Landing gear failure leads to hard landing at Modesto airport
A small plane made a hard landing at Modesto Airport Monday afternoon when part of the landing gear failed.
The pilot, 76-year-old William Brotby, of Sonora, was preparing to land at the airport around 2:15 p.m. when he radioed air traffic control because he thought there might be something wrong with his landing gear, said Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Sharon Bear.
The controller did a visual inspection on the plane, a Cessna Skymaster, and cleared it to land.
But when the plane landed, the rear landing gears gave out and the plane veered off the runway. Brotby was not injured.
Because no one was injured, the Federal Aviation Administration and The National Transportation Safety Board released the investigation to the Modesto Police Department, which will handle it as a property damage incident, Bear said.
This story was originally published August 19, 2019 at 4:25 PM.
