No matter how many baseball games you go to – with all those runs, hits and errors – you’ll likely never see anything like what happened on July 31, 2003, in Anchorage, Alaska.
"There's a plane coming down on the field right now!"
Those are the words of Gero von Dehn, the former voice of the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks.
And that field?
Its Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage, home to a couple of teams in the Alaska Baseball League, where college players – with dreams of going pro – play ball in the summer.
Seven years ago, Pat Overholt of the Lancaster Barnstormers was one of those players. "It really was a once in a lifetime experience being there," said Overholt, a pitcher who attended Santa Clara.
Also a member of the Anchorage Bucs baseball team? Another young pitcher named Andrew Kown, who was a rising junior at Georgia Tech in 2003. Kown is now a member of the Harrisburg Senators, the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.
"I had actually pitched the previous day," recalls Kown, who was originally selected by Detroit in the fifth round of the 2004 draft. "And I was up in the booth getting interviewed."
Pat, a relief pitcher, was in the bullpen.
"Its funny how we can really take ourselves back to that moment," Overholt said.
That moment came with very little warning. During a baseball game between the Bucs and the Goldpanners, a small plane appeared to be coming toward the stadium.
It was a Cessna that was clearly in trouble.
"We got a crazy landing going on, right onto the field, (no) right behind the field," von Dehn told his audience. "No way did that just happen!"
Fans and players rushed to see what happened. Kown told CBS 21 News Sports Director Jason Bristol he recalls being one of the first on the scene. "I remember getting right down there and everyone was just standing around," said Kown. "The pilot yelled for someone to come help him out.
"He said, "It’s not going to blow up.'"
Yes, the pilot was alive. And the passengers, too.
The plane had run out of gas. The impact with the ground behind the stadium’s left field wall ripped the engine right off the fuselage.
"After hearing the impact, and how loud it was, I was definitely scared for a little bit," said Overholt, who was later drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 22nd round of the 2005 draft.
It could have been worse. Not only was a baseball game being played; a soccer game was happening right next to the stadium, as well. Somehow, the pilot managed to crash land in a small area between the two fields. The baseball game was finished after a delay; the soccer game was not.
According to the website check-six.com, no one on the ground was hurt. One passenger on the plane suffered a dislocated ankle, several broken ribs, and multiple bruises and cuts, while the other broke his right arm.
The pilot apparently misjudged the amount of fuel he had on board, as well.
The NTSB concluded, according to check-six.com, that the likely cause of the crash was "(t)he pilot's incorrect positioning of the fuel tank selector valve to a nearly empty tank, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, and subsequent emergency landing at an off-airport site. Factors associated with the accident were the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection, and his inadequate remedial action."
The entire crash landing was caught on tape, too. Todd Dennis, the Goldpanners’ camera operator and website developer, was rolling while the plane came so dangerously close to crashing inside the baseball stadium.
That means Kown and Overholt will always be able to see something they will likely never see again.
"Its amazing we were there to see it in person," said Overholt.
"The fact that you can pull it up on video and go check it out on YouTube, that's amazing," added Kown.
Some video used in this story was provided by the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks (www.goldpanners.com).
