Rough landing caused plane to get stuck on Regina Airport runway

We’re learning more about what left a small plane stranded on the runway at the Regina Airport early late week.

James Topinka, general manager of the Regina Flying Club, said the plane had a rough landing, which damaged the landing gear.

“The picture kind of tells the story of the hard landing, but that’s what it was,” he explained. “The pilot experienced some oscillations at landing, and had a hard set-down which ended up folding down the front nose gear.”

The incident saw the main runway closed for about 50 minutes.  Topinka said there are a wide range of factors that could have contributed to the damage.

“It wasn’t an emergency landing at all. It was just a basic landing, and the pilot just experienced a wind condition or something on landing,” he said. “It was just an unfortunate circumstance on the final approach. I can’t say if it was a misjudgment, but there was no evidence of any mechanical failure.”

Topinka said it has been several years since they’ve had an incident like this, but the good news is that the pilot was unhurt.

“It took a few minutes to get it picked up and moved over to the garage,” he said. “No runway damage, and no injury to the pilot.”

A Regina Airport spokesperson said there are between 45,000 and 50,000 takeoffs and landings at the airport every year.