Crippled Plane Crash-Lands at Van Nuys Field

Two members of a volunteer air ambulance service escaped injury Friday when their single-engine airplane crash-landed at Van Nuys Airport after its landing gear malfunctioned.

Pilot Gary Davis, 39, of Topanga Canyon and passenger Dennis Torres, 45, of Malibu skidded off a runway when two of their craft’s three wheels failed to lower properly.

The wings and undercarriage of their Cessna T-210 were damaged in the 10:45 a.m. mishap.

Torres, founder of the American Medical Support Flight Team, said the plane’s two rear wheels failed to fully lower while he and Davis were flying from Santa Monica Airport to El Monte Airport to pick up a cancer patient for a flight to Las Vegas.

He said the pair flew to Newhall and circled for about 1 1/2 hours in uncongested air space over the Magic Mountain area while attempting to repair a leaking hydraulic system blamed for the malfunction.

Torres said the pair picked Van Nuys Airport for the emergency landing because their base airport in Santa Monica did not have fire equipment standing by.

He said the plane ended up on a grassy strip between Van Nuys Airport’s two runways when the lowered nose wheel created an uncontrollable “wheelbarrow effect” as the craft slid down the runway.

Airport officials briefly closed the west runway while Los Angeles City Fire Department crews sprayed foam on the plane.