WINGS OF LIBERTY: 101st CAB pilots make emergency landing in Clarksville

Photo By Sgt. Marcus Floyd | A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter assigned to 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade landed in the yard of Penny Johnson, a retired lieutenant colonel, after an emergency landing en route to Sabre Army Airfield Tuesday. Johnson later received a certificate of achievement more helping out the Soldiers who landed in her yard.  

CLARKSVILLE, TN, UNITED STATES

06.22.2017

Story by Sgt. Marcus Floyd 

101st Combat Aviation Brigade

Early on June 16, Penny Johnson received an unusual phone call.

“I was awakened by a phone call from a neighbor, who was driving, [who] told me there was a helicopter in my front yard,” Johnson said. “I first thought it might have been a [medical evacuation] helicopter, because it’s happened before. The thought of an emergency landing hadn’t crossed my mind until the police officer approached me.”

While returning from a training mission in Indiana, a UH-60 Black Hawk from the 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, made an emergency landing onto Johnson’s front lawn.

“As the aircraft approached Fort Campbell, the weather began to deteriorate at which point we lost sight of the ground,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Drake, a UH-60M pilot with the regiment.

During the crew’s second attempt at approaching Sabre Army Airfield, Drake noticed the aircraft was low on fuel and he made the decision to land the helicopter.

“Once we saw a streetlight we knew we had to be able to see the ground and with our fuel being so low, instead of continuing our approach, we made a decision as a crew to go for the streetlight,” he said. “As we approached the streetlight we saw a field that turned out to be a front yard we thought the Black Hawk would fit into and my crew chief did an amazing job, they called us in and we were able to land safely.” Dodging streetlights, a home and several power lines to successfully land the helicopter, Drake said he was “thanking Jesus” the crew made it to the ground alive.

“It’s such a high stressful situation and there’s such a high task load of doing all our aviation duties that you don’t really have time to think about the magnitude of the situation because your adrenaline is rushing,” Drake said. “It’s not until afterwards that you think about what just happened.”

With the exception of the landing, one other thing stood out to Drake and his crew from that night – the assistance they received from a local resident.

“[Johnson] stayed out there with us talking and telling stories,” he said. “You could tell she was completely immersed in the situation and helped turn what could have been a bad situation turned into a good situation.”

However, helping Soldiers isn’t unfamiliar territory for Johnson. Serving almost 26 years in the Army, Johnson worked in the Nurse Corps and retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel almost 11 years ago.

After discovering the helicopter in her front yard was a military aircraft, Johnson said she was relieved to learn the crew and pilots were able to land in such a precarious location.

“Even though I had never met these gentlemen, the crew and the pilots, there was an automatic kinship,” Johnson said. “That Army kinship is always there and I was ready to get them whatever they needed, water, coffee or restroom facilities.”

Growing up near Fort Rucker, Alabama, Johnson spent most of her life around aviation thanks to her father’s military service.

“It makes me miss it a little bit, the kinship and the people, not so much the long hours and the deployments, but there’s just no professional like a military professional,” Johnson said. “I’ve worked in the executive world since I’ve retired, but military professionals are just unprecedented in their professionalism and their service not only to our country, but to the civilian population.”

Drake said it is people like Johnson, who make it possible for the military to operate successfully.

“That’s the only way these communities can thrive. Communities like Clarksville depend on Fort Campbell and Fort Campbell depends on Clarksville,” Drake said. “That’s the only way we can thrive by helping each other out and live in harmony between the two worlds.”

• Date Taken: 06.22.2017
• Date Posted: 08.10.2017 11:09
• Story ID: 244409
• Location: CLARKSVILLE, TN, US