Series Of Issues Prompted One-Day Stand-Down

The aerospace school at the University of North Dakota suspended flight operations for a day after a series of takeoff and landing incidents at Grand Forks International Airport.

Al Palmer, Director of Flight Operations for the university, said the latest incident involved a Piper Seminole twin which made a gear-up landing. Neither the student or instructor was hurt in the incident. There have been six other incidents involving student pilots reported since July, including two this week.

The Grand Forks Herald reports that school's flight instructors met with FAA officials Thursday. FAA inspectors happened to be conducting a review of the school's program when the gear-up landing occurred. “We’re going to talk about things and make sure we are not complacent and make sure we’re following attention to detail,” Palmer told the paper. “The most important thing is that we can buy more airplanes but we can’t buy more students.”

Flight operations were scheduled to resume Friday afternoon.

FMI: www.und.edu