Federal authorities are investigating why a four-seat plane landed on its belly at Yakima Air Terminal, closing one runway for two hours Saturday afternoon.
The single-engine Mooney M20TN was landing at the airport about noon when its landing gear either failed to lower or were not lowered for landing, said Rob Peterson, airport manager. No one was injured,he said.
The plane is registered to Timely Jan LLC of Yakima, whose listed address is that of Greg Luring, a Yakima businessman and owner of a chain of McDonald’s restaurants.
Luring said Saturday he was the pilot, and that the incident was the result of “pilot distraction.”
Luring said he was the only person on board the plane at the time of the incident, however Peterson said there were two occupants. The descripancy could not be immediately reconciled.
Despite closure of one of the airport’s two runways, the accident did not otherwise disrupt operations at the airport.
Peterson could not comment further on what happened, saying the incident is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Two fire trucks from the Yakima Fire Department responded to the incident, and airport crews were able to get the plane up on its landing gear and tow it off the runway. The plane’s propeller appeared damaged and part of the fuselage covering the engine area was missing.
A witness, Steve Cosner, said he had just landed with a flight instructor during a bi-annual flight review when he saw the Mooney approach the runway. He said the airplane did not have its landing gear down, and he thought it might be practicing approaches, only to see it hit the runway on its underside and send pieces of metal flying.
He said there was nothing to indicate the Mooney’s pilot was having any trouble with the aircraft.
“He didn’t say anything at all on the radio, “ Cosner said. “No mayday or anything.”
FAA records show the plane was built in 2007.
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