JOHNSTOWN — A New Hampshire pilot and his two passengers are grateful to be alive after a hairy wheels-up landing today at Johnstown’s airport.
Chuck Burkhead of Portsmouth, N.H., was on approach to Somerset airport when his twin-engine Cessna 310’s instruments told him the aircraft landing gear was malfunctioning, authorities said.
Instead of trying the "belly" landing in Somerset, Burkhead decided to turn north for Johnstown, where he knew a strong emergency response was available, said Bob Heffelfinger, battalion chief for Richland Township Fire Department.
“He wanted to come here because he know the response,” Heffelfinger said.
Burkhead and his passengers circled the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport for about 90 minutes before making what a flight instructor described as a textbook wheels-up landing and evacuating the plane just before 2:30 p.m. today.
Airport traffic control Director Dennis Fritz was in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration following the incident to determine how to remove the aircraft from the airport’s main runway, airport Solicitor Tim Leventry said.
Burkhead and his passengers were en route from Portsmouth to Somerset for a business meeting, Leventry said.
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