Runway

An airliner landing at Wyoming's Jackson Hole Airport has slid off the runway. No injuries are reported. Witnesses identified the plane as an American Airlines 757 and said it did not appear damaged. The incident happened shortly before noon Wednesday. Airport officials say they can't immediately comment on the situation. A representative of Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Bradley Boner, a photographer at the Jackson Hole News & Guide newspaper, says a reporter for the newspaper was on the flight and said there were no injuries.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A 14-passenger plane slid off the Chambersburg Airport runway on Sunday afternoon after its landing gear didn't lock into place. No injuries or fires resulted, Franklin (Pa.) Fire Chief Mark Trace said. "The damage to the plane (looked) minimal to me," Trace said. The pilot was alone in the airplane when an electrical problem occurred, Trace said. The problem forced the pilot to land the plane manually, but the landing gear folded up as the plane went down the runway at about 3:30 p.m., he said.

laurae@herald-mail.com ANNAPOLIS - At risk of losing a $54 million federal grant, Maryland transportation officials said Wednesday the state will put up its share to extend the Hagerstown Regional Airport runway. Maryland Aviation Administration Executive Director Paul J. Wiedefeld told Washington County lawmakers and airport officials Wednesday that he will put the state's $8 million commitment in writing to the Federal Aviation Administration. In recent weeks, after learning that the federal grant could be lost without quick action, local lawmakers began heavily lobbying transportation officials in the new Republican administration of Gov. Robert Ehrlich.

tarar@herald-mail.com Washington County might have to pay between $4.7 million and $14.4 million in interest to extend the runway at Hagerstown Regional Airport, finance officials said Tuesday. The amount of interest would depend on what the rates are at the time the county issues bonds to pay for some of the approximately $60.2 million project, the term of the bonds and how quickly the Federal Aviation Administration reimburses the county for most of the project's cost, Director of Budget and Finance Debra Bastian and Lester Guthorn, the county's financial consultant, told the County Commissioners.

Runway funding awarded MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport Authority was awarded a $200,000 grant this week to renovate runway and taxiway signs. Airport Manager William Walkup said the grant is the second phase of an electrical project started with a $160,000 grant in 1997. "Basically, what we have is a multitude of signs and guidance apparatus that aren't functional or (are) out of compliance," Walkup said. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the upgrades for the signs, which direct pilots to runways.

The Washington County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a change order of about $140,000 for additional expenses related to a bridge over U.S. 11 that is part of a runway rehabilitation project at the Hagerstown Regional Airport. Most of the additional expense came from high asphalt prices and improvements to a drainage ditch beside U.S. 11, according to a letter from Airport Director Carolyn S. Motz. The change order also covers wing wall extensions, message board rental charges and miscellaneous paving work, according to the letter.

marlob@herald-mail.com A father and daughter from Michigan were hurt Thursday afternoon when their single-engine plane ran off the end of the runway at the Hagerstown Regional Airport, crashing onto a grassy berm less than 50 feet from Interstate 81. The Mooney Executive 21 plane remained upright and showed little visible damage to the wings or passenger compartment. Traffic continued to whiz by as Maugansville Volunteer Fire Co. and Community Rescue Service personnel arrived shortly after the 4:24 p.m. call.

One of the biggest chunks of baloney you are ever likely to read in print came to us this week from Washington County Airport Manager Carolyn Motz, who said a U.S. Airways carrier was pulling out of Hagerstown in part because the airport's runway is too short. Funny, that wasn't what David Castelveter, spokesman for U.S. Airways said. His exact words were "I don't see any significant growth in the Hagerstown area. The best we'll be able to do is maintain" the flights that they have now. That's about as clear as it gets.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport's only runway will be reduced in length next week because of ongoing work at the airfield to accommodate the C-5 Galaxy military aircraft, airport Manager Bill Walkup announced Friday. Beginning Thursday, Runway 8/26 will be reduced from its current 7,015 feet to 3,100 feet, with a 400-foot buffer zone, Walkup said. The instrument landing system at the airport also will be out of service until further notice. The rehabilitation and extension project will widen the runway from 150 to 200 feet and lengthen it to 8,815 feet.

HAGERSTOWN - Even with the second-longest runway in the state, Hagerstown Regional Airport won't be landing commercial jumbo jets anytime soon, Airport Manager Carolyn S. Motz said Wednesday. "We could handle a Boeing 747, but I'd probably have a heart attack while it was happening," Motz said during the Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce's "Eggs and Issues" meeting at Duffy's on Potomac in Hagerstown. Motz was the featured speaker at the meeting, and focused her remarks on how the new 7,000-foot runway will benefit the airport and community.

