The Police News
November 19, 2009

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - An HU-25 Falcon jet from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi suffered a collapsed nose landing gear while landing at Eagle County Regional Airport in Gypsum, Colo., Tuesday.

The Falcon crew was conducting a routine training mission when the mishap occurred at approximately 12:30 p.m.

None of the five crewmembers aboard the Falcon were injured.

Upon landing, the crew noticed an abnormal vibration in the nose landing gear. Shortly after this discovery, the entire landing gear collapsed causing the aircraft to skid down the runway. The crew deployed a drogue chute, which helped the aircraft decelerate and come to a stop 500 feet from the end of runway.

Because of its location, Eagle County Regional Airport is used by the Falcon fleet for high-altitude take-off and landing training operations.

A Coast Guard has a maintenance and engineering team enroute to the scene.

The Coast Guard is investigating the incident.