Emergency Landing

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A Southwest Airlines flight ultimately headed for Baltimore landed safely at Little Rock National Airport after malfunctioning equipment caused a spark and some smoke in the cockpit. Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz says airport emergency officials were alerted about 12:25 p.m. Wednesday after a small spark occurred in an overhead light fixture on Flight 871. Mainz says the malfunction caused some smoke in the cockpit, and a fire extinguisher was used as a precaution.

A Baltimore Police Department's helicopter made an emergency landing in Reedbird Park Friday night after facing technical difficulties, police said. No one was injured in the landing, which was made as a precautionary measure, according to police spokesman Det. Vernon Davis. No details were immediately available about what caused the incident. The helicopter was able to fly back to its helipad shortly after making the landing, Davis said. The Baltimore police aviation unit, which is known as Foxtrot, got four new helicopters with better surveillance tools last year . iduncan@baltsun.com twitter.com/iduncan

A Delta flight from Orlando, Fla., to Hartford, Conn., made an emergency landing in Baltimore on Sunday night because of mechanical trouble, according to a spokesman for the airline. While Delta flight 1478 was in the air, the pilot saw a warning light indicating an inconsistent pitch, or angle of flight, response on the aircraft, and chose to divert to BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport, said Delta spokesman Anthony Black. The flight landed about 9:40 p.m., according to an airport spokesman.

The Orioles team charter heading to Tampa Bay on Sunday night was forced to make an emergency landing in Jacksonville because of smoke coming out of the oven in the kitchen area of the plane, an industry source said. The landing was a precautionary move. The plane was inspected and the Orioles were slated to reboard to get back in the air shortly after a brief delay en route to St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport. When the Orioles landed in St. Petersburg around 11 p.m. Sunday, the team issued the following statement about the incident: "Due to a minor incident in the galley, the Orioles charter made an unscheduled landing in Jacksonville, Fla. en route to St. Petersburg tonight.

A pilot on his way home to Maine made an emergency landing in a Maryland field when his small plane ran out of gas. The Frederick News-Post reported that the man made an emergency landing Sunday afternoon in Frederick. No one was injured. A neighbor whose husband talked to the pilot told the paper the man was trying to land at Frederick Municipal Airport when he was told to circle until the runway was available. He said he ran out of gas in the tank he was using and didn't have time to switch to another.

A medevac helicopter en route to a Carroll County hospital made an emergency landing in Reisterstown Thursday night, Baltimore County police said. The helicopter was going to Carroll County Hospital Center to pick up a patient when the pilot made an emergency landing in a backyard of the 12600 block of Ivy Mill Road about 8:30 p.m., police said. None of the crew were injured. It is unclear what forced the helicopter to make the emergency landing. jkanderson@baltsun.

A Delta Airlines commuter plane made an emergency landing last night at Baltimore-Washington International Airport after crew members reported smoke on board.There were no passengers on Flight 4318, and all three crew members were evacuated about 9: 30 p.m. from the small propeller plane, BWI spokeswoman Juliet Wright said."Smoke was evident on the plane, but the cause is under investigation," she said.It was unclear last night whether the crew members had been taken to hospitals, but Wright said that they were "fine."

A twin-engine plane carrying 148 people was forced to make an emergency landing when an engine failed yesterday shortly after takeoff from Baltimore-Washington International Airport.No injuries were reported on TWA Flight 645.The incident occurred about 12: 30 p.m. Tread from the left front tire of the MD-80 fell off during takeoff and was sucked into the left engine, causing it to stall, said TWA spokesman Jim Brown.The pilot decided to turn around and land the plane bound for St. Louis.

A Harford Cessna pilot had to make an emergency landing Sunday evening when electrical problems forced him down without instruments or runway lights at Forest Hill Industrial Airpark, sheriff's deputies said. No one was injured.William Tooke Harris, 46, of the 2800 block of College View Drive in Churchville was flying a Baltimore man from Dubois, Pa., near Pittsburgh to Martin State Airport in Middle River.Mr. Harris, a professor of economics at the University of Delaware and a part-time flight instructor, said he knew about a thunderstorm watch until 8 p.m. in the Baltimore area.

A Maryland man was one of seven passengers treated for chemical inhalation yesterday after the plane they were taking from Baltimore to Chicago was forced to make an emergency landing in Fort Wayne, Ind., because of reported gas fumes. Keith Wilson, 38, of the first block of Jackson Manor Court in Phoenix and six other adults were treated at Lutheran Hospital of Indiana and released yesterday afternoon, said Alice Robinson, a hospital spokeswoman. Wilson could not be reached for comment.

