100 years ago in Spokane: Famed local aviator crash-landed in the river safely, found himself in another type of trouble

Spokane’s famous aviator Nick Mamer escaped disaster during a forced landing in the Spokane River – but that was just the first of his problems.

Mamer emerged from his waterlogged plane “only to find himself requested to appear at the police station to answer to a charge of distributing handbills over the city.”

That, apparently, was considered an airborne version of littering.

About that landing, though. Mamer said he was circling over the city at 300 feet when he lost power.

“I at once saw that our only hope was to land in the Glover Stadium (in Peaceful Valley) or the river,” Mamer said.

He started for the stadium but “there were several children playing there” and he knew he might hit someone. So he turned toward the river.

The plane splashed into the water without injuring the wings or the fuselage. Its nose was lodged in a deep pool, and a current sucked the plane into the backwash.

Neither he nor his passenger, mechanic Robert Henderson, were injured. Some onlookers, aided by city firefighters, dragged the plane out of the river. The only damage came when the plane was dragged out over the rocks.

When Henderson was asked if he was scared, he said, “Not a bit; neither was Nick. We knew we could land in the river safely.”

Mamer was requested to appear at the police headquarters on the handbill charge. He and Henderson had been flying over downtown, tossing out handbills for the Class A Theater and the Unique Theater. He was booked and released on bail.

Mamer escaped this accident, but in 1938 he and nine passengers would die when his Northwest Airlines plane crashed in Montana.