A runway at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, closed for three hours as a result of a small plane crash on Thursday evening, has now been re-opened.
Lakeland Police responded to the airport after receiving a report of an airplane crash around 6:00 p.m. on February 3, according to a news release.
The pilot, Heinz D. Vogtland, 68, of Sanibel, Florida, failed to lower the landing gear of the single engine prop aircraft, the release said.
Vogtland, the sole occupant of the aircraft, landed the plane and was not injured in the crash. The aircraft sustained “signifant damage”, the news release said.
The aircraft was towed away after about three hours and the runway re-opened.
On Wednesday, February 2, two people were killed when a small plane crashed near the Kissimmee Gateway Airport located near Orlando. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of that crash.
