Dec. 30, 2003 – The Cyril E. King Airport runway was closed for a little over two hours Tuesday afternoon as a result of an emergency landing by a cargo plane inbound from San Juan.
Tol Air Flight 7N81T, after reporting faulty landing gear, landed at 3:17 p.m. "and skidded into a grassy area off runway 10," according to a release from the Port Authority.
The aircraft sustained some damage, but no injuries were reported to the three crew members aboard, the release stated. The plane was carrying about two and a half tons of cargo, it said.
Port Authority airport firefighters and airport staff responded to the emergency and, with the assistance of a flatbed truck from the Department of Public Works, towed the disabled aircraft from the runway area. There was "minor damage" to the runway, the Port Authority said.
As a result of the incident, VIPA said, a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta and an American Airlines flight from Miami were diverted to San Juan; two U.S. Airways flights, one from Philadelphia and the other from Charlotte, were delayed and then diverted to San Juan; and two inbound Air St. Thomas flights were diverted to Fajardo. Outbound, American Eagle's afternoon flight to San Juan was delayed.
The runway reopened at 5:24 p.m.
The incident was the third reported in a little over a month of a plane making an emergency landing at the St. Thomas airport after experiencing problems with landing gear. Both of the other cases involved small passenger planes.
At mid-day on Nov. 26, an Air St. Thomas flight from St. Barths carrying the pilot and two passengers made a belly landing without the use of its landing gear. No injuries were reported. The runway was closed for about an hour.
On Dec. 15, the runway was closed for more than an hour from around 6 p.m. after a privately owned twin-engine Cessna plane made an emergency landing after its gear failed. No injuries were reported to the pilot and two passengers.
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