Novice Pilot Flips Plane on Landing at Torrance

Edward Null won’t let a little thing like landing upside down stop him from practicing his flying.

The novice Redondo Beach pilot walked away with an ankle bruise Monday when the rented Cessna 152 he was flying suddenly veered to one side at Torrance Municipal Airport and nosed over during a touch-and-go practice landing.

“I was doing pretty good, and this was just one of those things,” Null said of his unusual return to earth. “It was an accident, and I feel bad that it happened . . . but I just want to keep it quiet and go on about my business.”

Null, who took his first solo flight two months ago and has clocked about 30 flight hours, was so eager to get on with his training that he climbed right back into another cockpit within two hours of the 1:15 p.m. mishap.

The Southwest Skyways flight instructor who accompanied him on the second trip “was very supportive and said I flew better than him,” said Null, who has nearly completed the requirements for a pilot’s license.

Southwest Skyways President Karen Sherman, whose company rented the Cessna to Null, did not want to discuss the incident, which she said was “no big deal.”

The company’s insurance carrier had not assessed the damage to the plane, Sherman said.

Investigators for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that they are still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong.

Suddenly Swerved

An air traffic controller who witnessed Null’s approach and landing said nothing seemed unusual as the plane taxied down the runway until it suddenly swerved to one side and flipped over in a dirt field.

“It’s not my fault that it happened,” Null said. “I did everything I was trained to do.”

When the plane started to veer off, Null said, he feared that a sharp correction would make him lose control. Instead, he decided to roll into the dirt area beside the runway. A small embankment in the field spoiled his effort.

Safety board investigator Wayne Pollack said officials will consider smoothing out that bump to prevent similar accidents.

Null hopes the mishap won’t reflect badly on the airport, which he said is “very safe.”

“I’ve been really getting into the flying, and this was really a bummer,” he said.