Courtesy photo
(from VA State Police) An airplane made an emergency landing on Apple Road in Franklin County at 7:16 p.m. yesterday (Oct 18) and there were no injuries. The pilot stayed with the plane overnight and corrected the fuel issue, but did not attempt a takeoff last night, due to darkness. At 11:19 a.m. today, (Oct 19), the pilot was practicing a dry takeoff run to test if the plane could obtain enough speed to lift off. As the plane was slowed down after the test run, the pilot, due to the gravel roadway could not get the plane stopped in time and struck a parked Virginia State Police vehicle with the left wing of the aircraft. The vehicle was unoccupied at the time it was struck, and no one was injured in the incident. The FAA has also deemed the crash as an incident and will not be investigating.
