a plane lands on a runway without landing gear

A small aerial photography plane landed urgently at La Rochelle airport (Charente-Maritime), Saturday January 13, after reporting damage in mid-flight, France Télévisions learned from the emergency services, confirming a information from South West. The alert was given by the Lyon monitoring center and two bursts from the Mont-de-Marsan air base (Landes) were mobilized. In the air, the soldiers then observed that the landing gear was only half extended.

“Yesterday, 2 Rafales from the BA118 carried out a flight assistance mission for the benefit of a PA31 in technical difficulty with its landing gear. The responsiveness of the Airmen and the coordination with the La Rochelle field team helped allowed the crew to escape unscathed”, wrote on the Air Force. According to a codified procedure, the small plane was then escorted by these gusts to La Rochelle airport, where it landed on a foam mat, which had previously been spread by the emergency services. Both passengers are safe and sound.

Contacted by France Télévisions, the company Pix Air Survey, for which the plane was flying, has not yet responded to our requests.