Emergency Cool
Downtown turns into emergency landing strip: Young pilot lauded for her crashcomposure
The streets of downtown Conroe turned into a makeshift landing strip when a young pilot in a small plane pulled off a gutsy, emergency landing.
Pilot Sarah Chantal Rovner, 22, left West Houston Airport Tuesday on a routine night operation for the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), a federally-chartered volunteer organization dedicated to aviation-related emergency relief efforts. Just six miles from her landing site at Conroe Airport, however, the plane lost power.
Rovner contacted the control tower, hoping to glide the plane — a small single-engine Cessna from 1979 — onto the runway before realizing an emergency landing was imminent. Air traffic control promptly contacted rescue crews.
"We've worked plane crashes before, but never right in the middle of town," officer Joe Smart of the Conroe Police Department told CultureMap. "This is certainly pretty unusual for us."
Directing the plane onto East Davis between Sixth and 10th Streets, the pilot rolled westward, clipping a telephone pole and knocking over several signs. Several reports mention that Rovner swerved to miss an oncoming car, damaging the plane's right-side wing.
"We've worked plane crashes before, but never right in the middle of town," officer Joe Smart of the Conroe Police Department told CultureMap. "This is certainly pretty unusual for us."
Officers on the scene reported no injuries, Smart said, and were deeply impressed by Rovner's collected composure after the accident. As of Tuesday, she had her pilot's license for only three months and has flown less than 100 hours.
"Sarah's a great pilot and a wonderful example of the good training we require," said Lt. Col. Robert Beeley, a regional commander for CAP.
"The Civil Air Patrol is incredibly focused on safety. Our pilots are held to standards twice as difficult as requirements for civilian pilots."
Beeley said Rovner would not be able to speak publicly about the incident until a report is filed with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which generally handles all official follow-up work.
At this time, investigators are unsure how and why the aircraft lost power. The plane, registered to the Civic Air Patrol, will be turned into the insurance company.
