A commercial aircraft landed safely Monday at the Durango-La Plata County Airport after reporting nose-gear problems.
“United Airlines Flight 5849 is on the ground without incident,” said Tony Vicari, interim director of aviation for the airport.
The plane, which landed at 4:30 p.m., had to circle for about a half hour to burn off fuel before touching down.
“The landing was smoother than normal,” said passenger Jennifer Alvenes. “It was the most beautiful landing we have ever seen.”
Durango Fire Protection District had fire and medical personnel on scene.
“We take it seriously,” Fire Marshal Karola Hanks said.
Pilots reported the nose gear had been manually locked.
“They did a low-level flyby so we could verify it was down,” Vicari said. “They did have the two main gears and nose gear down. We have to make a judgment call on whether it’s locked. There’s always the chance it could collapse on impact.”
There were 56 people onboard.
“Paramedics did go onboard to make sure no one onboard needed medical attention,” Vicari said. “That’s standard procedure in an emergency landing.”
The emergency didn’t significantly delay any flights. Another United Airlines flight that was taxiing to depart was delayed by about 3 minutes, he said, so the runway could be inspected to make sure there were no debris.
Two other United flights out of Denver were delayed for other reasons, he said.
abutler@durangoherald.com
