KUDOS to Piedmont!
 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/US-Airways-Express/De-Havilland-Canada/1423479/M/

Plane lands despite failed landing gear

By Mari A. Schaefer
Inquirer Staff Writer

A US Airways Express flight with 38 people aboard touched down without its front landing gear yesterday morning at Philadelphia International Airport. There were no injuries.
The crew of the deHavilland Dash-8 turboprop, flying from Allentown, notified the airport at 8:20 a.m. that they had an indication the landing gear did not descend correctly, according to airport officials.
The flight was operated by Piedmont Airlines Inc. as US Airways Express Flight 4551. There were 35 passengers and three crew members aboard.
"They did a flyover so they could observe if the landing gear was down," said Victoria Lupica, airport spokeswoman. She said emergency fire crews were activated.
The plane, on a regularly scheduled flight, then circled and landed on runway 27L at 9:20 a.m. The airport was closed for about 25 minutes. Runway 27L remained closed for about four hours, Lupica said.
"There was no smoke, there was no fire," Lupica said. She said the fire crews sprayed foam as a precaution.
The passengers and crew were evacuated by bus and taken to the terminal. There was minor damage to the plane.
The National Transportation Safety Board was notified, according to Holly Baker of the Federal Aviation Administration. The Flight Standard, a local branch of the FAA that deals with emergencies, was called to the scene.
According to the airport Web site, there were general delays of up to 30 minutes.

that is THE dumbest story title i have ever seen. DESPITE the failed landing gear? those pilots are bad, they should have never landed the plane if the landing gear wasn't working!

So what, they should've flown around indefinitely? You do understand that landings are mandatory, right?

Yah what are they supposed to do fly around until the fuel runs out. My guess is coming from Allentown to PHL they dont have a tonne of fuel to play with.

Dont call these guys the dumbest pilots ever because you werent there, you dont know the full story or what was going on in the cockpit. It's never smart to criticize people after they deal with a possible emergency. Main parts of the story were the aircraft had minor damage and nobody was hurt.

What else did you wanna have happen??

hmmm... this is taking a turn in the wrong direction since some peoples reading comprehension skills have taken a nose dive. my post was sarcastic and was pointing out what the reporter was thinking, hence the reason i said that the title of the story is dumb.

the author wrote they landed despite failed landing gear. so in my post i was making fun of the author, not the pilots.

so in conclusion since i have to spell everything out for you guys, i will repost what i said with clarifications.

me: that is THE dumbest story title i have ever seen. DESPITE the failed landing gear?

what reporter was thinking when he wrote story: [sarcasm]those pilots are bad, they should have never landed the plane if the landing gear wasn't working! dont they know that is dangerous![/sarcasm]

Wow...I guess some people don't understand sarcasm

yeah, dumb pilots! :)

Lets see: No loss of life to passengers or crew. Aircraft sustained minor damage. Yep, good job in my book!

wow, seriously? i hope thats sarcasm, i know the two folks flying the plane and they're good pilots and great individuals

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drums4life (Post 500297)

Wow...I guess some people don't understand sarcasm

---

you guys are amazing.... thanks for playing!

Airsupport, what do you want those 2 pilots to do? climb out the window and "descend" the landing gear themselves? How dare they land :)


YES SARCASM:confused::D

i know! how dare they not think of the passengers safety! if i were the captain on that flight i would have stayed in the air indefinantly. i mean if the landing gear wont come down what else are you supposed to do, land despite the gear not working??

Editor must have cropped the approptiate title ...

Plane lands SUCCESSFULLY despite failed landing gear !

that's mo' better

;)

:D

And now a message from our Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQ):
 

Flight/Cabin/Dispatch/Airport Ops/ATC:

Good job.

One complaint:

Next time, please divert that 64 Knot 1.3 Vso airplane back to KABE.

Let KABE foam the first 300 feet of rwy 24 and leave KPHL alone!!

-mmq

Who won, and who gets the runner up prize?:D

Give me a break dude....for one, they wouldn't have adequate fuel to return.

Give me a break dude....for one, they wouldn't have adequate fuel to return. I am hoping YOUR post was sarcastic!

For whatever it's worth, I just read through this entire thread and understood from the get go what you were saying and it made me laugh....
Horrible pilots for landing with a failed landing gear (sarcasim for those of you that don't understand)

Something tells me PHL was a little better equipped to handle something like this that ABE.

Meh, nope. I'd pick PHL for the increased chance at surviving should things have gone horribly wrong. If not, at least PDT delivered the folks to their connections on time :cool:

I was just about to say that, I bet that was the biggest topic in the back... "I hope I make my connection."

good job none the less to the crew !

i'll be honest, i read the first page ONLY, and i'm laughing hysterically now.

C'mon, KABE is much better to handle this...this has to have been a Suburban crew, which means land, walk to car and go home.

No PDT base in PHL, why in the h**L would you not land on the longest, widest runway? A true sob story that their proper decision making and airmanship inconvenienced you "real" airplane drivers.:p