ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606240106
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLA.
A commuter plane carrying 32 passengers and crew made a belly landing Sunday at Orlando International Airport after a hydraulic failure locked up the landing gear.
No one was injured.
Comair Flight 3599 was arriving from Nassau, Bahamas, when the flight crew called to report the hydraulics problem, said airport spokesman Warren Wright.
Air traffic controllers directed the plane to a closed runway. With firefighters on alert, the pilot dumped excess fuel and landed the Brazilian-made Embraer EMB-120 on its belly, throwing back 45-foot friction flames as metal scraped the concrete runway.
The plane was covered with foam as a precaution when it landed about 11:15 a.m., and there was no fire, Wright said.
Passengers said the landing was much smoother than expected, and praised the pilot and crew.
``The crew made several attempts to lower their aircraft's landing gear using both primary and backup systems,'' Cincinnati-based Comair said in a statement, adding that passengers were put on their connecting flights.
Damage to the aircraft was minimal, the airline said.
The plane was moved off the runway later Sunday. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
The commuter airline is affiliated with Delta and is one of the Orlando airport's busiest carriers, with 95 departures daily.
Also Sunday, a USAir jetliner with 132 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the airport after the right engine failed, said USAir spokeswoman Sharon Taylor.
Flight 192, bound from Fort Lauderdale to Charlotte, N.C., was forced to land about 40 minutes after taking off at 7:14 a.m., Taylor said.
All of the passengers on the MD80 jetliner were put on other USAir flights, she said.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB