The Nation - News from Aug. 6, 1989

Federal investigators said that two Piedmont Airlines mechanics in Washington accidentally left wheel chocks in the wheel wells of a jetliner that crash-landed because the left landing gear would not lower. USAir, Piedmont’s parent company, has suspended the mechanics without pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation. No injuries were reported in Wednesday’s incident. The flight was en route from Washington to Charlotte, N.C., but was diverted to the Greensboro Airport in North Carolina. In a statement, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that both the right and left landing gears were jammed by chocks when the jetliner approached Charlotte. The pilot was able to dislodge the chock from the right wheel well in an emergency procedure.