No one was injured, but the plane sustained damage when it hit a chunk of ice and frozen gravel, breaking the right main gear and tipping it down on its wing.
A passenger plane was damaged after it landed and hit a chunk of ice and frozen gravel on the Chignik Lagoon runway Friday morning. No injuries were reported.
Lake Clark Air operates the Beechcraft C-99 turbo-prop airliner.
The company’s chief pilot, Glen Alsworth, Jr., said the plane left Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage with a load of passengers and landed in Chignik Lagoon shortly after 10 a.m. on Friday.
“Had an uneventful landing, beautiful weather, no mechanical issues, very light winds,” he said.
Alsworth said the plane slowed down and was preparing to turn off the runway.
“There was a chunk of frozen ice and gravel that was not visible to the pilot, kind of right out in the middle of the runway there, until he was right on top of it, and the right main gear hit that and broke the right main gear, so the plane tipped down on its right wing,” he explained.
The plane can hold up to nine passengers. Alsworth didn’t say how many people were on the plane when it crashed.
Alsworth said they won’t know the extent of the damage to the plane until they begin repairs.
“Anytime the plane tips down on its wing like that it’s going to do damage to the prop on that side, and of course the landing gear if the flaps were down. So it would have got that flap as well,” he said.
He said the insurance company will examine the plane before they start repairs.
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