Plane Lands Safely After Engine Fails

A Wings West propjet commuter plane on its way from Los Angeles to Merced made an emergency landing at Fresno Tuesday morning after a propeller from one of its two engines tore off and embedded in the fuselage.

Officials said the mishap left the engine dangling from one wing. The impact of the propeller slightly injured several of the 15 passengers and caused sudden decompression of the cabin, forcing the pilot to descend from 16,000 feet to an altitude at which those aboard could breathe comfortably.

The pilot, Barry King of Merced, managed a “tricky landing” that he “pulled off about as well as it could be done under the circumstances,” said Ben Nicholas, a Federal Aviation Agency spokesman who watched the touchdown with binoculars from the control tower at the Fresno Air Terminal.

Joanne Dowty, a spokeswoman at Wings West headquarters in San Luis Obispo, said the Fairchild Metroliner 2A took off from Los Angeles International Airport about 9:30 a.m. and was headed north over the Lemoore Naval Air Station about 40 minutes later when the propeller from the right engine ripped free and slammed into the passenger compartment.

King and co-pilot Dan Neuhl, also a Merced-area resident, radioed the tower at Fresno for permission to make an emergency landing. Ten minutes later, the crippled plane touched down safely.

Taken to Hospital

Two women passengers, Marilyn Miller, 32, and Pat McGuire, 58, were taken by ambulance to the Valley Medical Center, where they were treated and released. Other passengers received first aid at the airport for minor cuts and bruises.

The aircraft was towed to a hangar to await inspection by investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Another Wings West propjet commuter plane--a twin-engine Beechcraft C-99--collided with a private plane near San Luis Obispo a year ago, killing all 17 aboard the two aircraft. Ironically, the NTSB had been scheduled to make its final report on that crash at a board meeting on Tuesday, but the session was postponed for lack of a quorum.