Jessica Lord of Martinsburg, W.Va., isn't a model. She's a Marine. But it is because of her service with the Marine Corps that Lord was selected to be part of Lifetime's “Project Runway All Stars” as part of the show's “All Stars and Stripes” episode on Jan. 3. That deserves a Marine “ooh-rah!” The episode selected four female veterans to have outfits created for them by the final four all-stars  - Uli Herzner, Joshua McKinley, Anthony Ryan Auld and Emilio Sosa - as part of the Real Women Challenge.

A spate of land acquisitions approved Tuesday by the Washington County Commissioners included a long-negotiated purchase of about 3.6 acres near the Hagerstown Regional Airport runway for more than $200,000. The county is buying the land as part of a protection zone for the recently extended runway, with 97.5 percent of the purchase cost to be paid by the Federal Aviation Administration, said Joe Kuhna, the county's real property administrator. The county also approved more than $70,000 in right-of-way purchases needed for road-widening projects, including the final piece needed for improvements at the intersection of Halfway and Massey boulevards.

An airliner landing at Wyoming's Jackson Hole Airport has slid off the runway. No injuries are reported. Witnesses identified the plane as an American Airlines 757 and said it did not appear damaged. The incident happened shortly before noon Wednesday. Airport officials say they can't immediately comment on the situation. A representative of Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Bradley Boner, a photographer at the Jackson Hole News & Guide newspaper, says a reporter for the newspaper was on the flight and said there were no injuries.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- An American Airlines flight carrying 154 people skidded across a Jamaican runway in heavy rain, bouncing across the tarmac and injuring more than 40 people before it stopped just short of the Caribbean Sea, officials and witnesses said. Panicked passengers screamed and baggage burst from overhead bins as Flight 331 from Miami careened down the runway in the capital, Kingston, on Tuesday night, one passenger said. The impact cracked the fuselage, crushed the left landing gear and separated both engines from the Boeing 737-800, airline spokesman Tim Smith said.

HALFWAY -- Onlookers Saturday afternoon at Valley Mall's annual fashion show saw teen and tween models showing off fall's back-to-school fashions. What they didn't see were the hours that went into preparing the girls for the show -- not just teaching them how to turn at the end of the runway, but also about proper nutrition, skin care and confidence. Latoyia De Hostos encouraged her daughter to apply for the mall's Style Squad program, in which girls participate in a weeklong camp then model in two fashion shows, because her own mother got her into modeling when she was 8. "It builds confidence and self-esteem.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A 14-passenger plane slid off the Chambersburg Airport runway on Sunday afternoon after its landing gear didn't lock into place. No injuries or fires resulted, Franklin (Pa.) Fire Chief Mark Trace said. "The damage to the plane (looked) minimal to me," Trace said. The pilot was alone in the airplane when an electrical problem occurred, Trace said. The problem forced the pilot to land the plane manually, but the landing gear folded up as the plane went down the runway at about 3:30 p.m., he said.

The Washington County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a change order of about $140,000 for additional expenses related to a bridge over U.S. 11 that is part of a runway rehabilitation project at the Hagerstown Regional Airport. Most of the additional expense came from high asphalt prices and improvements to a drainage ditch beside U.S. 11, according to a letter from Airport Director Carolyn S. Motz. The change order also covers wing wall extensions, message board rental charges and miscellaneous paving work, according to the letter.

Aubre Boyd, a ninth-grade student at South Hagerstown High School, wants to take her hobby of fashion and modeling and transform it into her career. Aubre said that all her life she has enjoyed watching commercials about the new couture styles coming out and looking at the new fashions in magazines. But when the new commercial came out for the up-and-coming line for Victoria's Secret, Aubre knew she wanted to go after what she thought she was destined to do. The 14-year-old said her mother, Tianna Boyd, pushes and supports her like no one else.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. -- Teen model Courtney Breeden needed an eye-catching accessory for her audition to appear in a runway show for Baltimore's Fashion Week, so she took along a B. Sassy handbag. "We just thought we'd get a few more minutes in the audition," said Courtney, 15, of Maugansville, who has been modeling since the age of 7 and has been a professional since she was 12. "I had the purse in my lap," Courtney said of her interview with Sharan Nixon, the president of Baltimore's Fashion Week.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has made a $5.8 million installment payment to Washington County as a part of the federal government's agreement to fund part of the runway extension project at Hagerstown Regional Airport. The money is part of the $48.5 million the Federal Aviation Administration agreed to pay toward the $61.8-million extension, said Mahesh S. Kukata, a consultant on the project. The extension project began in 2004 and was largely finished by December 2007, when the airport held a ribbon cutting to open the new runway.