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Student Plane Crash-Lands at Wayne Airport

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A flight instructor and student, who thought their wheels were down, crash-landed Saturday at John Wayne Airport on their third practice landing of the day, county firefighters reported. No one was injured.

Capt. Dan Young, a Fire Department spokesman, said the single-engine Cherokee Arrow slid across the 19 Left Runway about noon after making two successful touch-and-go maneuvers. Its propeller was bent and the underside of the fuselage was damaged.

On the third pass, Young said, the plane came in without its landing gear extended, despite seven warnings from the control tower.

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“Everything was just grand until the last two feet,” Young said.

Aboard were instructor Leslie Glatt, 45, of Redondo Beach, and his student, Charles Kelly, 42, of Costa Mesa. They are members of the JG 52 Flying Club.

Once out of the plane, both said a green light in the cockpit had indicated the wheels were down, and they wondered why the control tower had not notified them about the problem. But Capt. Brian Stevens, the crash crew supervisor at John Wayne, said the landing gear lever was in the “up” position when he arrived.

About 16 firefighters and a fire engine based at the airport responded to the crash. Young said some private planes had to circle the airfield for a few minutes until the situation was under control. No commercial flights were delayed. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the accident.

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