Pilot makes emergency landing at Maine Navy base

BRUNSWICK (AP) — A civilian pilot who brought his stricken aircraft to a safe landing at Brunswick Naval Air Station made some history before the closing of the base.

The emergency landing of a Cessna 172 on Wednesday appears to be the first such landing of a private aircraft in the installation's history, said Lt. Cmdr. Jorge Maderal, a base spokesman. Base officials scoured the logbooks dating to 1962 and could find no references to a similar situation, he said.

The pilot, James Jordan, was flying from Bangor International Airport to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire for a business meeting when the airplane developed engine trouble.

It's illegal for civilian aircraft to land on military installations, so the airplane was confiscated and checked out by base security officials Wednesday morning. "As all good bureaucracies go, they have to fill out all the paperwork and make sure the I's are dotted and the T's crossed," Maderal said.

Jordan, an experienced pilot who's a member of the Brewer-Bangor Civil Air Patrol, was given permission to bring in a mechanic, then he'll be given a one-time permission to take off.

Although most of its military aircraft are gone, the runways at Brunswick Naval Air Station remain open, and fire trucks were on hand to greet Jordan's plane at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Remaining P-3 Orion patrol aircraft are due to depart the base by early December.