In This Case, Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

An Air Wisconsin regional jet made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport Sunday afternoon, when the aircraft's left maingear failed to extend.

WTXF-29 reports the two pilots and one crewmember onboard were not injured when the aircraft landed on runway 27L on its nosewheel and rightr maingear. The aircraft came to a stop on the runway, with an impressive display of sparks eminating from under the 50-seat aircraft's left wing.

The CRJ200 landed at PHL about one hour after declaring an emergency at 4:23 EST. The Associated Press adds the plane performed at least two low passes over the control tower to verify the gear was not down, and circuited the area to burn off fuel.

The incident flight operated as Air Wisconsin/US Airways Flight 3918, a regularly scheduled Sunday passenger run from Norfolk, VA to Philadelphia.

Originally scheduled to depart at 11:44 am Sunday, the aircraft was delayed for over three hours due to unknown reasons, and passengers were transferred to other flights. It is not yet known whether the incident flight was a maintenance ferry run, or a repositioning flight.

The FAA added the incident delayed arriving flights to PHL by an average of nearly three hours, as crews worked to remove the stricken CRJ from the runway.

FMI: www.faa.gov