No one was injured after the landing gear of a small private plane failed to open on Sunday afternoon at Nanaimo Airport, causing it to "belly slide" on the runway until it came to a stop. (Nanaimo Airport on Facebook)

By Jordan Davidson

malfunction

Rough landing temporarily stalls operations at Nanaimo Airport

Dec 9, 2024 | 11:12 AM

NANAIMO — No one was injured after malfunctioning landing gear forced a pilot to deploy an emergency landing at Nanaimo Airport.

The incident occurred on Sunday, Dec. 8, around 1:00 p.m., when the single-engine private plane had issues with its landing gear while touching down.

Nanaimo Airport president and CEO Dave Devana said the lone-occupant plane skidded to a stop on the runway, with the pilot escaping injury.

“Our emergency response team will then respond and in this incident, there was no fire so we removed the plane from the runway…. and then it was open for business just after (three) o’clock,” Devana told NanaimoNewsNOW.

He said a notice was sent out through the National Air Navigation Corporation of Canada (NAV Canada) warning of the delays, which put any plane on track to land at Nanaimo Airport into a waiting pattern.

Demand still high

Nanaimo food bank reports Christmas demand levelling off following post-pandemic surge

8h ago

Coming Together

VIDEO: Clippers forging new identity with several new players

11h ago

robbery suspect

Nanaimo Mounties searching for violent offender

13h ago

Devana said they have trained firefighters at the airport at all times ready for situations like this.

“We have to have two fire trucks ready to respond. Those staff are trained on an on-going basis and attend live training in either Toronto or in Texas, so they’re well-prepared. We also have a training facility on-site, just in case we have an incident. This one (was) relatively minor, but there could be more series ones in the future, you never know.”

In September, a small private plane carrying two people caught fire at the Qualicum Beach Airport shortly after landing.

Neither of the occupants in the Qualicum Beach incident were injured.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your email inbox every evening

jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNOW