Psycho Sensei

Fond du Lac Reporter - Bizarre coincidence marks Warbird's landing on Highway 41:


A veteran pilot stranded on Highway 41 Sunday night after a tire blew on his motor home got an up-close look at his buddy’s Warbird after it made an emergency landing on the roadway and bounced over his vehicle.

David Mann of Racine had little time to register that the plane zooming down towards his head belonged to his friend, Bill Leff of Dayton, Ohio, who was forced to make an emergency landing after his engine failed. Leff landed on a crowded Highway 41 in the northbound lanes northbound near Military Road at 7:43 p.m. Sunday.

Both Leff and Mann were on their way to the Experimental Aviation Association AirVenture show in Oshkosh.

“I have been a pilot for over 40 years and this was the closest I have ever been to an aircraft in flight that I was not flying,” Mann said.

Emergency landing
Leff said the engine in his 1951 North American T-6 Texan failed while heading into Fond du Lac, forcing him to make the emergency landing, which resulted in damage to the right wing. He initially planned to land at the Fond du Lac County Airport, N6308 Rolling Meadows Drive.

“For awhile the engine continued to run but eventually stopped running entirely, and I realized I wasn’t going to make it (to the airport),” Leff said.

So plans changed, and Leff decided he’d make his landing on Highway 41—a four-lane thoroughfare packed with motorists, many of whom were heading north toward EAA AirVenture, a yearly air show that draws thousands of aviation enthusiasts from around the world.

“I was concerned that there was not going to be enough space (to land), but when things happen like that you don’t have time to be scared or to worry,” Leff said.

From the ground view
Meanwhile, on land, Mann stood on the right side of Highway 41 northbound near Military Road, concerned about his disabled motor home and anxious to get to the air show. Nearby, two Wisconsin State Patrol cars—one in front of the motor home and one behind it—were guiding traffic around the disabled motor home.

Before anyone really had time to think, Leff’s plane landed behind the motor home and bounced, clearing the 32-foot motor home and coming within eight feet of Mann’s head.

“I saw it just when it was to the back of the motor home and I yelled something unprintable and by then it was above my head,” Mann said.

Karen Fryman of Fond du Lac was in the southbound lane of Highway 41 when she saw the plane go under a set of telephone wires and land on the highway.

“It looked like it was headed towards us,” she said. “There was plenty of weekend traffic at the time … thank God, no one was killed.”

Flying friends
After things calmed down a bit, Mann learned the man flying the plane was a friend who he’s flown to several air shows with over the years, he said.

Mann said he’s hoping to track Leff down while at EAA this week and commend him on successfully maneuvering the plane onto the highway.

“I think it was pretty amazing flying,” he said.

Leff said he’s grateful he and his 19-year-old son, Gregory D. Leff, made it safely to the ground. No one was injured during the incident.

“I was able to pick a spot in between (the vehicles) and I was careful and the drivers down there were alert,” Leff said.

“It was interesting,” he added.

Leff has been flying for 44 years and has flown the T-6 Texan for 32 years. He planned to fly the Texan in the air show Monday but will unable to since the plane is inoperable as a result of the emergency landing.

The Texan will need its engine repaired. Also, the right wing was dented after it clipped a bridge marker post.

The plane—known as “the Pilot Maker” because it was a military training aircraft—will be repaired, Leff told authorities Sunday.

After landing, the plane came to rest directly in front of the Fond du Lac County Airport, according to a Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department press release. A pickup truck with a tow bar pulled the plane to the Fond du Lac County Airport where it remained Monday afternoon

“This was all very unusual,” said Manager Lee Perrizo of the Fond du Lac County Airport.