Airplane to be trucked away from Gray's Lake

The owner of a single-engine airplane that made an emergency landing after engine problems occurred Tuesday afternoon on ice-covered Gray's Lake has figured out how to move it.

Elizabeth Isham Cory, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, said the agency was informed the wings will be removed from the 1972 Cessna 150L and the plane trucked from the lake.

Palwaukee Flyers, formerly known as Flight Center at Service Aviation Inc., owns the plane. The school is based at Chicago Executive Airport near Wheeling, where the flight originated.

Grayslake police Operations Cmdr. Matt McCutcheon said Wednesday initial plans were for the plane to be flown off the ice. He said police didn't endorse the idea.

"We had some concerns because they wanted to repair the plane and fly it out," McCutcheon said. "We were concerned about that because there are homes around the lake."

Authorities said the pilot and a 17-year-old passenger, both from Des Plaines, were uninjured after the plane made the emergency landing on the ice toward the middle of Gray's Lake. The pilot opted for the ice over Campbell Airport in Round Lake Park, about two miles southwest of the lake.

Grayslake police, the FAA and Palatine Flyers declined to identify the pilot and passenger.

Cory said the incident is under FAA investigation. She said the FAA is looking at various aspects under its jurisdiction, such as the pilot's certification and whether flight rules were followed.

An official probe will take about two weeks to complete, Cory said. A preliminary FAA incident report states the Cessna's engine failed and it "force landed" on the Gray's Lake ice.

Following the icy landing, the pilot taxied to a stop about 25 feet from the rear deck of a house off Lake Street south of Center Street in downtown Grayslake about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Officials said the ice at the time likely was about 14 inches thick.

Gray's Lake is an oval-shaped, 80-acre glacial body of water with a maximum depth of 20 feet, according to the most recent report by the Lake County Health Department's Lakes Management Unit in 2002. The average depth is 5.7 feet.

•Daily Herald reporter Mick Zawislak contributed to this report.

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