Steve Houston's Beach Sierra makes a hard landing, skidding onto foam on the runway at Nevada County Airpark Sunday evening. (Photo by Ben Furtado)

A crippled single-engine Beech Sierra airplane slid nose down 800 feet through fire-retardant foam on a runway at the Nevada County Airport Sunday.

Flight instructor Art Broughton of Nevada City and his student, Steve Houston of Auburn, opened an aircraft door and emerged to applause and cheers from a small crowd of observers.

Airport officials called emergency dispatch at about 3:30 p.m. because the plane could not get its front-landing gear down completely, said Gordon Mills, Alpine Aviation's owner and the flight instructor's supervisor.

The airport was closed, and firefighters from Nevada County Consolidated Fire Protection District and Nevada County Sheriff's deputies were on the scene in about five minutes, Fire Chief Tim Fike said.

After going through procedural checklists to see if the landing gear could be lowered, Broughton and Mills decided the plane had to circle and burn up fuel before landing with the unresponsive landing gear, Mills said.

Consolidated firefighters put down about 1,200 feet of fire-retardant foam on the runway, and the dark blue four-seater began its descent at about 4:30 p.m.

All eyes on the ground watched the plane come out of the setting sun, descend and touch its back wheels down on the runway minutes later. Broughton eased the plane's nose down and into the foam.

As the Beech Sierra skidded, sparks flew from its metal skin into the foam and were extinguished, said Sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Glover.

After leaving the plane, Broughton and Houston appeared a little shaken. Asked if he would fly again, Houston, the plane's owner, replied with a forceful "Sure."

Broughton has flown since 1963, he said. He has more than 12,000 hours flying time and was once the chief pilot for the Grass Valley Group, Mills said.

Before he left the airport, Broughton wrote an entry in Houston's Pilot's Log and shook hands with him.

The log entry read, "Landed with no nose wheel."

Houston told Broughton he appreciated the experience.

"I now know what its all about," Houston said.

Mills looked at the plane's crumpled nose and estimated it would cost $15,000 to repair.

"The damage is to the prop and maybe the engine," Mills said. "We'll get in there and find out what happened to the landing gear, too."

The Federal Aviation Administration was contacted and the airport was reopened at about 6 p.m., a dispatch officer said.

The Grass Valley City Fire Department and Ophir Hill Fire Protection District also responded to the emergency, Fike said.

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