BY JAMES M. FOLEY
On Sunday, May 15, 2005, a Cessna twin-jet engine Citation executive aircraft attempted to land at Atlantic City (NJ) Bader Field Airport. It crash-landed in the inland waterway; the water depth at the center was about 25 to 30 feet. The aircraft did not sink and in fact continued to run in the water.
The aircraft, from Denmark, had two flight crew members and two passengers onboard. The plane was attempting to land on runway 11-28L when the pilot reported a brake failure and ran off the end of the runway into the water. The pilot, the plane’s owner, and two teenage girls evacuated to the plane’s wing, where they were picked up by fire, police, and marine state police personnel. The crew members suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from the Atlantic City Medical Center.
What made this incident unique was that jet aircraft are prohibited from landing at the Atlantic City Airport, which is a visual flight rule field capable of handling rotor and small fixed-wing propeller aircraft. The longest runway, 11-28L, is 2,800 feet in length. The Cessna Citation CJ2 requires a minimum of 3,400 feet of runway to land. It is no wonder the plane went into the water; the runway was almost 600 feet short. The pilot, from Denmark, had intended to land at Bader, since it was closer to Atlantic City. He had filed the flight plan for Bader, and the airport card was on the steering yoke. He apparently had missed the “NO JET AIRCRAFT” sign.
 1, 2) The aircraft is stabilized before being lifted out of the water. (Photos by author.) |
Bader Field is a small uncontrolled airport at the remote end of Atlantic City on Albany Avenue. It is surrounded by the Sand Castle Stadium, the inland waterway, and the Atlantic City Expressway. There is no crash fire rescue capability, and the airport operates on visual flight rule.
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The day following the crash, the fire department had to assist in recovering the aircraft, which had spent the night in the water. The aircraft owner hired SEATOW Marine, a marine salvage company, to remove the aircraft. This is not the first plane recovered from Bader Field; however, it was the first jet aircraft of this size and type to crash here. The Marine salvage company floated the aircraft with air bags secured by a diver and brought the plane out of the channel to the shoreline bulkhead at the end of the runway. The Atlantic City Fire Department (ACFD) provided fire protection while the plane’s fuel was removed. The pilot estimated the remaining fuel to be 400 pounds of JP-4 aviation fuel.
DISPATCHES
The closest water supply is on Albany Avenue at the Sand Castle Baseball Stadium, which was more than 4,000 feet from the defueling site. The ACFD engine companies use 1,250-gpm pumps with 500 gallons of tank water and 1,600 feet of split load large-diameter hose. As the salvage company prepared to remove the aircraft from the waterway, the ACFD requested mutual aid from the Atlantic City International Airport. ACFD Engine Company #2 and HAZMAT-1 were dispatched to the airport, along with Battalion Chief Charles Ritzel. ACFD Chief John J. Bereheiko requested one Oskosh T-6 foam truck and Battalion Chief Mike Burke from the Atlantic City International Airport. The airport battalion chief and crew provided invaluable expertise in recovering this jet aircraft. They operated under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at the Atlantic City International Airport and the FAA Technical Center in Pomona, New Jersey.
OPERATIONS
We first ensured that the plane’s batteries were disconnected. The plane’s engines actually started the night before, during the rescue operation. The airport battalion chief and crew consulted their manuals for the Cessna CJ2 and directed the salvage diver in disconnecting the battery system. The original plan was to defuel the plane in the water; booms were placed around the plane to contain any spillage. However, the fuel vents were on the underside of the wings, and the wings could not be elevated to drain the fuel safely while in the water. The company defueling the plane also did not have the proper aircraft fittings to drain the fuel safely. It became evident that we would need to lift the aircraft out of the water and defuel it on land. This was hazardous because we did not know if the wings and fuselage had suffered structural damage from the impact in the crash. We also did not know for certain the aircraft’s total weight and did not have the latest weather information. Lifting the plan could result in catastrophic failure of the plane’s fuselage.
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The Cessna Citation aircraft is 47 feet long and 14 feet high and has a wingspan of 46 feet. The aircraft maximum takeoff weight is 12,500 pounds. We estimated this plane to weight approximately 10,000 pounds (Figure 1).
 (3) The crane lifts the aircraft out of the water. |
The Iconelli Construction Company brought in a 150-ton eight-wheeled crane to pick up the aircraft. The airport crash crew had the dispatcher contact Cessna to determine the proper pickup points for the plane. Cessna required that two 6,000-pound, six-inch minimum straps be used to lift the aircraft. The manufacturer required one strap at the rivet line aft of the cabin door and the second on the rivet line aft of the twin engines. The two points are approximately 21 feet apart. The diver coordinated with the crane operator to make sure that the rigging was set in the appropriate locations. We were also directed to open all cabin doors to allow water to leave the aircraft. Once tension was placed on the sling, all personnel, except the crane operator and his foreman, were removed to a safe location. The crane lifted the aircraft easily and swung it over to a designated spot on the ground. The crane maintained tension of the aircraft until the FAA inspectors inspected the aircraft. ACFD HAZMAT provided FAA inspectors with haz-mat suits and personal protective equipment and placed ground pads under the aircraft to catch any hazardous runoff.
 (4, 5) A flatbed trailer is used to remove the plane from the scene. |
After the FAA concluded its investigation, the crane placed the aircraft on a flatbed truck and removed it to a remote part of the airport. The T-6 followed the airplane in case of an accidental ignition. Once we arrived at the designated location, the plane was secured and cordoned off until the following day, when a certified aviation fuel company could defuel it.
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The ACFD monitored this operation, which presented some problems when fuel was removed from the wing tanks. ACFD Engine 2 stood by during the defueling operation. The contractor drummed and placarded the used fuel and took it away. The ACFD secured the scene.
LESSONS LEARNED AND REINFORCED
The following lessons were learned in the incident.
• Expect the unexpected. We must always prepare for events that are not normally expected. I never would have believed that a jet aircraft would attempt to land at Bader Field, yet it happened.
• Aircraft accidents are unique and require the assistance of many outside agencies. These agencies may include emergency management, the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Department of Transportation, as well as outside salvage agencies. The fire department must maintain coordination to ensure an adequate safety plan.
• Airport crash rescue fire departments have the special firefighting expertise needed to safely handle an aircraft accident. Contact them for assistance anytime you have an aircraft down. They will provide technical information and AFFF firefighting foam.
• Contingency planning is an important element of any incident. In this accident, we had to employ several contingency plans to safely remove the aircraft from the water for defueling.
• Take your time, and formulate your plan with the experts. Knowing how to safely lift the plane was critical in this incident. Contacting the manufacturer to determine the proper load points on the aircraft made the operation safer. ■
■ JAMES M. FOLEY, a 34-year veteran of the fire service, is deputy chief fire official in the Atlantic City (NJ) Fire Department, a leader of the New Jersey Task Force 1 urban search and rescue team, and a certified Fire Instructor II. He teaches in the fire code programs at Rutgers University and Camden County College. He has a bachelor of science degree in fire protection technology and fire administration from the University of Maryland and a bachelor of arts degree in biological science and chemistry from Rowan University.
