A large piece of landing gear from an airplane broke off and plummeted to earth Tuesday night, landing on the seventh fairway at Gorham Country Club.

Sgt. Ted Hatch of the Gorham Police Department, who recovered the landing gear for the Federal Aviation Administration to inspect, said no injuries were reported.

Hatch said the twin-engined Piper Navajo was preparing to land at the Portland International Jetport, but its pilot decided to fly back to New York after he was informed that the airplane’s landing gear was no longer attached.

The Gorham Police Department received a phone call around 6 p.m. from the golf course informing them that a piece of landing gear was on the course. Hatch said he went to the course and recovered the wheel around 7:45 p.m. Hatch posted photos of the landing gear on the department’s Facebook page. He estimated that the landing gear weighed around 100 pounds.

As for the pilot, Hatch said the FAA told him that the plane landed safely at the MacArthur Airport in New York. Hatch said the pilot turned around in an effort to burn off all his fuel before conducting a crash landing. The pilot was not injured.

Hatch said he was grateful that no one was injured from the falling debris.

“Just when you thought you have seen everything, things really do fall from the sky,” Hatch wrote on his Facebook post. “There were 2 miracles in this event. Number one, nobody was struck by this falling object when it fell on the 7th fairway. Number 2, the plane was able to do a belly landing and landed safely in Islip, New York.”

« Previous

New law will provide tax relief to thousands of Maine seniors

Next »

Portland International Jetport on track for record summer as travel surges despite pandemic