Engine trouble forces pilot to land small plane on interstate

OLD TOWN – Engine problems led to an Interstate 95 landing – upside down – of a Bangor man’s classic airplane Monday evening.

Phil Cormier, 48, of Bangor said he and his passenger, Dean Wiseman, 49, of Bangor, had barely taken off in Cormier’s red 1959 Cessna 150 from Old Town Municipal Airport at about 6:30 p.m. when Cormier noticed the engine felt “heavy and boggy.”

Cormier had planned to fly Wiseman over Wiseman’s Brewer property, but when what appeared to be an iced-up carburetor threatened to cut the flight short, Cormier “immediately started looking for an exit strategy,” he said.

After adjustments to the throttle failed to improve engine performance, Cormier flew over a field between Bennoch Road and I-95, but rejected it as a landing site because of a large gully. He flew the plane over a treeless section of the interstate median and attempted to land.

“I really thought I had it completely stopped,” Cormier said. At the last second, however, the front wheel sank into a soft spot in the median and caused the plane to flip tail-over-prop. Cormier said it happened in slow motion.

Nobody was hurt in the rough landing, according to Maine State Police Sgt. Sean Hashey. The Federal Aviation Administration will begin investigating the incident this morning.

The plane’s wings, propeller and landing gear were bent.

“I think I’d like to get a new one,” Cormier said.