4 Rescued From Small Plane Emergency Landing At Mineta San Jose Airport

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A small plane made an emergency landing at Mineta San Jose International Airport Thursday afternoon and the four people on board are uninjured, an airport spokeswoman said.

The plane had taken off from San Jose Mineta International bound for Seattle earlier Thursday before determining there was a problem with the landing gear.

The pilot circled the airport several times to burn off the fuel before attempting the emergency landing.

At about 11:50 a.m., the pilot of the general aviation aircraft called in an emergency landing. Emergency crews were dispatched a few minutes later and were on scene when the plane landed, according to airport authorities.

The plan landed on Runway 30L at about 12:02 p.m. with collapsed landing gear, airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes said.

Firefighters and airport crews responded and found the four people onboard were not injured. Firefighters sprayed foam on the runway as a precaution against a possible fire, but no blaze was reported, Barnes said.

The plane was a Piaggio P180 with four people on board, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.

FAA records show the aircraft is registered to San Jose-based Monolithic Power Systems Inc., an international semiconductor company that declined to comment on the incident.

The parallel runway at the airport remained open following the emergency landing and no impact on airport operations was expected, she said.

As of shortly before 12:30 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration released the plane to be towed away. Afterwards, the runway was inspected prior to reopening at around 3:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

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