Plane Makes Emergency Landing At Panama City Airport

A 1981 single engine Piper plane, with three people on board, had a rough landing Thursday morning.

“When the pilot knew his nose gear wasn’t down, that told him he had a problem,” said Airport Fire Department Chief Mike DeLonjay.

The nose gear or front landing wheel got stuck inside the plane, causing the pilot to circle around for an hour before deciding to land without it.

“After an hour, he knew he just had to come down.  So he landed here,” said DeLonjay.

The plane skid 300 feet before coming to a halt nose down.

Thankfully, none of the three passengers were hurt.

“We’ve been real fortunate since we’ve moved up here to the new airport,” he said.
The emergency landing put the Airport Fire Department on their highest level of alert- calling out all firefighters and emergency vehicles.  But they say they’re prepared for all types of emergencies.

“We probably do close to 1000 hours of training a year because we have such a broad perspective,” DeLonjay said.

The Airport Fire Department is completely different from a structural fire department with special equipment, gear, and tactics.

When they’re dispatched, they spread out along the 10,000 foot runway to make sure it’s no time before they reach the crash.

The Fire Department says incidents like this one happen about two or three times a year.

The emergency landing didn’t affect commercial traffic because they landed the plane on the taxi-way.