QUOTE OF THE DAY “I’m not in any hurry. I think it’s a serious decision, not to be made lightly, but it’s also not one that has to be made soon.” Hillary Rodham Clinton, on running for president in 2016 Article, this page Small plane lands along Chicago street
CHICAGO - The pilot of a single-engine plane made an emergency landing early Sunday along Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive because of mechanical malfunctions.
John Pedersen told the Chicago Sun-Times he was flying over the lakefront about 6 a.m. when an elevator on his experimental plane broke, causing the aircraft to shake.
“I thought the plane was going to break apart,” he said.
He landed in the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive near Grant Park, authorities said.
Chicago police said no one was injured. Traffic on the iconic roadway along Lake Michigan was back to normal within a few hours, Chicago police spokesman Jose Estrada said.
Pedersen, 51, of the Chicago suburb of Lombard, said two cars hit the plane’s left wing after he landed, but drove off.
The plane was later pushed off the roadway into a grassy area.
“This could have been fatal, been much worse. The toughest thing now is getting it out of here,” Chicago Police Sgt.
Craig Roberts told the newspaper. Authorities said Pedersen won’t be issued a citation.
Air Force launches missile in test flight
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - The U.S.
Air Force has launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile from the California coast in a test flight.
The Minuteman 3 blasted off about 3 a.m. Sunday from an underground silo at the Vandenberg Air Force, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. It was supposed to travel 4,200 miles to a predetermined target in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
A statement by the Air Force Global Strike Command did not include results of the test. Calls and an email were not immediately returned.
The military tests several missiles from the Vandenberg base every year to verify the weapon system’s accuracy and reliability. The next test was scheduled for Thursday.
Earlier this year, a missile test flight was delayed because of tensions with North Korea.
Crews assess, repair Colorado highways
LONGMONT, Colo. - State highway crews and National Guard troops worked furiously Sunday to repair highways to Colorado mountain towns cut off by unprecedented flooding.
Other teams were assessing how much damage needed to be repaired on Colorado’s eastern plains before trucks begin hauling in the fall harvest.
“They’re really humming,” said Jerre Stead, the corporate executive chosen by Gov. John Hickenlooper to oversee the state’s recovery from the catastrophic floods, which killed seven and wreaked havoc across 17 counties and 2,000 square miles.
Stead and Don Hunt, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, said they were optimistic they can meet a Dec. 1 target to complete temporary fixes to at least some roads, if more bad weather doesn’t interfere.
Quick repairs are critical because winter weather will make highway work more difficult and force the closure of the high-elevation Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, one of only two routes still open into Estes Park, a small town at the park’s east entrance.
Also looming are the harvests from Colorado’s $8.5 billion-a-year agriculture industry, which relies on trucks to get cattle and crops to markets.
Glitch delays Space Station supply ship
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A brand new commercial cargo ship making its orbital debut experienced navigation system trouble Sunday, and its arrival at the International Space Station was delayed at least two days.
The event was aborted less than six hours before the scheduled arrival of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Cygnus capsule, packed with 1,300 pounds of food and clothes for the space station crew.
The Virginia-based company said it already has developed a software repair. If all goes well, the capsule will make another docking attempt Tuesday morning.
Because this is a test flight, nothing valuable or urgent is on board. If necessary, it could keep orbiting the world for weeks, even months, before pulling up at the orbiting lab.
Three astronauts - an American, Italian and Russian - are aboard the orbiting outpost. On Wednesday, three more crew members will be launched from Kazakhstan. Orbital Sciences will have to work around that manned flight, delaying the Cygnus further if a Tuesday hookup is not feasible.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 09/23/2013