Vintage WWII plane makes emergency landing at D.C. airport

Bart Jansen and Emily Brown | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Vintage WWII Plane Makes Emergency Landing at Reagan National Vintage WWII Plane Makes Emergency Landing at Reagan National. Video courtesy Mike Rudin

One of the vintage WWII planes participating in the historic flyover of Washington Friday made an emergency landing at Reagan National Airport.

A TBM Avenger broke from its flight path to head toward the airport, which is in Virginia, just across the Potomac River from D.C.

"It was in perfect formation with everyone else, then it broke heavily," said Andrew Shirley, who witnessed the emergency landing from Gravelly Point, a park at the end of the airport's runway.

The airport, which closed to commercial traffic during the noon hour for the flyover, also shared a short video of the landing.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported flight delays up to 45 minutes due to "air show" during the height of the flyover. But the emergency landing occurred at 12:41 p.m., in the middle of the hour the airport was already closed to commercial traffic, and conditions returned to normal by 1:18 p.m., the airport tweeted.

"The plane landed due to a mechanical problem," said Christopher Paolino, an airport spokesman. "There was a brief period after 1 p.m. where the runway remained closed while the aircraft was moved, but I am not aware of significant impacts to operations during that time."

Shirley said it was clear that something was wrong. "As it got closer you could hear the engine sputter, you could hear a pop."

Shirley and Mike Rudin took a break from work to watch the event. Rudin filmed the emergency landing. The men said after the plane landed, it was surrounded by emergency vehicles on the runway.

Organizers of the Arsenal of Democracy: World War II Victory Capitol Flyover said all but one plane, which made a precautionary landing at Reagan, returned to airports in Culpeper and Manassas, Va. But the group didn't describe the plane or its problem, and didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The flyover featuring 56 vintage planes in 15 formations honored the 70th anniversary of the victory in Europe. No problems were visible during the event, with planes flying under sunny, blue skies.