Pilot Hits Landing On The Nose

"My beautiful airplane is trashed," pilot Matt Cowan said of his Cessna 310 after he had to make a hard landing at Peter O. Knight airport on Davis Islands. The plane sustained damage to its nose, propellers and nose landing gear.

PAUL LAMISON / News Channel 8

By MICHAEL H. SAMUELS The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 22, 2007

TAMPA - Up in the air, circling downtown, Matt Cowan was focused on the job before him.

On the ground, driving to Peter O. Knight Airport, his mother was praying.

Cowan, his flight instructor and his black Labrador, Riley, were returning to the Davis Islands airport Monday in Cowan's Cessna 310 twin-engine when "we couldn't get the nose gear to come down."

"We heard a popping noise and we knew something was up," said Cowan, 34, who was making his third flight in his new plane.

They had departed from the airport about 8 a.m. and landed safely at a Zephyrhills airport before heading back to Tampa about lunchtime. Cowan, of Hyde Park, who has about 80 hours of flight time, is training for his multiple-engine aircraft license.

The problems began as he and instructor Robert Kendall, 65, of Brandon, practiced with the landing gear.

They circled about 45 minutes to burn off fuel before attempting a landing. As the Cessna touched down, Cowan shut off the engines and eased the nose down. With its nose scraping the ground, the Cessna skidded to a stop near the end of the runway about 12:50 p.m., according to Tampa Fire Rescue.

Cowan, Kendall and Riley left the plane safely as fire and rescue vehicles approached.

Mary Ann Cowan said she and her husband, Richard, were driving to the airport when her son's plane flew overhead.

"When we first saw him come in, it looked like he was too high," she said. "For a few moments we couldn't see him. … He's there on the ground, but we don't know.

"I was very concerned, as only a mother could be," she said. "I called my friends everywhere and asked them to pray."

She also called Cowan's girlfriend, Julie Scott, who couldn't stop hugging him after he got back on the ground.

Scott said the incident was especially harrowing because she, Cowan and a friend talked Sunday about a similar situation.

"They were saying how the plane was totaled during the crash, but the pilot was OK," she said.

Cowan's Cessna, estimated to be worth $100,000, sustained damage to its nose, propellers and nose landing gear.

"I'm just bummed," said Cowan, who works in sales for a bank. "My beautiful airplane is trashed."

Deric Dymerski, president of Atlas Aviation, which runs the airport, said the company called the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority and 911 after the Cessna reported problems.

"He brought it in as gentle as he could," Dymerski said.

The incident unfolded almost a year since a plane skidded off a Peter O. Knight runway, killing the pilot and demolishing the home of Tom and Cynthia Tate.

Cynthia Tate was home alone doing laundry during the June 2006 crash and narrowly avoided injury.

On Monday, she was returning home from her hair salon as Cowan's Cessna circled above. She found her street blocked by police and fire vehicles and joined neighbors to watch the emergency landing.

"It was dejÀ vu with a great, beautiful ending," she said. "I feel very blessed. I am really happy with this outcome."

Reporter Michael H. Samuels can be reached at (813) 835-2109 or msamuels@tampatrib.com.