06/13/03

The level of safety in flying an ultralight plane, like the one that crashed and killed two Cantonment, Fla., men Wednesday, can depend on its pilot and equipment, a Huntsville flight trainer said.

Joe Hutton has been training people to fly the light-weight aircraft for about six years. He said the planes "can be as safe as you want them to be."

"They're actually stronger for their weight than bigger planes," he said. "But you've got to maintain them, you've got to keep them up."

James Randall Stokes, 47, and John Bliss Johnson, 50, died Wednesday night after the Chinook Plus 2 ultralight they were flying crashed into a grove of pine trees in Elsanor. The model they were flying has two seats, one behind the other, and can be piloted from either position. Investigators have not been able to determine who was flying the plane at the time of the accident.

Regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration state that a two-passenger ultralight cannot weigh more than 496 pounds empty and can carry a maximum of 10 gallons of fuel.

The cause of Wednesday's accident has not yet been determined, although an eyewitness has said he heard the plane's engine stop just before the crash. Sputtering sounds indicated that the pilot was trying to re-start the engine, but never did, the witness said.

But even without engine power, Hutton said Stokes and Johnson should have been able to land the plane by gliding.

"You don't have to have the motor to fly. If the motor goes dead, you don't necessarily crash," Hutton said, adding that he often lands his ultralight in crop fields and on dirt roads.

Stokes and Johnson crashed about 30 feet from a peanut field.

"They're real good in landing in places like that. That's actually what they're made for," Hutton said.

But some people do have concerns about the planes. When a man wanted to begin renting out an ultralight plane from Mo's Landing in Gulf Shores, City Administrator Tony Rivera said some people expressed concerns.

Rivera said the city has made no formal plans to regulate or ban the planes, but may brainstorm ways to police their use.

Those who do fly ultralights can add a variety of accessories to the planes to make them safer, Hutton said, including using strobe lights to increase the craft's visibility and installing parachutes to help the planes glide to safety in the event of an emergency.

"Ultralights these days are very safe," he said.