Why were all those emergency vehicles and helicopters at Exit 30 today? Davidson, Cornelius, and Mount Mourne firefighters, as well as Mecklenburg EMS and Davidson police, searched the Exit 30 area for a reported airplane down after 10:30am Friday, but turned up nothing. In the end
emergency crews called off the search after firefighters determined that a parachute ultralight had landed safely.
Callers to 911 around 10:30am reported that a plane may have gone down on Northwest Drive, at Davidson Landing. Fire companies responding searched the immediate area, then expanded the search. Other fire companies checked the area around MSC Industrial Supply, on the other side of I-77, Lake Davidson, and Langtree peninsula off I-77 Exit 31.
At about 10:50am, Davidson Fire Chief Bo Fitzgerald reported via fire radio that witnesses near the North Harbour Club in Davidson had seen a parachute ultralight flying in the area.
At just after 11am, witnesses told emergency responders that they had seen a man on an ultralight with a light-colored parachute land safely near Langtree and Mecklynn roads, off I-77 Exit 31. They said the man had stowed his equipment and left the area in a yellow SUV.
Firefighters soon called off the search, after concluding that the aircraft was the same one seen earlier.
David Boraks 