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Broken landing gear strands Coast Guard plane in Dillingham

A Coast Guard HC-130 plane was stuck on the Dillingham runway Saturday morning. Oct. 30, 2022.
Izzy Ross
/
KDLG
A Coast Guard HC-130 assists another plane stuck on the Dillingham runway Saturday morning. Oct. 30, 2022.

A Coast Guard plane was stranded on the Dillingham airport runway from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon due to a mechanical issue, delaying flights over the weekend.

Alaska Airlines canceled its flight from Anchorage to Dillingham on Saturday, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s trip to the community was postponed by a day.

The HC-130 aircraft was transporting parts to Dillingham to repair a Coast Guard helicopter. Petty Officer Ian Gray said the plane’s landing gear broke when it was taxiing on the runway.

“It didn’t happen on landing, it happened during taxi," he said. "There were a few rumors saying that they landed too heavy and the landing gear broke, but it was actually [that] they were on the ground taxiing. They had a mechanical failure with the landing gear.”

The Coast Guard flew another HC-130 from Kodiak to Dillingham on Saturday morning to help repair the first plane. The damaged plane was moved off the runway that afternoon.

“We’re currently working on sending a Coast Guard mechanical crew over there to conduct some work on the airplane so we can get it back to Kodiak,” Gray said.

The runway re-opened Saturday afternoon. Gray said the Coast Guard is still investigating the gear failure, and the plane will be in Dillingham until it is repaired.

Get in touch with the author at izzy@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.

Izzy Ross is the news director at KDLG, the NPR member station in Dillingham. She reports, edits, and hosts stories from around the Bristol Bay region, and collaborates with other radio stations across the state.