A pilot on his way home to Maine made an emergency landing in a Maryland field when his small plane ran out of gas. The Frederick News-Post reported that the man made an emergency landing Sunday afternoon in Frederick. No one was injured. A neighbor whose husband talked to the pilot told the paper the man was trying to land at Frederick Municipal Airport when he was told to circle until the runway was available. He said he ran out of gas in the tank he was using and didn't have time to switch to another.

Santa didn't get run over by his reindeer, but he appears to have had a dust-up with an F-104 jet, in an elaborate Christmas display on Tom and Alice Blair's farm in St. Michaels. The tableau depicts the aftermath of a midair collision involving Santa's sleigh full of toys and a Cold War era "Starfighter" from the fictitious St. Michaels Air National Guard, piloted by "Captain Scrooge. " An elf retrieves a tricycle from the jet's tail wing as Santa notices that Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, is stuck in the fuselage and the pilot sits off to the side fixing a broken Radio Flyer wagon.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A Southwest Airlines flight ultimately headed for Baltimore landed safely at Little Rock National Airport after malfunctioning equipment caused a spark and some smoke in the cockpit. Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz says airport emergency officials were alerted about 12:25 p.m. Wednesday after a small spark occurred in an overhead light fixture on Flight 871. Mainz says the malfunction caused some smoke in the cockpit, and a fire extinguisher was used as a precaution.

It didn't quite measure up to making an emergency landing in the middle of the Hudson River, but as Harvey White stood beside the 120-foot chunk of airplane on a ramp off Interstate 95 near Perryville on Monday, he felt a sense of conquest. White, a resident of Rising Sun, and his wife, Ruth, had spent an hour and a half in their SUV trying to track down a unique procession: a caravan of 35 vehicles accompanying the fuselage of the US Airways plane that splash-landed in January 2009.

A medevac helicopter en route to a Carroll County hospital made an emergency landing in Reisterstown Thursday night, Baltimore County police said. The helicopter was going to Carroll County Hospital Center to pick up a patient when the pilot made an emergency landing in a backyard of the 12600 block of Ivy Mill Road about 8:30 p.m., police said. None of the crew were injured. It is unclear what forced the helicopter to make the emergency landing. jkanderson@baltsun.

A Delta flight from Orlando, Fla., to Hartford, Conn., made an emergency landing in Baltimore on Sunday night because of mechanical trouble, according to a spokesman for the airline. While Delta flight 1478 was in the air, the pilot saw a warning light indicating an inconsistent pitch, or angle of flight, response on the aircraft, and chose to divert to BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport, said Delta spokesman Anthony Black. The flight landed about 9:40 p.m., according to an airport spokesman.

Any airplane landing you can walk away from is a good one, an old saying goes.Gerry L. Brewster and five friends did just that Sunday -- walked away unhurt after a plane made a scary belly landing at Martin State Airport in Middle River."

Two men safely landed a single-engine aircraft in a field near Eldersburg when they lost power during an instructional flight Friday afternoon.Both men, one a certified flight instructor and the other a student pilot, walked a short distance to a house on Klee Mill Road near Liberty Road after the emergency landing, state police said.Tfc. James Hockett said the pilot in command, Jeffrey W. Byrd, 27, of Ellicott City, and the student, R. P. Turnicky, 43, of Brookeville in Montgomery County, were on a training flight when the 1939 Taylorcraft lost power.

A Delta flight from Orlando, Fla., to Hartford, Conn., made an emergency landing in Baltimore Sunday night due to mechanical trouble, according to a spokesman for the airline. While Delta flight 1478 was in the air, the pilot saw a warning light indicating an inconsistent pitch, or angle of flight, response on the aircraft, and chose to divert to BWI Marshall Airport, said Delta spokesman Anthony Black. The flight landed at about 9:40 p.m., according to an airport spokesman.

Glassman becomes senator Barry Glassman, the former leader of Harford County's complement in Maryland's House of Delegates, was sworn in as a state senator yesterday to replace the ailing Sen. J. Robert Hooper, who resigned Dec. 31. Glassman, 45, a claims investigator for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. who served for nine years in the House and eight on the Harford County Council, thanked supporters and said he had a "bittersweet" feeling replacing Hooper,...