Plane 'taxied down main street to Newman pub' 
 
 Updated 
 
 A Pilbara resident has spoken of his surprise at seeing a plane parked outside his local pub after its owner apparently taxied it down the main street so he could get a drink. 
 
 Officers were called to the Newman Hotel, also called the Purple Pub, about 2:00pm on Friday. 
 
 Witnesses told police the light aircraft, with its propeller running, had taxied from one end of the mining town to the other. 
 
 The aircraft did not have wings and was later towed from the pub. 
 
 Newman resident Beau Woolcock said he and his five-year-old daughter watched on as the plane was towed away. 
 
 "On the way back through [town] ... here's a plane parked outside the Purple Pub," he said. 
 
 "Even more special [was] seeing one of the local coppers poking his head in the door of the plane looking like he was asking for a licence. 
 
 "Even though no-one was in the plane at the time, I was like, what the hell?" 
 
 Police have charged the 37-year-old plane's owner with an act likely to endanger the life, health or safety of a person. 
 
 He also had his plane impounded and was due in the Newman Magistrates Court on November 18. 
 
 Newman Sergeant Mark Garner said the incident was being treated very seriously because there were children walking home from school at the time. 
 
 He said police had CCTV footage and had spoken to the plane's owner. 
 
 "When we arrived we found a Beechcraft two seater prop-driven plane parked in one of the bays," Sergeant Garner said. 
 
 "There was no-one there. The wings were off the plane. 
 
 "We made some inquires with some of the people in the pub and witnesses nearby and ended up speaking to a 37-year-old male." 
 
 He said the fact that the plane did not have a steering wheel made the situation very dangerous, and the propeller could also have caused significant damage. 
 
 "The danger obviously taxiing a prop plane down Newman Drive, bearing in mind that kids have just come out of school," he said. 
 
 "It's a busy Friday afternoon. I know it's Newman, but we do get a fair bit of traffic." 
 
 Mr Woolcock said the plane had attracted a crowd. 
 
 "The plane was empty but they had the fire brigade and the jaws of life there and stuff one of the local guys rocked up with his tow truck and ended up putting it up on there," he said. 
 
 "There were people sitting around by the Caltex with their phones up taking snapshots... as they would be... you don't get to see that every day." 
 
 Witnesses have been asked to contact police. 
 
 Topics: police, newman-6753 
 
 First posted ||||| A Newman man is set to face a charge of endangering life, health or safety, later this month after allegedly taxiing an airplane with no wings and no steering wheel to the local pub. 
 
 The 37-year-old man was charged on Monday night after allegedly taking the propellor driven Beechcraft two-seater aircraft through Newman to the Purple Pub on Friday October 31 at 2.10pm, Sam Dinnison said. 
 
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 Link Police say the plane had its propeller running, its wings removed and was being steered by foot pedals. Photo: Newman Police 
 
 Police allege the man had purchased the aircraft from a man on the other side of town and was taking it home before deciding to stop in at the pub. 
 
 An examination of the plane revealed the fuel line, hanging from the side of the aircraft, was attatched to a jerry can in the cabin enabling the plane to run, and when the man stopped at the pub he left the ignition on. 
 
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 Link Despite having no wings or a steering wheel, this plane was taxied at a Newman pub 
 
 The man does not hold a pilot's license, and roads were busy with other vehicles and pedestrians at the time. 
 
 He will appear in Newman Magistrates Court, facing the charge of endangering life, health or safety, on November 18. ||||| Harrison Ford, who made his name flying the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars, was hailed for his real life piloting skills as he survived a plane crash and averted disaster by steering his aircraft clear of houses. 
 
 Witnesses described how he veered away from homes and clipped a tree as he hit the ground just short of the eighth tee at Penmar municipal golf course, a stone's throw from a quiet cul-de-sac. 
 
 Golfers, including two off-duty doctors, rushed to the downed plane and pulled out the actor who was bleeding from his head. 
 
 Elaine Miller, one of the golfers, said he was "in pain". She said: "He had a significant head wound. He asked someone to hold his legs up and people were just saying 'You're OK, the fire department is on its way.'" 
 
 Paramedics strapped the actor to a spinal board and took him to hospital where he was described as in "moderate to fair" condition. 
 
 Mr Ford had taken off alone in the two-seater 1942 Ryan Aeronautical ST3KR from Santa Monica Airport at 2.20pm. 
 
 He then made a tense and rushed call to air traffic control saying: "Engine failure. Request immediate return." 
 
