Pilot who had emergency landing earlier narrowly escapes new incident

Kelly Neil, 31, said he was flying acrobatic maneuvers in a single-engine plane late Saturday afternoon when his control stick stuck.

"I was at about 6,000 feet and started into a spin and it went over about two, two and a half times, and that is typically when I recover," Neil said. "But I couldn't regain control."

The plane went into a stall, started to spin and descended toward the desert about a mile north of the Paiute Indian reservation, northwest of Las Vegas.

"I tried to jettison the door and it jammed," Neil said. "I sort of threw my weight against it and it opened."

Neil was able to parachute to safety. The plan was demolished.

Neil, who is employed by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as an identification technician, landed the same plane last month on U.S. 95 northwest of Las Vegas when a fuel line malfunctioned. He was not injured in the landing.

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