Storm causes several FOD incidents at Pittsburgh

A storm moved through western Pennsylvania on February 12 packing what the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review described as "vicious winds" that caused problems for operations at airports in Allegheny County. 'Foreign object debris' (FOD) struck several aircraft that were either landing or attempting to take off during the storm, causing minor damage.

An article in the Tribune-Review described sustained winds of more than 50 mph, with a 92 mph gust recorded at Allegheny County Airport.

The high winds blew sand and pebbles onto the runways at Pittsburgh International Airport, forcing officials to close them for more than an hour to allow workers to clear the debris, Allegheny County Airport Authority spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny said.

Four flights were affected during the closure that lasted from 3:15 p.m. until 4:28 p.m, Jenny said. She said the runways were not damaged.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) posted preliminary incident reports this morning about four aircraft that sustained minor damage from blowing debris.

• Air Wisconsin Flight 4025, a CL-600 (registration N442AW), was struck by debris on landing.
• An ExpressJet Airlines Embraer 145XR (registration N12145), operating as Continental Express Flight 2035, rejected takeoff after being hit by debris.
• The windscreen of an Embraer 145EP (registration N801HK), operating as Trans States Airlines Flight 3541, was struck by debris during takeoff roll.
• Debris struck the windscreen of Hawker Beechcraft 400A (registration N440CT) that was preparing to take off.

Each of the aircraft taxied back to the ramp without further incident. No one was injured.

Sounds like it was definitely a rough night for flying.

Air Wisconsin regional jet incident at Philadelphia

On the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, an Air Wisconsin Bombardier CL-600 aircraft (registration N407AW) made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport with the left main landing gear retracted. According to the FAA preliminary report about the incident, the aircraft sustained minor damage. No one was injured.

At the time of the incident, the aircraft, operating as Flight AWI3918, was repositioning from Norfolk to Philadelphia with a crew of two pilots and one flight attendant on board. The crew were unable to extend the left main gear. A news report about the incident on NBC Philadelphia quoted an Air Wisconsin spokesperson who said that sparks could be seen flying from the left wing of the aircraft as it skidded down the runway to a stop. Emergency crews applied fire retardant as the crew evacuated the aircraft.

The airport was closed for several hours following the incident. All departing and arriving flights were delayed, according to airport officials. The airport reopened at about 6:30PM local time.