Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Monday, March 5, 2018
(HUNTINGBURG) - A small plane made a successful emergency landing Saturday morning at Huntingburg Airport.
Airport Manager Travis McQueen says there were two people on board- a pilot and co-pilot both experienced pilots.
The pilots took off Saturday morning for Columbus from the Huntingburg Airport and learned while approaching the Columbus Airport that their front landing gear would not deploy.
The pilots made the decision to return to Huntingburg before attempting a landing.
McQueen was notified around 8:45 a.m. that the plane was returning to Huntingburg to attempt an emergency landing.
McQueen notified emergency crews. Huntingburg, St. Henry Volunteer Fire Departments and a Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services crew responded to the scene. Airport board president Bob Duncan and airport employee Andy Kippenbrock were also on site.
Huntingburg Police Department and Dubois County Sheriff's Department shut down U.S. 231.
The plane circled the airport a couple of times attempting to drop the front landing gear - all attempts failed.
McQueen says a mechanical issue kept the landing gear from deploying.
Around 9:15 a.m. the co-pilot then brought the plane in at 80 miles per hour, touch downed with the rear landing gear laying the nose of the plane down on the runway. McQueen estimated that the copilot used about a thousand feet of the runway to slow to a stop. The co-pilot steered the plane between two lights off the south side of the runway into the grass.
The plane had minimal damage, of scratches and dents to the fiberglass bottom at the front of the plane where it skidded on the runway.
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