Medical plane makes emergency stop at Cape airport

A Learjet bound for Louisville, Kentucky, made an unscheduled stop Thursday afternoon at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport after a warning light indicated one of its engines was on fire, an airport official said.

The Angel MedFlight plane was transporting a patient from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Louisville shortly before noon Thursday when an indicator light showed it had a fire in its right engine, airport manager Bruce Loy said.

Emergency personnel, including firefighters, law enforcement and an ambulance, headed to the airport to meet the plane, which landed safely in what Loy called "a routine emergency."

"I don't think they ever did confirm that they had one (engine fire), but to be safe, because they had a patient, they shut it off," Loy said.

As Loy spoke, workers were busy getting the occupants off the plane and inspecting it.

"They'll have somebody analyze it and make sure it wasn't just a short in the light," he said.

None of the six occupants of the plane -- pilot, co-pilot, patient and three others -- was injured, Loy said.

"Everybody's safe, and now they're going to make the determination about how they're going to get their patient to Louisville," he said.

epriddy@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, 860 Limbaugh Drive, Scott City, MO