Pilot was ‘calm’ during turnpike landing

CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Frank Vogt, the pilot who made the emergency landing Monday morning on the New Jersey Turnpike, now has the perfect answer for that job interview question from last week.

When Vogt, a pilot for Metro Networks Westwood One,
interviewed for a position as a pilot with a skydiving company, an
interviewer asked what was his best and worst flying experience, said
his father, Frank Vogt 3rd, 56.

“If he had interviewed a week later, he would’ve had
them both in one day,” the elder Vogt said today in an interview from
the family’s home in Oakhurst, N.J.

The younger Vogt, 28, was on his way home around midday after being interviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration, his father said. His son, a 2004 La Salle University graduate, was “extremely calm,” during the emergency landing on the Turnpike in Cherry Hill.

“I would describe him more as exhilarated for doing the right thing,” his father said. “The experience is kind of surreal.”

About 6:45 a.m. EST, the Cessna 152 monitoring traffic for local radio and TV stations, landed safely, and no one was hurt, said the state police.

The plane landed on the northbound side, about two miles south of Interchange 4, off Route 73, backing up traffic for miles.

Vogt had the frame of mind to move the plane to the shoulder of the highway after touching down.

“We can’t even get motorists to do that when they break down,” Turnpike spokesman Joseph Orlando told The Associated Press.

Shortly after 7:30 a.m., the plane was loaded onto the large flatbed of a tow truck and hauled away.

“It was up flying traffic surveillance for us,” said
Charlie Yeirauch, regional director for Metro Networks Westwood One,
which provides reports to about 30 local radio and TV stations.

Traffic reporter Mike Lankford was on board with the pilot.

The younger Vogt has been a pilot since 2008 and is certified to fly single and twin engines, his father said.

His son is also certified flight instructor and has taught at Morristown Municipal Airport, his father said.

The younger Vogt is an Ocean Township High graduate and a former quarterback at La Salle, his father said. His son first stated working with Metro Networks as a producer out of college, his father said.

The plane took off from Northeast Airport around 6 a.m., and was over the Route 42-Route 55 area in South Jersey when the engine started sputtering the losing power, according to Steven Russell, president of Out of the Blue Inc., which operates the plane every day for Metro.

The younger Vogt told WTXF-TV in Philadelphia
that the engine lost oil pressure, and oil was visibly leaking from the
plane as it was being inspected in a turnpike maintenance yard.

He said he was losing altitude too quickly to make it to another airfield, and had to glide to a landing on the highway.

“Everything was pretty normal up until that point —
when the oil pressure started dropping,” the elder Vogt said in a phone
interview. “He told me that when he did his preflight, everything was
fine.”

The elder Vogt said that “the oil was all over the place, all over the side of the plane,” when his son got out of the plane.

“He said it was too dark to land in the fields,” said the elder Vogt. “I am proud of him. I am happy he did the right thing

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