 He went quiet and a controller could soon be heard saying: "Looks like it (the plane) was short of the runway." 
 
 Paul Crumm, a pilot who uses the same airport, saw Mr Ford's plane much lower than it should have been and dipping below the tree line. 
 
 He told CNN: "I didn't hear the engine. It was definitely not there at that point. His engine was no longer effective so he couldn't keep going. In a situation like that Mr Ford did everything right." 
 
 
 
 The Hollywood actor Harrison Ford in London in 2013 (Reuters) 
 
 Paul Mitton, producer of Just Another Pilot, a documentary featuring Mr Ford, said: "Harrison is an extremely good pilot. Had he got a little further he would have been over suburbia and the outcome would have been very different and less happy. He did an incredible job of missing the trees (on the golf course)." 
 
 One resident said: "I heard the engine stop and he turned around when he was near the houses. I think it's amazing he made it back. He must be a very good pilot not just acting it well." 
 
 The plane came down between a line of tall trees and the golf course's perimeter chain fence. 
 
 On impact the nose buckled and the propeller ploughed into the ground. One of the yellow wings appeared to have snapped at the base. There was a 15ft long furrow behind the aircraft and one of the wheels had come off. 
 
 Jeff Kuprycz, who was playing golf, saw the plane about 200ft off the ground and dropping. 
 
 He said: "Immediately you could see the engine started to sputter and just cut out and he banked sharply to the left. He ended up crashing around the eighth hole. There was no explosion or anything. It just sounded like a car hitting the ground or a tree." 
 
 Howard Teba, who works at the golf course, said he heard a "thud" and later put a blanket under Mr Ford's hip. 
 
 He told the Santa Monica Daily Press: "There was blood all over his face. He had a massive gash on his forehead." 
 
 
 
 Calista Flockhart looked visibly upset the day after the crash (Splashnews) 
 
 Residents have previously demanded the closure of Santa Monica Airport over safety concerns and Mr Ford has been prominent in the campaign to keep it open, donating tens of thousands of dollars. 
 
 It is used regularly by aircraft enthusiasts such as Mr Ford, and also by Hollywood stars travelling by private jet. 
 
 In July 2010 a pilot died after his single engine Cessna crashed on the Penmar golf course, also near the eighth hole. 
 
 Patrick Jones, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said Mr Ford was "absolutely" lucky to have survived. 
 
 He said: "The pilot is an experienced pilot. The pilot reported a loss of engine power and was attempting to return to the airport. It appears he clipped the top of a tree and came to a rest on the golf course. I'm sure the pilot was glad there was a golf course here." 
 
 
 
 The scene of the crash at the Penmar Golf Course (Getty) 
 
 Patrick Butler, Los Angeles assistant fire chief, described Mr Ford has having been "alert, talking and breathing" after the crash. 
 
 A spokesman for the actor said in a statement: "Harrison was flying a WW2 vintage plane today which stalled upon take-off. He had no other choice but to make an emergency landing, which he did safely. The injuries sustained are not life-threatening, and he is expected to make a full recovery." 
 
 Mr Ford has been a pilot for at least two decades and owns about a dozen planes. 
 
 
 
 Harrison Ford as Han Solo flying the Millennium Falcon (Alamy) 
 
 Christian Fry, of the Santa Monica Airport Association, said: "I would say that this is an absolutely beautifully executed, what we would call, a forced or emergency landing, by an unbelievably well-trained pilot." 
 
 His off-screen life is filled with almost as many thrills and spills as the characters he portrays on film. 
 
 In 1999 he crash-landed a helicopter during a training flight near Los Angeles and was unhurt. 
 
 The following year high winds forced him to make an emergency landing of a plane in Nebraska. The plane clipped the runway and its wing tips were damaged.
– Buying a plane must be thirsty work: Police in Newman, Western Australia, say a man who had just purchased a two-seater Beechcraft decided to drive it home and stop for a beer at a pub on the main street on the way. A resident says he was astounded to see the plane, which had no wings or steering wheel, parked outside the Purple Pub. Even more special was "seeing one of the local coppers poking his head in the door of the plane looking like he was asking for a license," he tells ABC Radio. "Even though no one was in the plane at the time, I was like, what the hell?" After some initial puzzlement over what, if anything, the driver should be charged with, police settled on a charge of "endangering life, health, or safety," reports WAToday. A police spokesman says the incident is being taken very seriously because there were children walking home from school at the time that the man—who doesn't have a pilot's license—was taxiing through the town, using the plane's foot pedals to steer. He passed a breath test at the scene, but police decided to impound the plane.