UPDATE: Airplane Lands Without Nose Gear
What had the potential to be disastrous ended well for the pilot of a single engine aircraft that crash landed at Warsaw Municipal Airport.
With Warsaw Fire engines, a Multi-Township ambulance and numerous city and county police vehicles standing by, John Bourdon of New Hampshire circled the airport at least twice before making a landing without the front landing gear.
Bourdon said he was making a ferry flight of the Lancair 320 plane from Omaha, Neb., to New Hampshire for his brother, who owns the fiberglass aircraft. He said the nose gear on the aircraft failed near the Rochester Airport, “But they told me to go away,” he said with a laugh.
Bourdon flew to Warsaw where he was able to make contact with the airport, which notified emergency crews. Noting he was very low on fuel, Bourdon said he was out of options by the time he circled the airport a second time. “I told them I had to land,” he said.
When he watched the video of his landing on StaceyPageOnline.com, Bourdon’s response was, “Oh wow. Yeah, I skidded about 300 feet I’d guess.” He then added with a laugh that the Lancair 320 “is about about a 319 or so now.”