A BDF Defender aircraft is tonight still stuck in a swampy area 5 miles north of Gales Point Manatee. That is where "Defender 05" made an emergency landing yesterday afternoon around 3.
The plane was returning from flying a reconnaissance mission over Punta Gorda when it began experiencing mechanical problems. The plane was at an altitude of 1000 feet, and pilot Lt. Shawn Young decided to make an emergency landing. 5 minutes later he was in the marshes. Pilot Young and his 7 passengers, all soldiers, walked out of the plane without injury.
And while the passengers are okay - we are not sure about the plane. The BDF's Lt. Col. Reuel Black told us this evening that the plane can't be moved right now, but an investigation into the emergency landing is underway. The plane will remain in the swamp until it can be removed by a U.S. Chinook helicopter.
When the last Defender crashed in October of 1998, it took two months to move it and three years to get a replacement. In an odd piece of historical symmetry, that replacement is this plane which just crashed.
Lt. Col. Black stresses that the work of the BDF will continue with another Defender aircraft.
