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Plane makes emergency landing in Illinois

A Learjet with eight people aboard made an emergency landing Monday at Lambert-St. Louis airport after reporting landing gear trouble, the FAA confirmed.The plane was met on the ground by emergency vehicles.
CNN reported earlier that the plane was from Wooster, Ohio.

The plane initially was preparing to land at a small regional airport in Cahokia, Ill, but instead opted for the nearby St. Louis airport.

Diane Earhart of St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia said Monday afternoon that air traffic control had confirmed the aircraft's landing gear was not functioning correctly, the Associated Press reported. She said the pilot circled the airport to determine when and how to land.

Fire trucks, ambulances and emergency crews were on the scene, but the pilot decided to make the landing attempt at the St. Louis airport instead.
Cahokia is 5 miles south of St. Louis.

11Fan

Wife told me they interrupted morning News for an hour to watch the landing but were following the wrong aircraft.

Hawker Driver

It was a Lear 45. Vast system and safety improvements over 20 and 30 series Learjets. Flying one myself. Curious to see what comes out.

USMCFLYR

Two weeks ago when I was there I swear KSTL was still in MO - not IL
At least the opening line in the actual article made more sense!

Stetson29

The emergency landing was going to take place at the St. Louis Downtown Airport which is actually on the east side of the river in Illinois.
They then thought it was a better to use the facilities at Lambert which is on the west side of the river in St. Louis, MO.

USMCFLYR

Yes - I realize that which is why I said that the first line of the article was more accurate:
, but as pointed out - it did not make an emergency landing in IL. I know it is a small thing, but just another example of the inattention to detail in the media - and this isn't even an obscure aviation related item that only a pilot would pick up on, but simple US geography. Reminds me of the the senior in high school who passed his geography quiz forward on the first day of class and had only named the immediate states around Oklahoma and thought the capital of Texas was Dallas

Droopy

The best line heard on CNN was right after it was announced they were going to divert from Downtown Airport to Lambert Field, the talking head blows up at the "expert" about why a pilot would pass up a perfectly good concrete runway to go crash in a field...

You can't make this stuff up...

DoNotReset

I love how the expert on Fox News did not have an answer to "what is aerodynamic braking?" Where do they get these guys?

bliddel

I seem to recall that they "confirmed" the nose gear was not working correctly, but that somehow the nose gear kept the pointy end off the runway until it stopped rolling, and everyone could deplane. Some "confirmation". Still, glad it work out OK.

cardiomd

Yeah... I saw that too. In his defense, he didn't say crash, and learned his mistake quickly, but man.. Reporters are often very not bright. You can read the whole comedy here:

CNN.com - Transcripts