Jarad calls a tow truck. For a Cessna (24 photos, video)

Jarad calls a tow truck. For a Cessna (24 photos, video)

When Jarad Paranello took off from Sault Ste. Marie Airport early yesterday, he wouldn't have believed it if you told him he'd soon be needing a tow truck. By 7:35 a.m.

When Jarad Paranello took off from Sault Ste. Marie Airport early yesterday, he wouldn't have believed it if you told him he'd soon be needing a tow truck.

By 7:35 a.m. Paranello knew there was something wrong with the rented single-engine Cessna R182 he was flying.

"Oil started coming out of the engine and it was flying all over the windscreen, the windows and the wings," the Massachusetts pilot told us as the plane was being loaded onto a large-capacity flatbed tow truck from Town and Country Towing.

Paranello radioed the NavCan air traffic control tower at the Sault airport. saying he was in distress and officials at the airport contacted Garden River Fire and Rescue.

"I got the call at 7:40 a.m.," said Garden River Fire Chief Steve Nolan. "I immediately headed out to see if I could see him."

The plane bounced to a somewhat rough but safe landing near the median of the eastbound lanes of Highway 17 about a kilometre east of Belleau Lake Road in Garden River.

"I was nice and calm. I trained for it so it wasn't a big deal," Paranello said. "But these things really do glide like a brick."

Eyewitness accounts are unclear on whether the plane's engine was running when it landed and Panarello declined to comment further as he got busy taking charge of another attempt to load the plane onto the flatbed.

Witnesses did report that Panarello went under some wires when he landed the plane, but he said he didn't remember seeing any overhead wires while he was trying to avoid traffic on the highway.

He described seeing concrete utility poles flashing by the wing of the plane in his peripheral vision as the aircraft touched down, bounced on the road and made a slow coast to a stop.

Fire Chief Nolan and five or six of his firefighters attended the scene, as the Town and Country Tow truck operator worked up a plan on how to move the plane.

By 9:30 a.m., it was clear that the wheels on the Cessna were too wide and were going to hang about 10 centimetres over the sides of the flatbed if they tried to put the plane on it.

Nolan hooked the plane onto his GMC pickup truck and towed it about four kilometres to a rough parking area at Syrette Lake Road.

The eastbound lanes of Highway 17A were closed for less than half an hour for this operation to occur.

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Then, Nolan went to get lumber, hammers and nails from Blair Belleau at Belleau's Tie & Lumber Mill.

By 12:10 p.m., a rough plank platform was constructed.

The plane was loaded and strapped onto the flatbed for its 20-kilometre trip to the Bar River Airport on George Lake Road.

Panarello advised the tow truck driver to maintain a speed of less than 20 or 25 kilometres an hour to avoid the plane getting lift under its wings.

The trip was further complicated by strong gusts of wind and trees growing close to the side of Lake George Road.

It took more than two hours to get to the airport and offload the plane.

Nolan drove in advance of the tow truck and plane, which was followed by two OPP cruisers to prevent people from trying to pass under the wings of the plane.

The vehicles stopped twice to allow traffic, which had lined up for at least a kilometre behind them, to pass.

Two men met the convoy at the airport and Panarello identified one as an aircraft mechanic he had done business with before.

This man checked the engine and said there was very little - but still some - engine oil left in the plane before it was unloaded.

He said the plane would be left in the yard and looked at on Monday.

Meanwhile, Panarello was greeted by a friend in a borrowed truck at the airport.

Apparently, Panarello had the keys to their rental car in the plane with him when it went down.

The friend, Adam, gave Panarello a ride back to the Sault Airport to pick up their rental car.