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By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, November 29, 2005
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A pair of Kosovo-born pilots is praising an Air Force A-10 pilot for helping them safely land their propeller plane earlier this month after an electrical failure.
Twenty minutes after takeoff for a Nov. 15 flight from The Netherlands to Geneva, Switzerland, the twin-engine Piper 31 Chieftain’s electrical system went dead. A faulty electrical wire cracked, leaving the pilots and five passengers without radio communication or use of the plane’s instruments.
With heavy clouds making a landing nearly impossible, pilot Naim Fazlija and co-pilot Artan Berisha used a hand-held radio to send a Mayday signal to German air traffic controllers. Minutes later, controllers sent help: a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt piloted by Maj. Peter Olson.
“It just pops out of the clouds and I was like, ‘Wow, incredible,’” Berisha said by telephone from his home in Switzerland. “Seeing that aircraft come up to us, it was like Jesus Christ came back. It felt really, really good.”
Olson, an A-10 weapons tactics officer with the 52nd Fighter Wing based at Spangdahlem Air Base, would help guide the plane to Hahn Airport.
He and another pilot were about 30 miles east of the airport on a midafternoon routine training mission when air traffic controllers asked for help. The Piper pilots, who were about 25 miles south-southeast of Hahn, had no navigational capability and would need Olson to find the runway.
“After I found them, I just kind of went up next to them and I talked to them on the radio. I said, ‘Hey, I’m here to help. I want you to follow behind me and I’ll take you into Hahn.’”
Without the help, the Piper pilots’ only options were to fly below the clouds or find a break in the clouds and land in a field or farm — both risky alternatives.
The planes flew close together at around 140 knots, creeping less than 50 feet from each other. Olson talked to them on their handheld radio and used hand signals to communicate.
Although Olson had never been in a similar situation, Air Force pilots often train on what to do if a plane has an electrical failure while in flight. While military pilots typically fly close together on missions, most civilian pilots are not accustomed to such maneuvers.
“I spent a lot of time looking for him because we’d go into a cloud and I’d lose sight of him and he’d lose sight of me,” Olson said. “I’d be worried that he would possibly bump into me. …”
Berisha and Fazlija, who both worked for the U.S. military as translators in Kosovo before becoming pilots, safely landed the plane at Hahn. They stayed two days until the electrical problem was fixed and they could fly back to Switzerland.
Berisha, who said he once wanted to join the U.S. military, was impressed with Olson.
“He was an awesome pilot,” he said. “He was great.”
Fazlija, who owns the plane and transports mostly corporate passengers through an agency, said even though he has a lot of flying experience, the incident was nerve-racking.
“Of course, I was afraid,” he said. “It was possible you could crash. You don’t know 100 percent it will be OK.”
He is grateful Olson could help.
“I don’t know how to thank him,” he said.
Ugly But Well Hung
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