LAPLACE — A St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office lieutenant said he had a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving after making an emergency landing in a plane on a LaPlace street.

Chip Wale and his wife Robbie took off from Southeast Louisiana Regional Airport in Reserve Thursday morning but after about 15 minutes in the air, the couple experienced engine trouble that resulted in an emergency landing on Belle Terre Boulevard.

“At about 8 a.m. we took off to got pick up my kids from my parent’s house near Destin,” Wale said. “When we got near the I-10 and (U.S.) 51 area, the engine started running rough and losing (revolutions per minute).

“I then decided to make a return to the airport. By the time we got to the weigh station on the Interstate, the engine died.”

Wale said he had to decide then and there where to land.

“I told the person at control that I was making a landing on Belle Terre Boulevard and we just barely cleared the power lines at Fairway,” Wale said.

Wale said his flight training help him successfully make his first emergency landing.

“When you’re learning to be a pilot, you do a lot of training with power offs and landing and emergencies,” he said.

“A good portion of my hours of training was spent doing that. As for the staying calm part, I don’t know how we stayed calm. There was too much to do to worry about. Smoke was starting to get in the cockpit, and I was worried I was on fire. Thankfully, by the time we got on the ground, the smoke had cleared and it was just smoke from the oil tank.”

Southeast Louisiana Regional Airport Director Vincent Claire said Wale did a great job landing the Beechcraft Sundowner.

“There were no injuries, loss of life or damage on the ground,” Claire said. “It shows the importance of training in aviation. Following the landing, the aircraft was towed back to the airport.”

When the plane made it’s landing, Belle Terre Boulevard was not crowded.

“That’s part of the reason I chose Belle Terre,” Wale said. “The Interstate was one of my options, but Belle Terre had very little traffic on it from what I could see. It was the most favorable for me when it came to wind direction. We landed just south of Fairway Drive, and we actually pulled into the parking lot of Formal Connections. We landed around 8:20 or 8:30 a.m. We were just starting to climb up trying to reach an altitude of 3,500 to 5,500 feet.”

Wale said he is thankful the landing occurred in a place he is familiar with.

The FAA will look at the plane to determine the engine failure cause, Wale said.

The Beechcraft Sundowner is a four-seat, family plane that Wale owns with two other people.

After making the emergency landing, there was a bit of celebrating for Chip and Robbie.

“We hugged and kissed and said a prayer of thanks,” he said. “Then, we called the Sheriff’s dispatch to let them know what had happened and that everyone was OK. Of course they pulled out all the stops, it was like every fire truck in the parish showed up.”

— By Raquel Derganz Baker