Glad to see the 2 brothers escaped with minor injuires, but sad loss of a Goose...
From this story:
http://www.fltimes.com/Main.asp?Section ... cleID=7354
A morning test run went awry for brothers Paul and Daryl Middlebrook, of Penn Yan, when the twin-engine 1939 Grumman G-21 they were flying crashed along Route 14A just south of Penn Yan Tuesday.
Lauren Long / Finger Lakes Times
Brothers survive plane crash: Vintage aircraft goes down in field near Penn Yan
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
By GINA MUSCATO
Times Staff Writer
MILO — Dale Hallings was inside his Route 14A home talking on the phone yesterday morning when he heard an airplane engine “racing” outside. The sound was much louder than even he’s accustomed to, living just a short distance from the Penn Yan-Yates County Airport.
Hallings had started to walk outside when he heard a loud bang, followed by the sight of a small, twin engine airplane on fire up the road. He quickly called 911.
“I definitely knew something was wrong,” said Hallings, a Milo town councilman, who lives at 2836 Route 14A.
The plane — a 1939 Grumman Twin Engine Amphibious Aircraft model G21A — crashed around 9:30 a.m. in a field on Route 14A, just south of Milo Center Road and a few miles outside Penn Yan.
State Police Sgt. Steven Neuberger said brothers Paul and Daryl Middlebrook, both of Penn Yan, had just taken off from the local airport on a practice/training run when they apparently experienced some engine trouble while heading south.
Pilot Paul Middlebrook was giving flight instruction to his brother Daryl, they said.
The brothers turned left to head back to the airport, then the plane crashed in the field, Neuberger said, adding that it bounced on impact and spun around before coming to rest just off the side of the road.
State police said Paul Middlebrook had tried unsuccessfully to regain control of the aircraft, though he was able to land the plane in the field.
Both men escaped serious injury and got out of the plane before it caught fire.
Paul Middlebrook, who is a pilot at Constellation Brands in Canandaigua, was treated at the scene. Daryl, owner of Penn Yan Aero, was taken to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hospital in Penn Yan and released.
Neither could be reached for comment.
Route 14A was closed to traffic while Benton, Penn Yan and Dundee fire departments battled flames coming from the plane, owned by Jetcraft Corp.
Fire officials said members of the Penn Yan Fire Department had just received training in aircraft fire and rescue earlier this month from the captain in charge of training at Monroe County Airport.
Foam was used to create a barrier and cover the fuel so it didn’t catch fire, and “booms” were used to absorb fuel to prevent run off, officials said.
The National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration and state police are investigating the incident.
Local resident Miranda King said she had just gotten up and was about to make a pot of coffee when she heard about the crash over a scanner. King lives on Himrod Road, less than a mile north of the site.
“I looked out back and saw billowing black smoke over the hill,” King said. “They were rerouting traffic right by my house.”
Living near the airport, King said she hears plane engines all the time and often runs out to see what type of aircraft is flying overhead.
This time, though, she didn’t really hear much, probably because of a construction site nearby.
“This is just shocking. You don’t expect something like to happen here,” she said
And this story claims it is the Goose from Tales of the Golden Monkey..One of my favorites as a kid..
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/app ... /1002/NEWS
Two safe after crash of old plane
Pilot lands 'Grumman Goose' in Yates after engine trouble
Greg Livadas
Staff writer
(February 16, 2005) — MILO — A pilot and his brother escaped serious injury Tuesday after the historic airplane they were flying crashed in Yates County and was destroyed by fire.
Paul Middlebrook, 58, of Penn Yan, had just taken off from the Penn Yan airport around 9:30 a.m. in a 1939 Grumman Galaxy G-21A amphibious plane, when he experienced trouble in his left engine, said State Police Trooper Mark O'Donnell.
Middlebrook then banked to the left and landed the plane in a vacant field next to Route 14A near Milo Center Road. Middlebrook and his brother, Daryl Middlebrook, 60, were able to get out of the plane before fire consumed it.
Both are experienced pilots.
Paul Middlebrook was uninjured; his brother was treated for minor cuts, O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell said Paul Middlebrook was giving his brother flight instruction at the time of the crash.
"It's safe to say that it's because of Paul's talent and experience that no one was killed in this accident," O'Donnell said.
Jetcraft, of Durham, N.C., owned the plane.
Calls to the company were not returned.
Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the investigation would likely be turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The plane, known as a Grumman Goose, was built as sort of a luxury yacht prior to World War II, said Jim Chrysler, owner of Seattle Seaplanes, which operated this plane as an air taxi in the 1980s.
He said the plane, registered N-327, had operated as an Air Force plane for Peru.
It then took passengers between Catalina and Long Beach, Calif., in the 1950s and '60s.
It also ferried passengers in Alaska.
In the 1980s, the plane was named "Cutter's Goose" and appeared in the short-lived ABC television series Tales of the Gold Monkey.
Chrysler estimated that only 50 similar planes exist today.
He believes the plane had been sold in 2000 for $525,000.
Several Web sites are dedicated to the Grumman Goose; one says N-327 was the oldest Goose still flying.
"That's a special airplane," said Chrysler, who said it was never designed to fly on one engine.
"It's a shame."
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He was Magnum's friend "Mac" on Magnum, P.I., he was also featured in recurring roles in Black Sheep Squadron, JAG, Battlestar Galactica, Airwolf, The Greatest American Hero, and Tales of the Gold Monkey.