Nobody Injured in Small Plane Crash

A small plane crashed this afternoon at the Smith Field airport in Fort Wayne.

"We had an aircraft land with its gear up, said Craig Williams. 

Craig Williams is the Fort Wayne Allen County Airport Authority director of operations.  He says two people were in a Cessna 182 when it crashed just after  four this afternoon at the Smith Field Airport.  The plane slid on the runway, bending the propeller and damaging the belly. 

"It has a retractable landing gear so when they are flying the gear comes up and then when its time to land they just put the gear down," said Williams. 

The only problem was when the pilot went to land, "The wheels were not down," said Williams. 

The pilot was doing routine drills just minutes before coming down.  It is unknown if the crash was caused by pilot error or a mechanical failure. 

"There's a number of ways that this can happen we're not sure on this one how it happened there's just a number of ways to speculate we just don't know," said Williams. 

Williams compared today's crash to a car accident, saying Fort Wayne has seen these types of incidents in the past.   Back in 2011 a small plane crashed at the Fort Wayne international airport  after having problems with its landing gear. 

"I wouldn't call it common but we've had these in the past this is something that's happened here at smith field before and out at Fort Wayne international airport," said Williams. 

One of the two runways at Smith Field Airport was shut down for the remainder of the day. 

Both the pilot and passenger walked away uninjured.