Pilot, Passenger Uninjured After Emergency Landing At Brainerd Airport

A pilot and a passenger are uninjured after they were forced to make an emergency landing in a twin-engine plane at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport yesterday evening.

According to Brainerd Airport Director Steve Wright, at approximately 5:00 p.m. emergency crews received notification from a pilot that he was having issues with his plane’s landing gear. The airport called in for mutual aid and emergency crews stood by on the runway as the plane was able to make a successful landing with its gear up, or a “belly landing.”

“All of the training, all of the expertise, really kicked into play during this event and fortunately with no further incident, with the exception that it didn’t have landing gear, it landed on our runway safely,” said Steve Wright, Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport Director. “And the pilot and the passenger were able to get out of the airplane.”

The Brainerd Fire Department reports that the plane circled the airport several times before making the landing on the airport’s second runway. The plane was a twin-engined Beechcraft Baron registered to Soaring Soul, a flight training business in the Brainerd Lakes Area.

“It was a very well-coordinated effort. Extremely proud of our firefighters and all of the other people that responded out there. You prepare a lot for things like this, you don’t think they’re ever going to happen but when they do you want to make sure it goes as smooth as it can and it certainly did,” explained Brainerd Fire Chief Tim Holmes.

The Brainerd Fire Department, North Memorial Ambulance, and the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office assisted airport fire and emergency services at the scene.