The Universal Towing office in Port Orange, Florida, got an unusual call over the weekend. The company was asked to retrieve a Cessna Citation CJ3 business jet out of a pond adjacent to the Spruce Creek Airport in Port Orange, Florida. The pond lies at the bottom of a short grassy embankment at the end of the 4,000-foot paved runway.
FAA public affairs officer Holly Baker said in a statement that the airplane “went off the end of Runway 23 when it landed long at Spruce Creek Airport,” at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday. Universal Towing’s general manager Bruce Sewell told Flying that the airplane had slowly slid down the embankment and the three occupants of the airplane exited safely. An airbag system was used to lift the CJ3 out of the water.
While Sewell said there wasn’t a scratch on the airframe, it will likely be a while before the jet is ready to fly again.
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