Dead Stick Landing at Byron

We had an interesting situation yesterday at Byron.

I was the tow pilot and was positioned on the runway 30. The glider was already hooked and the rope was tight. I was just looking at the panel, to verify oil temp and pressure and waiting for the glider call to start rolling. Instead of the usual "rope is tight ..." call, I heard "16Y, do you see the airplane of the runway?". I looked up and didn't see anything, the airplane nose partially obstructs the view ahead. I looked to the side and this is when I saw an airplane rolling on runway 12 towards us. It was a warbird (not sure exactly what it was) (T-28B, ed.) and I noticed the propeller was not turning (he was close enough to see that!), he was decelerating and moving to the right side of the runway.

I remained in position until the airplane stopped on the side of the runway, maybe 50 feet from us. After the initial shock, I realized there was more than enough room to start the takeoff roll and the glider announced they also were ready to do it. Since this is was clearly the fastest way to get out of the runway, I decided to take off and the rest was uneventful.

It turns out that the warbird had an engine seizure at 6,000 feet, about 6 miles from Byron and he elected to land there. During the emergency, he didn't have the time to fetch Byron frequency and since he was not on flight following, he didn't have ATC to ask for it either. He just broadcasted on 121.5 and landed on the first runway he saw, which happened to be 12.

I sure am happy that we didn't start the take off roll 10 seconds earlier.

Note to self: verify that there is nothing on the runway right before starting the takeoff roll, by looking not only over but also to the side of the towplane cowling. Or, position the towplane slightly to the side so as to have unobstructed view of the runway ahead.

Thomas Daniel