Private Plane Makes Emergency Landing In Q River; Everyone Safe

It could have been a disaster when the pilot of a private single-engine plane had to make an emergency landing in New Haven Thursday afternoon.

Luckily, the pilot landed safely. The two human occupants — and their dog Carl — emerged unharmed.

The emergency landing took place on the eastern bank of the Quinnipiac River about a half-mile from the I‑91 overpass just before 5 p.m.

Here’s what happened, according to city emergency management chief Rick Fontana:

A married couple was traveling from Wellington, Florida, to New Bedford, Mass., in their six-passenger Beechcraft plane. They brought Carl with them.

They made a fueling stop in Woodbine, N.J.

Above New Haven, the man piloting the plane ​“felt sputtering” and contacted Tweed New Haven Airport about making an emergency landing there, Fontana said.

But then the pilot ​“determined they weren’t going to make it” to Tweed. He decided on his own to land the plane at the edge of the channel. The plane landed safely, partly in the water, partly in the mud. Fortunately it was an hour and a half away from high tide.

Two members of the Waucoma Yacht Club went out in a boat to greet the couple and lead them ashore.

City, state and federal officials arrived on the scene. Concerned about a potential fuel leak in a sensitive area that includes oyster beds, a Federal Aviation Administration official caught a ride on the NHFD fire boat, went into the plane’s cockpit, and shut off the engine. Officials Thursday evening were strategizing about how to get the plane to another location.

“A tragedy was averted. Look what happened at Tweed” when a private plane crashed near the airport and killed a man in 2017, Fontana noted. ​“The young couple did a great job bringing the plane down. No property damage. No one was hurt.”