10th Anniversary of 'The Miracle King Air'

So, as hard as it is to believe, today is the 10th anniversary of the 'Miracle King Air'.

It's two pilots came as close as anyone would care to having a look into the 'abyss', as their plane narrowly avoided an in-flight break up, following a vertical dive from it's cruising altitude.

The stress of it's recovery literally broke off or damaged most of the tail surfaces, bent the wings, and buckled the aft fuselage. With no pitch control (up & down), they used the plane's throttles to control the King Air's landing. It touched down so fast that flat spots were ground into it's new tires at contact.

The plane was later tied down on our ramp as it's future was decided, and became somewhat of a landmark. It wasn't unusual for a visiting airplane to ignore our parking directions, taxi down the ramp to circle the bent Beechcraft, and then head back out to the runway.

The mangled / missing tail surface group

The Miracle King Air was eventually broken down and hauled away on a trailer, breaking the hearts of several families of starlings that had been using it's airframe as a deluxe birdhouse.