Reggio Emilia Drama came close shortly after 8pm on Saturday at Campovolo, where a 2008 Cessna plane carrying the pilot who was returning to base was forced to make an emergency landing, ending up in a field on the edge of a vineyard in via Pinotti in Villa Curta.
Some damage to the plane but no consequences for the pilot, a 68 year old, who was visited by medics on site: he was found to be in good condition and refused to be transported to hospital.
The alarm that mobilized the rescue team went off at 8.05pm, when some managers of the BFU, the sports parachuting school which organizes courses and tandem jumps, lost sight of the plane: it could no longer be seen from the hangar. “There is a failure on board”, the Cessna pilot communicated a few moments later via radio, having once again become visible from the ground. The pilot, alone on board after having shuttled carrying parachutists, said that a loss of power would not have allowed him to reach the runway: he had to make an emergency landing.
The thrilling ride of the plane stopped sideways on a carriage road, bordered by a drainage canal against which the Cessna’s front propeller “planted”. Luckily before the vineyard, as the owners of the land who rushed to the scene commented in surprise as the sirens of the rescuers reached the field in via Pinotti, near the BFU headquarters behind Campovolo which can be reached from the hamlet of Villa Curta.
The pilot, practically unharmed, spoke to the police before being examined by the medics. In the meantime, a team of firefighters from Reggio proceeded to reposition the Cessna on the roadway, noting that there had been no fuel leak, the greatest risk).
