Pilot averts emergency landing at regional airport

A pilot averted an emergency landing at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport on Monday afternoon.

About noon, police scanner traffic indicated a plane carrying four passengers needed to land at the airport, with a possible fire on board.

Airport manager Bruce Loy said the Memphis International Airport Center had contacted the tower at Cape Girardeau about a P-3 Orion that had indicated a fire in the cockpit and was about eight minutes away.

"Well, then the next time the tower was able to talk to [the center], they said he's circling at 5,000 feet and trying to diagnose their issue," Loy said. "And then the next thing we knew, he said they had canceled the emergency, they thought they had it tackled, and they were going to go back to their home base."

Loy could not confirm whether it was a military aircraft. Loy described a P-3 as a "pretty good-size aircraft" longer than the C-130, a four-engine turboprop military transport plane.

"It's not our norm that we see here, that's for sure."

Scott City and Cape Girardeau fire departments, Cape Girardeau police officers and North Scott County Ambulance responded to the scene, Cape Girardeau Fire Department assistant chief Mark Hasheider said.

It was "kind of a nonemergency emergency," Loy said.

kwebster@semissourian.com

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