botched landing was caused by the plane's landing gear

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

http://www.nwamorningnews.com/2000/january/31/news/0131drakeplanecrash.shtml

No injuries reported when plane skids off runway The Morning News

Two men escaped injury Friday night when the plane they piloted skidded off the runway at Drake Field in Fayetteville as they attempted to land.

The botched landing was caused by the plane's landing gear, although airport officials are not yet sure whether mechanical failure or human error was responsible, according to Carl Henry, an air-traffic controller at the field.

"That we don't know -- whether he forgot to put it down or it just failed. That's what they're trying to determine," he said.

The plane, a twin-engine Merlin Metro SW4, was occupied only by the pilot and co-pilot and was a commercial aircraft carrying freight from Tulsa, he said.

The winter storm that hit the area Thursday was not responsible for the accident, which occurred around 9:30 p.m., he said. The runway had been plowed, he said, and the plane was cleared to land.

Henry said no other planes were inbound at the time, so traffic was not disrupted.

No damage was done to the runway, he said, and the minor damage done to the field was repaired.

-- boop (leafyspurge@hotmail.com), February 04, 2000


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