CEDAR CITY — The pilot of a small airplane made an emergency landing at Cedar City Regional Airport on Saturday after the aircraft reportedly experienced problems with its landing gear.
The plane could be seen circling the area for just over an hour after a pilot reported the problem. The single-engine Cessna 210 with four people aboard safely made a belly landing on the airport runway. No injuries were reported by emergency responders.
Tyler Galetka, airport operations specialist for Cedar Regional Airport, said that the pilot had called the owner of the aircraft and reported an issue where they couldn’t get the landing gear to fully extend or retract.
Galetka said that the owner of the plane then called him to tell airport officials of the problem at approximately 10:15 a.m.
Galetka responded to the airport, meanwhile airport personnel and emergency dispatchers were promptly notified.
The plane had taken off from Cedar Regional Airport earlier that morning on a recreational scenic flight, Galetka told Cedar City News, adding that when the plane took off, it was carrying an estimated four hours’ worth of fuel.
“We didn’t have a full response for a while. We just wanted to give them time to try to mitigate the issue in the air if they were able to,” Galetka explained. “So, that’s why we gave him the time to see if this was our only option.”
“Once we determined that the landing gear were not fully engaged, from a visual view from the ground and from the cockpit of the aircraft, we closed the airport down,” Galetka said.
At approximately 11:30 a.m., more than an hour after the initial call, the pilot made an approach and landed the plane on the runway.
“Upon landing, the landing gear did collapse and fully retract into the aircraft,” Galetka added. “It safely stopped on the runway with no injuries reported and no substantial damage.”
Galetka said the incident was considered minor enough for FAA to classify it as an “incident,” rather than an “accident.”
“We actually were able to lift the aircraft up on the runway and fully engage the landing gear,” he said. “The aircraft was able to taxi back to its hangar.”
Galetka commended the pilot, who he described as “not a super experienced pilot, but not a brand new pilot by any means.”
“He did a fantastic job,” he said. “He held his composure and did a really great job.”
Added Galetka:
You never know how the situations are going to unfold. So, while we were prepared for the worst, we’re extremely ecstatic that the best-case scenario happened. We’re so grateful for all the other first responders that were there to assist, and for the pilot to get it in there safely. We’re super grateful that it turned out so well.
Once the plane had been removed from the runway, the airport was cleared to reopen and was able resume normal operations around 12:30 p.m.
One commercial flight did experience a delay during the incident, Galetka said, adding, “Some general aviation flights had to divert or hold or whatever they needed to do until we could reopen.”
This report is based on preliminary information provided by airport officials and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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