After Chatham airport incident, how often do pilots forget to lower wheels when landing?
After a pilot and his grandchild took a plane ride Sunday, the aircraft landed hard at the Chatham Municipal Airport, according to Huntley Harrison.
"As he attempted to land, he forgot to put his wheels down, but it was a relatively safe landing," Harrison, chair of the Chatham Airport Commission, said of the pilot. "There were some metal scrapings on the runway — you can see where it slid on its belly."
Neither the pilot nor passenger were injured, and both helped themselves out of the Cessna 182-RG, a four-seat single-engine airplane, Harrison said. The name of the pilot hasn't been released.
The undercarriage and the propeller of the Cessna were damaged, Harrison said. "We aren't sure how that affects the engine itself — more than likely it did."
The rocky landing suspended operations at Chatham Municipal Airport.
After passengers were evaluated, Tim Howard, Chatham Municipal Airport manager, said all operations at the airport were suspended, Runway 24 at the airport was temporarily closed, and the aircraft was removed, followed by a mandatory safety check of the area. The runway re-opened at about 11:57 a.m., according to a press release.
Airport staff removed the plane from the runway by jacking it onto a dolly. The plane was then towed to the maintenance hangar where the gear was evaluated.
"Other than the fact that the wheels weren’t down, it was a perfect landing," Harrison said.
The Federal Aviation Administration was also notified, but because the incident was a minor event, Howard said there most likely won't be a finding.
"It's technically not even considered an accident. The FAA will just follow up with the pilot and decide if any recurring training is needed," he said.
Howard said pilots frequently forget to engage the wheels of an aircraft during private and commercial flights.
"It's happened here before and pretty much at every airport over the course of time," he said. "There are systems involved to remind the pilot that the gear is up. Sometimes those systems fail, sometimes it's pilot error."
The Federal Aviation Administration could not immediately be reached by the Times for comment.
Contact Rachael Devaney at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Chatham Airport: Hard landing for Cessna plane, no injuries
