Pilot Unhurt in Crash--Not Airport : Accident: A two-engine plane skids along main runway at John Wayne Airport, disrupting commercial flights for hours.

A twin-engine private plane crashed on the main runway of John Wayne Airport on Saturday afternoon when a landing gear failed, delaying for several hours arrivals and departures of numerous commercial flights.

The airport’s longest runway was closed to jet traffic for an hour and 40 minutes after the 2:58 p.m. incident, fire officials said. Rattled and annoyed passengers said some of their planes were forced to circle Orange County skies for two hours while awaiting authorization to land.

“The effect of the loss of the runway was probably more significant than the incident,” said Orange County Fire Capt. Dan Young. “We’re lucky to have the capability to clear the runway.”

The aircraft’s pilot, George Harris of Miami, was not injured. Harris “was mostly just shook up by the incident,” Young said. “He was more angry and frustrated.”

So were scores of passengers bound for the theater, family reunions and televisions to watch Game 4 of the World Series.

“If I miss ‘Phantom of the Opera’ tonight, I’m gonna sue this airlines,” said Lillian Dubman, whose American West flight from Phoenix was nearly two hours late arriving at John Wayne Airport. “I’ve waited two years to see it!”

William McDonald of the airport’s operations department said no one with the administration would be commenting on the crash or to what extent flights were disrupted. A press conference was announced over the airport’s public-address system, but no one from airport administration showed.

By 6 p.m., airport information screens listed at least nine departing flights and eight arriving flights as delayed. Airlines with affected flights included American, AmericaWest, Delta, Northwest and Skywest.

Harris, 46, was approaching John Wayne from Napa in Northern California shortly before 3 p.m. when a light on his instrument panel indicated his landing gear was not locked, Young said. Harris radioed the airport tower to report the malfunction.

The airport’s emergency crew of six vehicles lined both sides of the runway in preparation for a possible crash landing, Young said. The 1968 Cessna 310 was directed to the main runway, evidently because it is the airport’s longest. Young said the plane initially appeared to land without incident.

As the weight settled, however, the landing gear under the right wing gave way, causing the plane to collapse onto its belly and slide to a halt about 150 feet north of the tower, and opposite the new Riley terminal, where passengers reported watching in amazement.

The right-wing fuel tank ruptured, leaking a small amount of fuel, which firefighters immediately covered with a thin layer of foam. Firefighters then used a mechanical crane to lift the wreckage and remove it from the runway.

A USAir commercial jet was on the runway, awaiting clearance to depart, when the Cessna came in, but no other planes were involved in the crash landing. Although the main runway was closed while the wreckage was removed, private planes continued to land at the airport’s smaller runway, Young said.

The FAA inspected the wreckage before it was removed from the runway, and, as it does with all crashes, is investigating the circumstances.

As passengers entered the terminal from flights that had been circling the airport, bursts of applause erupted from clusters of awaiting friends and family.

Business was booming at the bar near Gate 5, where numerous AmericaWest Airlines flights had been disrupted. “Saturdays are normally dead,” said bartender Pamela Morehead, “but it’s been nonstop people from the time it happened. People have been drinking a lot.”

Bob and Angela Graff of Seattle were already launching their honeymoon late, having married three months ago. So two more hours didn’t seem so bad, they said.

“Our plane just circled around, at 5,000 feet over Anaheim, and there was such turbulence people were getting ill,” Angela Graff said. “They had to increase the altitude.”