ST. GEORGE – A plane crashed at the airport Friday afternoon after experiencing mechanical failure involving the landing gear.
Just before 5 p.m., a Piper Arrow, single-engine prop plane, was landing at the St. George Municipal Airport on runway 19 when the left landing gear malfunctioned and collapsed, causing the plane to skid off the runway and crash, Airport Operation Supervisor Brad Kitchen said.
Emergency responders stationed at the airport, as well as personnel from the St. George Fire Department, responded to the scene.
The plane’s occupants, the pilot and a passenger, were unharmed and declined medical attention. The same can’t be said for the plane.
The left landing gear snapped off the plane and that left wing looks like it will need to be replaced, Kitchen said. The plane’s nose gear was also damaged, he said.
Initial estimates of the structural damage are around $40,000.
A similar incident occurred at the airport two months ago when a twin-engine Cessna 310 also experienced landing gear failure upon landing.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by the authorities and may not contain the full scope of findings.
Two passengers in a single-engine airplane escaped injury after part of the aircraft’s landing structure failed Friday afternoon at the St. George Municipal Airport.
Emergency response personnel were alerted to a plane crash at the north end of Runway 19 shortly before 5 p.m., but within 10 minutes they were informed they could cancel their response.
Airport Manager Rich Stehmeier said there were two passengers on board the Piper Arrow and that neither required medical attention, and there was no fire danger for the plane.
“It was a gear collapse. … There was minimal damage to the airplane,” Stehmeier said.
Stehmeier said he had already contacted the National Transportation Safety Board and federal officials had “released” the airplane, authorizing local personnel to remove the aircraft from the runway.
The only deadly crash at the airport’s current location occurred in May 2012 when four residents from St. George, Washington City and Santa Clara were killed immediately after takeoff during an after-midnight incident that was not observed by airport personnel.
The most recent deadly crash in Washington County occurred last May when a training flight originating at the airport crashed in the mountains south of Santa Clara. Two Northern Utah teens were killed a couple of months later in a plane crash in the Virgin River Gorge.
Weather conditions were reportedly clear at the time of all three incidents but gusty winds were reported at the time of the crash in the gorge.
Source: http://www.thespectrum.com
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