Small plane makes emergency landing in northwest Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It was rough start to the day for a the pilot of a small plane. Some sort of trouble forced him to make an emergency landing in a northwest Houston parking log. Neither the pilot or his passenger were hurt, but for those on the ground, it was quite a scene.

It happened just after 7am on Pinemont near the Northwest Freeway.

The day was just starting at TAM International when something didn't seem quite right.

Joy Stafford is the health, safety and environment manager for the company that manufactures inflatable and swellable packers for the oil industry. She could tell the pilot of "Junk Yard Dawg" was in trouble.

"Starting losing altitude and kind of banking around the corner. I knew something was not right," Stafford said.

"They noticed the engine began to fail about 290 and 610, so he turned around to recover to go back to the airport and this is where he ended up. The engine did fail," Houston Police Department Officer Tray Riley said.

Stafford headed toward the door that would take her to where it appeared the plane was going down and called 911.

"I thought the worst. I knew that he was about to crash, just by the angle," she said.

Friday's the company works with a partial crew, so there were more empty parking spots.

"I checked on them, he was out of the plane. He and his passenger both and they were both doing well," Stafford said.

And ironically Friday, managers within the company were taking a class on how to handle emergency incidents in the workplace.

"They got to come out and see an incident firsthand -- not that we would prefer but they did," Stafford said.

And this one ended with relief and amazement.

"Yes there's some damage to the plane, yes there's some damage to our landscaping but that can all be taken care of," Stafford said.

"That was threading the needle for him to be able to land in this small of an area with that kind of aircraft," Riley said.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the engine failure. The pilot and passenger both had their seat belts.