The pilot of an Aerostar 601P landed his twin alongside a highway Thursday in Georgia after he may have run out of fuel. Area news outlets photographedIan McMahonstanding by the aircraft as local law enforcement officers milled about and motorists passing by looked on. The Times-Georgian reported that McMahon, who was otherwise fine as he waited for the FAA to have a talk with him, ran dry while en route from Hampton, Georgia, to West Georgia Regional. He landed by a highway bypass in Carrollton at 11 a.m., a local NBC station reported.
Photos of the Aerostar by the Times-Georgian show the aircraft suffered quite a bit of damage, sitting flat and upright on the grass with crumpled flaps, a curled propeller and a main wheel askew and flat on the ground. It wasn’t clear if the pilot’s forced landing was due to fuel exhaustion for both engines or fuel starvation. McMahon, a Hampton resident, was the only one aboard the twin, which is listed in the FAA registry as a 1974 model registered to him.
