SAFD || ALERT 3 w/ COLLAPSED NOSE GEAR || Just after 1400hrs on Sunday, December 4th, an ALERT 3 was transmitted for an aircraft in distress at the San Antonio International Airport – with reports of a front landing gear malfunction.  The United Airlines flight was approximately 20 min out at when they declared an in-flight emergency, allowing plenty of time for the SAFD and SAPD apparatus to stage along the runway and at SAIA. The aircraft did a low flyover so that the tower could take a look at the problem, and it was observed that the landing gear was down, but not locked. As the aircraft touched down, the front gear collapsed.

Companies staged near the aircraft, as there was no fire, and started evacuating the 55 people on board. Only minor injuries were reported per an SAFD spokesperson.  Staged companies were released shortly after everyone was accounted for and off of the aircraft. A shuttle was called to shelter the passangers from the weather.

One runway was shut down due to the incident. At the height of the incident, 27 units were on scene including a full ARFF response, the Haz-Mat team, and a Rescue Task Force from 51’s  (There were too many companies spread out across the airport for me to accurately get a full apparatus run down)