No injuries after plane's landing gear fails

SANDPOINT -  A Sandpoint pilot and his son escaped injury Friday when the front landing gear on the plane they were in failed after touching down at Sandpoint Airport.

Pilot Don Simmons said he landed his turbine Lancair on the runway and was in the "roll out" phase of the maneuver when the nose gear grew increasingly wobbly and collapsed.

"We were rolling out and slowing down. And all of a sudden it started to shimmy," said Simmons, referring to the nose gear.

Simmons declined to speculate how fast the plane was moving when the landing gear gave way.

The plane came to rest with its propellor blades bent backward. Simmons said the damage is relatively minor and the aircraft is salvageable.

Simmons said the incident was so minor that federal transportation officials told him it didn't even merit an official report.

"It really wasn't much of a mishap," he said, noting that such events are not unheard of in comparable aircraft.

It's the second time this summer a pilot has walked away unscathed from an aircraft-related mishap at the airport. In June, pilot Jan Lee and his wife escaped injury after the plane they were in clipped a deer that had made it onto the airport's grounds.