Tire Falls Off Small Plane, Lands In Jefferson Park Neighborhood
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A tire fell from the landing gear of a small plane and was found on the ground in the Jefferson Park neighborhood Thursday evening.
The Chicago Department of Aviation said at 6:19 p.m., airfield operations at O'Hare International Airport were notified of a small plane making sparks as it landed on Runway 28Center. The sparks were coming from the landing gear on the left side of the aircraft.
The plane landed safely, and an emergency response began when it came to a stop. At that time, it was found that the left landing gear assembly was missing, the department said.
No injuries were reported, and the five passengers and two crewmembers were taken to Terminal 5.
The single-engine Pilatus PC-12 was being flown by as a charter flight by Boutique Airlines and had been headed to Chicago from Ironwood, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Police later responded to reports of missing airplane landing gear on the sidewalk on Leland Avenue between Central and Linder avenues.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, the tire crashed right between two houses as it fell from the sky, and left neighbors with quite the scare.
The tire was not very big. But when it plummeted thousands of feet from the air, it no doubt forced people to wonder what the noise was.
That includes the Rose Bock. The senior didn't realize the noise was from a plane's tire until she spotted police in her front yard with flashlights.
Living so close to O'Hare means planes fly over all the time. But this one took everyone in neighborhood by surprise.
"It was a big boom! I didn't know what it was. I didn't know if it was in my house – I checked the basement, everything; I didn't really didn't look outside," Bock said. "She calls me and says, 'They're all by your house.' He said: 'There's a tire. How did that tire get there?'"
"A tire is a tire coming from that high. it's a scary situation, and after finding out what it was, I was mortified because planes fly over here all the time - something so close to the airport. We're right on the landing pattern, so it could happen," said Sue Davis Bilbo, who also lives on the block. "Unfortunately, it did happen, and nobody was injured."
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating Thursday night, with support from the Chicago Police Department and the Department of Aviation.
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