Wenham Crews Among Those Called When 'Alert' Issued at Airport

First responders from Wenham were among crews from three communities that were called to Beverly Municipal Airport this week when a plane with engine trouble was headed there to land.

The pilot of a single-engine airplane landed it safely after having engine trouble Tuesday night and prompting the emergency response.

It happened at about 7 p.m. at Beverly Municipal Airport when the pilot of a Cessna 172 notified Boston-area air traffic controllers that his alternator had failed.

Those controllers told the pilot – who was the only one on board – to land in Beverly, which was the nearest airport, said Airport Manager Bob Mezzetti.

The plane’s engine trouble prompted a response from emergency crews in Beverly, Danvers and Wenham, since the airport in partially in each of those communities.

The so-called “Alert 2” is “very rare” and Mezzetti said it has been at least a year since an emergency response of that magnitude was requested to the airport.

“He landed without incident while the (emergency crews) were in route,” Mezzetti said.

Mezzetti said the plane was not originally headed to Beverly and he believed that it was headed to Hanscom Field in Bedford, but since the plane landed without any problem there was not a lot of information obtained about the plan. He said the pilot likely took his plane to North Atlantic Air, on the Danvers side of John Mountain Field, for repair.