Plane makes emergency landing at base
A twin-engine propeller airplane transporting Navy and civilian workers from San Nicolas Island to Naval Base Ventura County was forced to make an emergency landing Monday afternoon when part of its landing gear failed to deploy, officials said.
No one was injured when the Grumman Gulfstream G159, owned by military contractor Phoenix Air, landed at the base about 12:30 p.m., officials said. The plane was carrying three crew members and nine passengers.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating the incident.
Dent Thompson, vice president of operations for Phoenix Air, based in Cartersville, Ga., said the company has a dozen Gulfstream aircraft in its 40-plane fleet and called this Gulfstream model remarkably reliable.
“The FAA is investigating right now what caused the gear to fail to deploy,” Thompson said. “It could take hours or it could take days to find out the reason, but apparently something inside the plane broke and kept the left side from deploying.”
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