Emergency landing caused injuries FROM EXAMINER STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Contrary to previous reports from Delta Air Lines and San Francisco airport officials, there were injuries when a Boeing 727-200 made an emergency landing here Monday evening, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Nine of the 78 people aboard suffered minor injuries while exiting the plane on inflatable slides, the agency reported.

Flight 1972 bound from San Francisco to Salt Lake City and on to Kalispell, Mont., returned to the airport about an hour after departure early Tuesday evening. The pilots discovered that their landing gear was stuck in a partly retracted position. The plane's right wing scraped the ground and was badly damaged in the landing.

Authorities were investigating Tuesday why the landing gear failed to work properly.

Some passengers left on other planes hours after the crash landing, but most stayed in hotels near the airport and left Tuesday morning, said airport spokesman Ron Wilson. Others decided not to fly, he said.

http://www.examiner.com/000315/0315plane.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 17, 2000