A small plane’s landing gear malfunctioned, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing at the Springbank Airport on April 30.
According to Larry Stock, Airport general manager with the Calgary Airport Authority at Springbank, two flying instructors had been flying the plane in a circuit (rectangular pattern) around the airport, making touch-and-go landings.
“On one of the landings, the pilot said something didn’t feel right with the landing gear,” said Stock. “They performed a low-and-over so that the guys in the tower could take a look at the plane and they saw that the landing gear wasn’t fully extended.”
The main landing gear in the body of the plane was extended, but the gear at the nose had malfunctioned.
The plane was brought in for an emergency landing, but because the landing gear in the nose had not extended, the main landing gear was unable to hold and the plane skidded on its belly before coming to a stop.
Both occupants of the aircraft were uninjured.
Rocky View Fire station number two, along with the Cochrane Fire Department were contacted for precautionary reasons.
“In a situation like this, we will always contact emergency services in the event that something goes wrong,” said Stock. “Thankfully they weren’t required.”
Stock said these kinds of malfunctions are not common.
“If we have one incident like this every two or three years, that’s about the average,” he said.
The plane was removed from the runway by the Alberta Transport Safety Board, which will now investigate the incident.
