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An experienced pilot
flying home from an Adirondack vacation with his wife and two young
children managed a safe emergency landing in Albany after his small
plane lost a landing gear in flight Friday afternoon.
The New Jersey family
had just taken off in a rented Piper Cherokee from an airfield at
Piseco [puh-see-ko] Lake in Hamilton County when the pilot heard
banging and observers on the ground told him he'd lost the fixed
gear on the left side.
Told Albany was
better equipped to handle the emergency, the pilot flew 65 miles
from Piseco Lake and put the single engine plane down at about 2:30
p.m.
He kept the left wing
elevated until he slowed, dropped the wing and spun three-quarters
of a turn about 20 feet off the runway.
Pilot James Stephans,
his wife, and their 7-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter walked
unhurt from the Piper. They were headed home to Cherry Hill, N.J.
The plane was not
badly damaged.
-AP wire reports,
8-4-08 |