USAF KC-135 makes emergency landing at Space Harbor.

 

A huge KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft making a maintenance check flight out of Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City was forced to put down at the White Sands Missile Range Space Harbor Wednesday afternoon, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported today on its Web site.

The plane experienced hydraulic failure, which meant the plane's flaps weren't working and needed a long runway to land, White Sands officials told the Sun-News.

The plane and its four-member crew landed safely on the Space Harbor's long runway around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, where it also was discovered the plane's brakes weren't working, the paper reported.

The Stratotanker -- whose primary mission is midair refueling -- is about the size of a Boeing 707 commercial jetliner. See the Air Force's fact sheet here.

The Space Harbor was the site of the space shuttle Columbia's landing on March 31, 1982, and is also a training site for shuttle pilots, the Sun-News reported.

Only one other emergency landing has been made at the White Sands Space Harbor, Holloman Air Force Base spokesman Tom Fuller told the paper.

That was in 1994 when another KC-135's landing gear failed, Fuller told the Sun-News.

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Rate this article:
Poor Great

Comment:

BOLD

"QUOTE"

UNDERLINE