US Airways jet makes emergency landing in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A US Airways Express flight made an emergency landing Sunday without its nose landing gear.
No injuries were reported.

The Philadelphia-bound deHavilland Dash-8 turboprop, operated by Piedmont Airlines, had taken off from Allentown at about 8:20 a.m. with 35 passengers and three crewmembers on board, according to officials of the airline and Philadelphia International Airport.

Before the scheduled landing at Philadelphia, the crew got an indication that the landing gear was not down and did a flyover to confirm that it had not deployed, airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica said.

Fire crews spread foam on the runway as a precaution, but there was no smoke and no fire when the aircraft landed without its nose wheels at around 9:20 a.m., Lupica said.

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Passengers were taken to the terminal by bus.

The cause of the problem remained was under investigation, said US Airways spokesman Morgan Durant.

Lupica said the airport had to be closed for about 25 minutes.

By midday, the plane was still on the runway. The three other runways were open but the airport reported some incoming flights delayed nearly three hours because of the disruption.