A pilot and three passengers escaped injury when their plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the main runway at Hector International Airport in Fargo.
Airport Authority Executive Director Shawn Dobberstein said the Trinidad single engine aircraft departed the Moorhead Airport shortly after 5 Monday afternoon. A short time later, the pilot determined the landing gear did not work. The F.A.A. control tower at Hector Airport confirmed the landing gear problem in a fly-by and the pilot put the plane down on its belly on the north-south runway east of the main terminal about 45 minutes after take-off.
All air traffic was diverted to the east-west runway until the disabled plane could be removed from the runway which took about 90 minutes.
Dobberstein said the aircraft had damage to the prop and underside and was hauled to a hanger at the Fargo Jet Center for later investigation.
