We did have our lunch fly-out to Fairmount, WV on Sunday, but it didn't go as planned.
First, Tom Parry's Cardinal wouldn't start. So, he and his wife Penny couldn't attend. It was now up to me in the Pacer, John Ely in his RV-7A and Bo Metcalfe in his Panther. I got a good head start and enjoyed a smooth flight over the Alleghany Mountains looking at the beautiful Fall foliage. The weather couldn't have been any better to fly.
When I got to Fairmount John and Bob were about 15 minutes behind me. As I approached the airport, I heard another airplane in the traffic pattern landing ahead of me. I landed on RWY 05 with just very light wind and after I touched down, I noticed smoke to the left side of the runway. I was wondering what that was all about. As I got closer, I realized it was the airplane that landed ahead of me. It was off to the left of the runway with a collapsed nose gear and I noticed small flames and quite a bit of smoke. The pilot was standing about 200 feet away from it and he waved at me that he was alright.
Six fire trucks, two ambulances and four police cards arrived at the same time as John and Bob. Bob landed, but someone came on the radio and told John that the runway was now closed by NOTAM. John went around and departed the area.
Bob and I went across the street to the restaurant for lunch. I checked ForeFlight and sure enough there was a NOTAM closing the runway till 6:00 PM. As we were eating our lunch John texted that he landed at Cumberland, MD to eat lunch. We tried to figure out what to do since Bob doesn't fly at night and by 6:00 PM it gets dark.
However, an hour later we had finished lunch and walked back over to the airport. All the emergency vehicles had left. I checked on ForeFlight and there was no more NOTAM. I used my handheld radio to reach someone on the local frequency, but didn't get any response. Just to make sure, I called the clearance deliver phone number to verify with Clarksburg Approach that the NOTAM was lifted. The controller confirmed and told me that we can take off. I have never seen Bob getting so quick into his Panther to get the hell out of there.
The flight home was again very smooth and enjoyable, and I was glad that no one got hurt in the accident.
Cruising over West Virginia
Unfortunately, an airplane crashed beside the runway. Luckily no one got hurt,
