Aircraft

US Airways reports that no one was injured yesterday morning when a DHC-8-300 (Dash-8) with 35 passengers and crew of three enroute from Allentown, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia skidded to a stop at the conclusion of the flight wih its nose gear retracted.

Flight 4551, operated by Piedmont Airlines, landed around 0920 on a foam-coated runway at the Philadelphia International Airport after the pilots observed warnings in the cockpit and performed a flyover of the tower. Air traffic controllers during the flyover verified that the nose gear doors had opened but the gear itself had not deployed, according to the FAA.

An FAA spokeswoman says the event has been classified as an incident since damage was minimal and largely limited to the nose gear doors. Winds at the time of the incident were gusting to 22kt and skies were relatively clear.