Fortunately, there were plenty of open spaces below her but, as the plane hit the ground, one wheel dipped into an irrigation ditch and buckled. That bent the plane's nose down and spun it around, jolting her forward with her face hitting the steering yoke. A passer-by called police. The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate.
In nearly four decades of flying, Emma said she has never before made an emergency landing. She said she flies a couple of times a week and plans to fly again, but she worried about what her children would now say. Her daughter, Carol Hanner, an editor at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, said the family won't ground her yet.
"We will wait for the official findings before we have that family discussion," Carol Hanner said, also informing that her mother caught the flying bug after her brother, Emma's son, Dale Hanner, learned to fly at 15. He was in the Air Force and is now a commercial pilot.
Emma said she plans to have her plane repaired in Missouri and fly it home to Denver, "I love that plane."
She said that her plane is "like a Cessna 150 but it's got a bigger engine - more powerful." Well, this day it didn't -- and wasn't ...but was part of a successful emergency landing.
8-)
