No landing gear? No problem

The pilot of a private plane with stuck landing gear safely landed the plane on its belly?and in picture-perfect fashion. When the small twin-engine Cessna 414 skidded to a stop on a runway at the New Century Air Center in Gardner, Kan., there were no injuries.

A KMBC news helicopter captured footage of the plane's descent. Michelle Stauffer, a veteran pilot with over 30 years experience in the skies, spoke with the news station about the experience.

According to the report, she and her co-pilot, Terry Blake, were on their way to Wichita when they discovered their landing gear wouldn't go down. She and Blake called five different mechanics from the air, plus broke out the manuals and went through the procedures.

"I had Terry reading the manual to me," she said. "You've got to have directions, just in case there's something I forgot or something one of us forgot, but you just go through it step by step by step."

Eventually Stauffer realized she had no choice but to land the plane on its belly and hope for the best. It was an experience she said she never wants to repeat.

"As a pilot, it makes you stay current and makes you realize that's why you go out and practice and look at those procedures," she said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/no-landing-gear-no-problem-172443930.html

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