MELFA, Va. - A pilot was uninjured after his plane's landing gear failed to deploy while he was flying into the Melfa Airport on the Eastern Shore Monday afternoon.
Virginia State Police responded to a reported plane crash at the airport, located at 18321 Parkway Drive, around 4:25 p.m.
The incident involved a small plane, a 1966 Cessna T-210, that state police say failed to deploy its landing gear before it landed on the runway.
The pilot, a 45-year-old Rome, Pennsylvania, man, left Tangier Island around 3:50 p.m., for a 10-minute flight to Melfa. He was the only person on the plane.
State police say as the aircraft approached the airport to land, the landing gear failed to deploy due to a mechanical issue; the pilot was unaware of the failed deployment.
As the plane touched down on its hull, it caused a propeller to strike and skid to a stop. There was no fuel leakage, and the only damage was to the plane.
The damage involving a prop strike was reported as minor.
