Mooney successfully belly's in

A Mooney pilot had to belly in his airplane Saturday at Lebanon
airport here in NH. All I know is from the newspaper's story. He had
flown up from Massachusetts and apparently was attempting to land at
Waitsfield airport, which is squeezed in between ridges in Vermont's
Green Mountains. I've flown by Waitsfield, it's a single runway
airfield where glider operations are popular during the summer months.
The two ridges form a deep valley and the airfield sits right between
them.

Saturday was an extremely windy day after the passage of a cold front
on Friday night, with winds generally from the northwest. Since the
mountainline in this area (if I'm remembering correctly) generally
runs from from southwest to northeast, this means that the winds would
be blowing over the peaks and then down the windward slope into the
valley.

The pilot reported that while he was flaring to touchdown, a gust
slammed him onto the runway damaging his landing gear. I gather that
he knew right away that the landing gear was damaged. He did not
attempt to continue the landing at Waitsfield.

He flew from Waitsfield to Lebanon and did several fly-by's while
attempting to lower the gear. Only one main lowered, which was
confirmed by the tower. Unable to lower both mains, the pilot elected
to retract the gear and land on his belly.

The landing was uneventful, although the three bladed prop was bent
back on all tips and there must have been damage to the belly.

The pilot, who was alone, was not hurt in the landing.

Corky Scott