News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Pilot Bruce Haphey of Sisters escaped serious injury when the restored Piper PA 12 he was piloting flipped over on landing at Sisters Eagle Air on Sunday morning.
Haphey told The Nugget that he had landed on the runway traveling from west to east when the plane, moving at a slow rate of speed, went off the paved runway and into a soft dirt shoulder. When Haphey applied his brakes, the plane nosed into the dirt and flipped over.
"I was upside down, so I undid my harness and I fell on my head," Haphey said, explaining the injury that bloodied his scalp.
The pilot is a 50-year veteran and a flight instructor. He had spent the past 13 years restoring the plane. He said the engine and propeller will probably have to be pulled and replaced and the struts and tail repaired.
Haphey said the plane is definitely restorable - again.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "It was worse than that when I got it."
Neighbors and friends assisted Haphey in righting the plane to tow it away from the runway.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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