Texas family avoids serious injury in airplane incident

A Texas family avoided serious injury when their airplane ran off the runway Monday morning at Piggott Municipal Airport. At last report the incident remained under investigation by the FAA. The plane, which belongs to Century Industrial Coating, Inc., of Jacksonville, Texas, was enroute to Piggott from Cherokee County Airport in that city.

The plane, a 1989 Piper Mirage Malibu, sustained only minor to moderate damage in the area of the front landing gear and to one wing tip. The incident report from the local police department estimated value of the aircraft at about $750,000. According to a flight plan filed with the FAA, the plane left Texas at 9:47 p.m. for the estimated one hour and 54 minute trip.

The pilot of the plane, Joseph C. Casey, 41, of Jacksonville, is a principal partner in the company and was flying into Piggott on a business visit to Darling Store Fixtures. Casey indicated the firm has done business with Darling for many years and that he has flown the plane into the local airport dozens of times in the past.

Reports from the Piggott Police Department indicate the office received the call around 11:50. Officers were on the scene moments later. Casey, along with his wife Becky and three sons were transported from the scene to Piggott Community Hospital, where they were treated and released. The young men were identified as Ben Casey, 14, Sam Casey, 12, and Dave Casey, 9. The person suffering the most severe injury was the pilot, who sustained a cut along the bridge of his nose that required stitches.

The report noted the plane left 941 feet of skid marks along the runway, an additional 55 feet of skid marks in the grass and about 16 feet in the ditch. The plane came to rest just 194 feet shy of the end of the runway, which is a total of 2,550 long.

Late Monday afternoon personnel with Jewell Aviation from Kennett, using a crane from Sollis Grain Bins, extracted the plane from the ditch and towed it to the tarmac in front of the old hangars. Sid Lemoine of the FAA office in Little Rock visited the scene Tuesday morning and interviewed the pilot. He told local officials that since the main fuselage of the plane was not heavily damaged, the mishap is considered by the FAA as an "incident" and not an "accident."