It isn’t too often that a forest preserve fairway is pressed into duty as a runway.
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But luckily for pilot Michael Everhart of Lake Villa, his two passengers and a dog named Snoopy, Oak Forest’s George W. Dunne National Golf Course proved to be a safe spot for an emergency landing early Monday.
Federal Aviation Administration officials are investigating the 4 a.m. incident involving the flight that originated in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Everhart and passengers Etta Tull of Evanston and Ruth Tull of Downers Grove walked away from the accident scene unscathed.
Although the FAA has yet to determine whether pilot error was a factor in why the single-engine Cessna 182 lost power, Everhart was ticketed for obstruction of property.
“They were pretty fortunate all the way around,” said Forest Preserve spokeswoman Hollis Friedman, noting the emergency landing site at 163rd Street near Central Avenue is a few blocks from a residential and business area.
Initial reports indicated the plane was out of fuel when the pilot made an emergency call to the control tower at Midway Airport.
He was directed to New Lenox’s Howell Airport, but the pilot thought he would not make it that far, said an FAA spokesman.
Everhart spotted “a blanket of white” that was the golf course, circled it a few times and made his emergency landing, Friedman said.