RENO, Nev. (AP) — A military transport plane assigned to a mountain training mission in Nevada made a safe emergency landing Monday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport after experiencing a problem with its landing gear shortly after takeoff. The U.S. Air
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A military transport plane assigned to a mountain training mission in Nevada made a safe emergency landing Monday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport after experiencing a problem with its landing gear shortly after takeoff.
The U.S. Air Force C-130H with 14 people on board circled the area for more than a half hour to burn off fuel before making an emergency landing about 10:40 a.m. Monday.
No one was hurt. Crews were inspecting the aircraft.
“The plane didn’t just land safely, it landed beautifully,” airport spokesman Brian Kulpin told The Associated Press.
The plane is based at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, Nevada Air National Guard spokesman Emerson Marcus said. He said it temporarily had been based at the Nevada Air Guard headquarters at the Reno airport as part of an assignment with the Advanced Mountain Airlift Tactics School.
Officials at Maxwell Air Force Base did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The mountain training often includes flights along the Sierra Nevada and northern Nevada’s high desert in areas resembling parts of Afghanistan.
C-130s are used to transport crews and cargos and frequently are used in the western U.S. as air tankers to drop retardant on wildfires.
The plane immediately circled back toward the airport Monday morning after an indicator light suggested a possible problem with the landing gear. More than a dozen emergency vehicles staged along the runway before the landing, including fire engines from the airport, the U.S. National Guard, Reno Fire Department and local ambulances.
“This is a large airplane, so you had a large response,” Kulpin said. “We were prepared for any eventuality. But thankfully none of that had to come into play … We’re very happy and relieved to have it end that way.”
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the FAA had no information about the incident and referred questions to the airport.
Kulpin said any information about a follow-up investigation would come from the military. But he said because the plane landed safely and no flights were disrupted, no investigation may be necessary.
“Certainly they will take a mechanical look at the aircraft, but there was no operational impact on the airport. There may not be anything to investigate,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Michelle Price in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com
