Planes aren’t supposed to land with the gear up so Saturday’s emergency landing was a first for professional pilot Steve Buchenroth and it came out well when the Diamond Twin Star final slid to a stop on the runway of Bellefontaine Regional Airport.
A trooper of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and employees of Midwest Corporate Air investigate the scene of a plane crash on the runway Saturday evening.at the Bellefontaine Regional Airport. (EXAMINER PHOTO | REUBEN MEES)
Buchenroth, whose flight experience includes jet fighters with the Ohio Air National Guard, corporate jets and commercial jets, said in a Facebook post the experience left him “humbled, thankful and proud.”
As the owner of Midwest Corporate Air Inc., Buchenroth operates not only the airport but a booming flight instruction school.
Saturday he was up with Pennsylvania resident and private pilot Jason Julius for a check ride.
Julius had completed his private pilot multiengine training and was demonstrating his mastery of the skills necessary for certification.
As he prepared for his last landing around 3:45 p.m., he noticed on two of the three landing gear struts came down.
“He did a great job becoming a multiengine pilot and now at the end of his checkride, he was handed a real emergency — a landing gear stuck in the up position,” Buchenroth said “Of course the checkride was over so now we had to deal with a real emergency, as a crew.”
For the next hour and 15 minutes, Buchenroth and Julius with assistance from ground crews tried to get the stuck left gear down. After consultation with experienced pilots and the Diamond factory, the pilots decided to land with wheels up.
They brought the plane in and shut down the engines to avoid damage. Their decision to have a controlled emergency landing paid off and the plane nestled onto the 5,000-foot runway and slid to a stop.
Dustin Wickersham, an instructor who trained Julius, said the plane sustained minimal damage and should be easily repaired as just one blade of each propeller was damaged and scraps were found on the engines cowlings, underside of the tale and few other spot but not the fuselage nor the wings.
Read the full story in Monday’s Examiner.