Downed plane stranded on Rio ice

RIO, NY — A downed Cessna 172 aircraft looked very small on the icy expanse of Rio Reservoir where it remained Monday afternoon after a forced landing on Saturday afternoon, January 29.

Police said pilot, Segi Mkrtychev of Boonton, NJ and his passenger Benjamin Simoff of Bernardsville, NJ were not injured but endured a lengthy wait before New York State Trooper Tim Dowling found them.

Mkrtychev was lost at the time of his landing but, according to police, was able to contact a passing United Airlines jet, whose pilot notified the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Sullivan County Emergency Services Commissioner Richard Martinkovic contacted the U.S. Air Force, which located the plane’s signal beacon by satellite and provided location coordinates.

Dowling eventually located the chilled fliers about half a mile north of the Rio Dam. Mkrtychev told troopers that he was forced to make an emergency landing when his engine stopped, just minutes after take off from the Sullivan County Airport. He was able to set the aircraft down on the reservoir undamaged.

As there is no nearby road access and ice thickness varies on the reservoir, police said FAA officials were still working on how the airplane would be removed.

“They’d better get it out pretty soon, because that ice isn’t going to last very long,” Lumberland Supervisor John LiGreci said.