Military Plane Crash

Military plnane lands with 1 engine, no landing gear, skidding off the runway : POINT MUGU, California Monday Jul 30, 2007 A twin-engine turboprop aircraft with its left main landing gear stuck in the up position skidded to a safe landing at a Navy air station Monday.Twelve people were aboard. The civilian Grumman G-159 was on a shuttle flight from the military's San Nicolas Island to Point Mugu. The Phoenix Air plane carrying nine passengers and three flight crew members circled for about an hour to burn off excess fuel. The airplane came in with its left engine feathered — the propeller slowly turning — and it set down gently before settling onto its left wing, then skidded to its left off the runway and onto an unpaved area. Everyone aboard jumped out of the aircraft as fire trucks sprayed the craft. There was no fire and the plane appeared to be repairable. San Nicolas is a Navy-owned island off Southern California. The plane is leased to shuttle military personnel and civilian workers between the mainland and the island. Point Mugu Naval Air Station is part of the Navy base in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles.