Ailing plane lands safely at Lebanon Airport

Staff report

Published: 09-08-2023 3:18 PM

WEST LEBANON — An inbound private jet from Nantucket landed safely at Lebanon Municipal Airport early Thursday evening after experiencing electrical failure as it was a short distance away from touching down.

The Lebanon Fire Department and other Upper Valley emergency services were called to the scene after being alerted shortly before 6 p.m. that an inbound Embraer Phenom 300 had reported “complete electrical failure” as it was about 13 miles north from the airport, confirmed Carl Gross, manager of the Lebanon Municipal Airport.

“The flight crew switched the aircraft over to battery power and used that to make their approach into the airport,” Gross said on Friday, explaining that an aircraft’s electrical system is powered by the engines — similar to the electrical system in a motor vehicle — but there is a backup battery to power instrumentation when the alternator fails.

The Brazilian-made jet is owned by NetJets, an air travel charter operator, and was flown from Nantucket to Lebanon in order to pick up passengers, Gross said. The only occupants of the aircraft at the time of the incident were the pilot and copilot, he said.

The jet landed at 6:01 p.m. and was towed to the Granite Air facility at the north end of the airport, where it was met by the Airport Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) truck.

Emergency services were called off from responding to the scene at 6:02 p.m.

“Kudos to the flight crew for doing everything by the book and bringing it in safely,” Gross said.

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