attempt and raised the gear. During his second landing attempt, Postma said he forgot to lower the landing gear and touched down hard on the runway.
With sparks flying, the plane skidded down the runway and came to a stop in a field, causing a small grass fire that was quickly extinguished.
Postma and his wife, Fran, were the only two on board, and both were uninjured and able to climb out of the plane by themselves, according to Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.
"There was smoke coming from the front of the airplane so we just got out," Postma said. "I wanted to go back and put out the fire but my wife wouldn't let me. She was afraid it was going to burn, which it did."
Postma said the plane was destroyed by fire, though he believes the engines may be salvageable.
Postma, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, is challenging Rep. Adam Smith for the state's 9th Congressional District seat.
According to his website, Postma is a graduate of Purdue University and has worked as a simulation engineer and rocket scientist.
Postma said he was flying his twin engine Beechcraft back to Spanaway from an afternoon trip to Friday Harbor when he had trouble with his landing gear.
At roughly 7 p.m., he put his landing gear down and was about to touch down when he aborted the attempt and raised the gear. During his second landing attempt, Postma said he forgot to lower the landing gear and touched down hard on the runway.
With sparks flying, the plane skidded down the runway and came to a stop in a field, causing a small grass fire that was quickly extinguished.
Postma and his wife, Fran, were the only two on board, and both were uninjured and able to climb out of the plane by themselves, according to Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.
"There was smoke coming from the front of the airplane so we just got out," Postma said. "I wanted to go back and put out the fire but my wife wouldn't let me. She was afraid it was going to burn, which it did."
Postma said the plane was destroyed by fire, though he believes the engines may be salvageable.
Postma, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, is challenging Rep. Adam Smith for the state's 9th Congressional District seat.
According to his website, Postma is a graduate of Purdue University and has worked as a simulation engineer and rocket scientist.
Wow, he must have been seriously distracted to neglect lowering the landing gear. Pretty expensive mistake.
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Glad they are alright. I helped push a new Cardinal RG off the runway at Thun Field in the mid 70's.... Ft. Lewis flying club plane. I watched it come in. Pilot was ok, same story. Forgot to put the gear down. Lots of sparks.Â
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Oops.  Major damage to the fuselage and prop looked like a pretzel.
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Planes have alarms and big indicators regarding gear deployment. Not to mention, your checklist. He was distracted and most likely, had not been up for a while.Â
pre-landing checklist..... seems pretty simple to this pilot.
Oops!
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put a landing gear down, Kind of a bad way to campaign, It's best to let people think your a fool, than to forget to put your landing gear down and remove all doubt.
How do you forget to put your gear down. On the video he said "I don't know why it caught on fire". Well you dumb a** thats what happens when you skid aluminum off a run way into dry grass. I'm a Rep, but I'm not sure I'd vote for this dude.Â
A congressional crash usually isn't that unusual, expect this time it wasn't even in congress. ;)
The only problem with his landing gear was he forgot to put them back down after his aborted 1st landing.
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"At roughly 7 p.m., he put his landing gear down and was about to touch down when he aborted the attempt and raised the gear. During his second landing attempt, Potsma said he forgot to lower the landing gear and touched down hard on the runway."
I didnt know he was that old. I wonder how old he'll be at the end of his term?
 @T_BONE_WALKER Two years older, IF he gets elected, otherwise he will be two years older.
 @Furd  @T_BONE_WALKER But how old would a tick on his dog be? He's a rocket scientist, think he knows?
These situations are unusual. Â I'm surprised he didn't try the manual hydraulic pump or try some of the special ariel maneuvers to unstick the gear. Â
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In any case - I'm glad that the pilot and his wife are in good shape. Â The plane on the other hand - that's another story :)
@JoeKing: With all due respect it doesn't appear you thoroughly read the article. It said "he forgot to lower the landing gear and touched down hard on the runway." That is a big oopsy.
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Other than that I too am glad he and his wife are okay.