Greene County soil is fertile but it doesn’t grow airplanes. The plane in the middle of a soybean field north of the Jefferson airport didn’t do an emergency landing, but what Bob Owens prefers to call an “off airport landing” shortly after noon Sunday.
Owens, of Jefferson, was a passenger in the plane flown by Dean Zenor, 55, of Lake City. The Federal Aviation Administration refers to such planes as “experimental,” but according to Zenor, there is no experimentation involved. “Experimental” has replaced “home built” in FAA terminology, he explained. His plane was built from plans by a man in Varina in the early 1980s. He purchased it about five years ago, did some rehab work on it, and has kept it in a hangar at the Jefferson airport since then.
He has taken off and landed the plane countless times, all without incident. Zenor said that because the plane has an open cockpit flying is a seasonal activity, but since May he’s already logged 30 hours or so.
“There are so many technical aspects to what happened Sunday, but the easy explanation is that we encountered wind currents – some people call them down drafts – and we lost altitude and had to put it down,” he said.
It was his first off airport landing. “It was a new experience, but landing is landing. It was a good learning experience,” Zenor said.
Owens characterized Zenor’s bean field landing as “gentle.” Neither Zenor nor Owens was injured and the plane sustained no damage. It will be taken out of the bean field by the end of the week if the field is dry enough, Zenor said. The incident is under investigation by the FAA.
Zenor got his first pilot’s license in 1977, when he was 18 years old. Owens has been flying since the 1940s. In 1964 Owens finished building his own airplane from plans that boosted the home built movement. “It’s been a fine airplane,” Owens said about his 1964 plane. The plane is still airworthy and Owens still flies it.
Zenor and Owens both mentioned the Experimental Aircraft Association, which is headquartered in Oshkosh, WI, and is dedicated to protecting and promoting recreational flying. The EAA was formed in 1953 by recreational pilots who wanted to build their own planes. It fosters the sort of camaraderie that Zenor and Owens share through their love of flying.
Zenor praised the Jefferson Municipal Airport. “Jefferson is a great city with a great airport. The people who manage it are excellent and the facilities are excellent. You’re very fortunate to have a mechanic like Dave Zorychta working there and to have Jim Forbes as a commissioner,” Zenor said.
