Mundelein pilot credit for saving family
John Olson, of Mundelein, was piloting a small aircraft on is way home from Michigan. John's wife deborah and their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren were also on board. John was preparing to land his plane at a small Grayslake airport when the plane clipped a deer.
"We're just getting ready to touch down when the three deer came darting out from the north side crossing the runway, and one of the decided to sotp."
After striking the deer, John looked out the window of the plane and notice that the landing gear had been damaged. Instead of landing in Grayslake because it's an uncontrolled airport, John decided to fly to Wheeling and land at the Chicago Executive Airport. The flight too Wheeling took ten minutes. Olson said he was sweating, but felt calm.
Grayslake Airport officials said that in the over 40 years of operation they had never seen a deer get struck by a plane. The area surrounding the airport is wooded but the airport is not fenced in. Jim Tahaney, the manager of the Campbell Airport in Grayslake says that is was a good thing that John Olson was an experienced pilot. Someone with less experience may have run the plane off the runway.
Olson has been flying for over 15 years. Surprisingly, the landing was smooth even though the plane had sustained some damage from the collision with the deer.
