On the morning of August 3, 2007, an Avantair Piaggio P180 Avanti aircraft landed gear up at Westchester County Airport (HPN), White Plains, New York. According to the preliminary incident data filed today by the FAA, crew reported that the aircraft's main gear could not be extended. No one was injured, and damage to the twin turboprop aircraft was listed as "minor."An article about the Piaggio incident on the Lower Hudson Online news website says that trouble with the aircraft's landing gear was reported at around 08:00 AM local time. The aircraft landed safely about a half hour later, but then blocked the main runway for several hours.
The HPN main runway remained closed until about 11:30 AM, when the aircraft was towed away. The runway closure caused a number of commercial flights to be delayed.
Earlier this year, the main gear of another Piaggio P180 Avanti collapsed during the aircraft's landing roll at Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport.
UPDATE August 11, 2007: The EMTBravo Network has posted a set of photos of the gear up landing of this Piaggio P180 Avanti at HPN. Congratulations to the photographer for catching that spectacular series real-time of shots.
[Photo Source]
