Veteran pilot safely lands plane without front landing gear just days before calling it a career

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU/Gray News) - A rough landing is something most air travelers dread, but for a few Alaska travelers, it was the best they could hope for after their plane’s front landing gear malfunctioned.

The group of seven was flying into Anchorage on Tuesday when the malfunction happened.

“You can’t go anywhere, you can’t move,” traveler Roxy Meneguin said.

Luckily, Tuesday’s Dena’ina Air flight was piloted by Doug Ferguson, a pilot with more than 45 years of experience.

“After 46 years, it’s like nothing,” he said. “You can’t think about it; if I sat there and thought about what could happen any day, I mean, it’d drive people crazy, it’d drive myself crazy.”

The flight was slated to move through several villages to deliver supplies and pick up passengers.

But upon approaching Anchorage, Ferguson said he realized the front landing landing gear was malfunctioning and notified controllers of the issue.

Instead of landing at Merrill Field, Ferguson headed for Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport so that Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting could respond.

Meneguin and fellow passenger Shannon Jones said Wednesday that for the most part, they could not tell that much was wrong with the plane at first.

“He told us what we needed to know,” Jones said. “Exactly what we needed to know, to not freak out any more than we already were. And it was actually not as bad as what we expected.”

Ferguson flew around for about an hour before eventually landing in the hope that the landing gear might drop and decrease the fuel in the plane.

Upon landing, Ferguson tried to keep the plane on the back two landing gears for as long as possible before the nose eventually tipped forward and contacted the ground.

“I try not to get too excited about anything,” Ferguson said, “If I had lost an engine or something like that, that’d be a different situation. But you train to be good at that.”

First responders said they responded to look for fuel leaks or hazards but found none. Passengers exited the aircraft as quickly as possible and were taken off the runway by Dena’ina Air.

The plane was later towed off the runway.

Ferguson’s emergency landing comes just days before he will retire from flying.

The veteran pilot says Monday will be an emotional final day.

“I’ve been here for so long, it’s just the thing you do. It just gets in your blood … but it’ll be fine. It’s been a good journey,” he said.

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