A Ministry of Natural Resources (Canada) Super Scooper made a belly landing at Sault airport in Ontario at approximately 12:30 p.m. yesterday according to local news source SaultOnline.
Bomber 274 was observed sitting on runway 12 with wheels up after an apparent belly landing at the airport. LiveATC.net recordings at the time of the landing were heard to report that there was a landing gear failure on the aircraft shortly before the aircraft landed on the runway on its belly.
A statement from the MNRF Communications published on SaultOnline.com stated that:
“This afternoon, one of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s CL415 waterbombing aircraft made a hard landing at the Sault Ste Marie International Airport. The aircraft had been performing a routine test flight. There were no injuries to flight crew onboard, which included a pilot and co-pilot,” said Chenard.
“A team from Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services is currently on scene to remove the aircraft from the runway. Our Aviation Services Section will be working with the Transportation Safety Board on this investigation.”
