Newtown Pilot Skids Off Runway At Oxford Airport

By John Voket

The owner of a charter air service at Oxford Airport called an accident that occurred there last Saturday, “…the closest we ever came to a major catastrophe.” Dave Blackburn, President of Keystone Aviation said he arrived on the scene minutes after the incident to find his company’s pickup truck, “impaled,” on the nose of a single engine aircraft, inches from the glass wall separating the runway area from his lobby.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was scheduled to complete interviews Thursday with a Newtown pilot and other witnesses to an aircraft mishap that occurred at Oxford Airport September 11. According to preliminary reports, the pilot, Albert Miles, Jr, experienced a rough landing that caused his aircraft to skid across a runway into a 1999 Ford pickup truck owned by and parked in front of a reception area for the Keystone Aviation charter service.

The investigating State Trooper stated in his report that Oxford Fire Department and ambulance units were dispatched to the airport following the 8:49 pm report, but no fire or injuries occurred as a result of the crash. There were four staff members in the Keystone operations center when the crash occurred.

Mr Blackburn, who saw a replay of the incident via an airport security camera, said there was significant damage to the aircraft and moderate damage to the truck, which was towed from the scene.

“You might not know it from looking at it, but the aircraft may be totaled,” he said. “Our pickup absorbed a significant amount of energy from the oncoming aircraft.”

He said the pickup truck may have saved his staff members and business from a horrible tragedy, had the truck not been parked in the area blocking the oncoming aircraft. Mr Blackburn also said the plane missed a fuel truck by just a few feet.

“If our truck wasn’t there, the plane would have probably entered our lobby area,” he ventured. “There was nothing else to stop it except a wall of glass. And the funny part is, we usually don’t park the pickup in front of that window.”

A Federal Aviation Administration communications representative told The Bee Wednesday, that the plane was destined for Oxford, and was en route from Morristown, N.J., with three passengers besides Mr Miles in a Cirrus model aircraft.