Vintage Minnesota: A surprise landing

December 6, 2019 at 1:30PM
December 8, 1978 Emergency Landing - A twin-engine air cargo plane startled commuters and grazed a trash compacter truck this morning when it made a successful emergency landing in the westbound lane of Hwy. 35, about 3 miles west of Hastings. Neither the pilot, Glenn E. Carpenter, 28, Burnsville, nor the truckdriver, Robert C. Knoll, 40, rural Welch, Minn., was hurt, authorities said. Knoll saw the plane starting to land and pulled his truck to the shoulder before diving to safety from the pass
December 8, 1978 Emergency Landing - A twin-engine air cargo plane startled commuters and grazed a trash compacter truck this morning when it made a successful emergency landing in the westbound lane of Hwy. 35, about 3 miles west of Hastings. Neither the pilot, Glenn E. Carpenter, 28, Burnsville, nor the truckdriver, Robert C. Knoll, 40, rural Welch, Minn., was hurt, authorities said. Knoll saw the plane starting to land and pulled his truck to the shoulder before diving to safety from the passenger side of the cab, according to Minnesota Patrol Sgt. A1 Golias. Knoll’s leap from the truck apparently saved him from serious injury because a gasoline tank on the plane’s wing smashed into the driver's side of the truck's windshield. Knoll is employed by Hastings Disposal Inc., Hastings. Traffic was being rerouted around the aircraft, which remained parked on the two-lane highway until Federal Aviation Administration officials could determine why Carpenter made the landing. Carpenter was en route to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and had radioed the control tower for landing instructions before making the landing about 8:30 a.m., a tower spokesman said. Carpenter was returning from one of the all-night flights he makes six days a week, according to his father, Dean Carpenter. The pilot's father said the flights, for Rapidair Inc., of Denver, originate in Minneapolis and include stops in LaCrosse, Milwaukee and Chicago. Charles Bjorgen, Minneapolis Star Tribune (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Photo originally published Dec. 8, 1978.

Drivers on Hwy. 55 near Hastings had some unexpected company on a Friday morning when a twin-engine cargo plane made an emergency landing, grazing a garbage truck in the process.

No one was hurt, but the State Patrol said the driver of the truck saw the plane starting to land, pulled over and dove to safety from the cab. His quick thinking likely saved him from serious injury — one of the plane's fuel tanks smashed into the windshield.

The plane remained parked on the two-lane highway and traffic was rerouted until the Federal Aviation Administration could determine why the pilot made the forced landing.

Nicole Hvidsten

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