Airplane set to be moved

Rick Yaun, with R&C Aviation of Mena, prepares the airplane that ran off the Piggott runway in March for transport. The plane will be transported to the company's facility at Mena, where it will be repaired and returned to service.
(Times photo/Tim Blair)

[Click to enlarge]

Personnel from R&C Aviation from Mena were at the airport Monday and Tuesday dismantling the aircraft for transport and were expected to remove it from the scene by Thursday.

The airplane, which is the property of Century Industrial Coating, Inc. of Jacksonville, Texas, was enroute to the Piggott airport from Cherokee County Airport when the incident occurred March 16. The pilot, Joseph C. Casey of Jacksonville, Texas, indicated at the time that the left brake on the airplane failed and that prompted him to steer the craft into the ditch as the end of the 2,550-foot runway approached.

Casey sustained minor injuries and was treated at Piggott Community Hospital, along with his wife and three sons.

Later that day the plane was removed from the ditch by a crane, and the following day it was examined by an official with the Federal Aviation Administration office in Little Rock. It was later moved to the tarmac adjacent to the new hangars at the airport, where it remained until the crew from Mena arrived.

As of Tuesday morning the airplane's engine had been removed and workers were busy draining fuel and preparing to remove the wings. "We'll be taking off the wings and putting it on a trailer," Rick Yaun of R&C Aviation noted. "Weather permitting we should get it out of here by Thursday."

The 1989 Piper Mirage Malibu sustained only minor to moderate damage in the mishap, mainly in the area of the front landing gear. At the time of the accident insurance estimates on the plane's value were set in excess of $750,000.

Casey, who is a principal in Century Industrial Coating, had landed at Piggott in the plane dozens of times in the past as he visited local company client L.A. Darling. He indicated the company would likely resume use of the aircraft after it is repaired.