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Show This Cessna 172, followed by some 75 vehicles, made its way slowly eastward on Highway 12 Tuesday afternoon to Bryce Canyon Airport The pilot, after attempting landings in strong cross winds, was BRYCE It isn't every day that busy Highway 12 becomes an airport runway but that's how the highway was used about 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. It was supposed to be a quick 40-minute scenic flight from Page lo Bryce Canyon and back when the potential for disaster struck. Swiss pilot Arthur Weber and passenger Ruth Huber, both of jrich, Switzerland, approached bLce Canyon Airport in a Cessna 172, circling and repeatedly attempting at-tempting to land. Fifty-seven year old Weber was no stranger to Bryce or the airstrip as he had flown vacationers here once or twice a year for over 15 years. Weber has a base of operation in Tucson, Ariz. Tuesday afternoon was different. dif-ferent. As Weber called on his radio to Assistant Airport Manager Man-ager Trent Moyer, he was having difficulty negotiating the turn for an approach with winds gusting upwards of 30 miles per hour. 1 ' i. forced down by downdrafts onto the highway near the top of Red Canyon as he tried another go-around. . He and his passenger were uninjured, and no one on the ground was hurt. Cessna Establishes Highway 12 As Longest Garfield County Runway Weber came in, turned, and as he tried to land found his plane drifting as much as 35 degrees. As he continued to try to land, but the cross winds were much too strong and Weber was forced to stay on an west to east path paralleling Scenic Byway 12. Headed west, Weber was concentrating on his altitude and continually fighting downdrafts, when he was suddenly forced down at full throttle, bringing his plane down onto Highway 12 during a lucky break in its normal traffic. He barely missed the top of one eastbound car and stopped just at the top of Red Canyon where he was able to pull the plane off the highway onto a wide pullout used by snowplows for turning. A car following Weber had a cell phone and called in the emergency landing. Don Mosier, Escalante, who serves with the law enforcement division of the Forest Service was first on the scene. Garfield County Sheriffs dispatcher dis-patcher Neil Foster quickly dispatched dis-patched Deputy John Niemann and Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Paul Bailey, with Bailey arriving at the scene in about 15 minutes. It was determined unsafe for Weber to take off on the highway with winds still gusting, so plans were set in motion to have him taxi the plane the five miles back to the airport. While Niemann held traffic at the turnoff to Bryce Canyon Airport, Mosier held traffic back at the top of Red Canyon. Bailey went ahead of the plane with lights flashing and the transport took nearly 30 minutes for the plane to travel the distance. Seventy-five eastbound vehicles were held up behind the plane while 55 more waited at the airport turnoff. Moyers, back at the airport, (See CESSNA on Page 4A) Cessna Lands On Highway 12 At Top Of Red Canyon From Front page approaching the airport over the extreme north end of Bryce Canyon to land. Airport officials however, stress that the northern tip of Bryce Canyon, the section north of what is locally known as "The Dump," goes virtually without visitors year round. Moyers said that the air-port's 7,500-feet altitude can create problems for pilots of smaller aircraft who often don't realize that their engines perform as they would at a much higher altitude because of typically less dense air at the airport, particularly on warm afternoons. Density of the air decreases as the temperatures go up, giving the pilots less lift when they take off, but today's problem, according to Airport Mnager Greg Pollock and Moyers were the cross winds which forced the plane off the runway path each time the pilot tried to touch down. He was going around for another attempt when the same heavy winds forced him down onto the highway. Back at the airport, Weber and his passenger were waiting not only for winds to lessen but for cooler temperatures. not hearing from Weber, thought his plane had gone down. ' His suspicions were heightened when he looked toward Highway 12- and saw traffic backed up all the way to the Bryce junction. He jumped into his pickup and headed to talk with Officer Niemann and then saw the plane being taxied down the highway. Weber thanked everyone who helped in the emergency situation and once back at the airport waited with his passenger hoping winds would let up. He said in all his 35 years of flying, having flown over 8,000 hours -.and instructed over 300 new pilots, this was his first mishap. Had there been a usable cross-wind cross-wind runway at Bryce Airport, the problem would have been avoided, said Weber. He agreed with Moyer that, for safety's sake, Bryce Canyon Airport definitely had a need for a cross wind runway. Moyer said that Bryce Airport already has a 3500-foot cross wind dirt runway and had tried unsuccessfully to upgrade it to 4500 feet and pave it. He said that officials at Bryce Canyon National Park had opposed upgrading of that runway because flights would -be |