On February 19th, 2020 Emergency responders responded to the Merced Regional Airport located at 20 Macready Drive in Merced for reports of a small aircraft landing gear malfunction.

According to Battalion Chief Brunelli, City Fire responded to the airport at approximately 1:00 p.m. after receiving reports of the small twin-engine aircraft down in the runway.

Upon further investigation, there was no indication of any malfunction during the aircraft landing.

The aircraft did sustain some damage, the aircraft was carrying about 80 gallons of aircraft octane fuel, no fire or fuel leak was reported.

Two people were reported to be inside the aircraft, no injuries or damage to the runway was reported Brunelli said.

According to information that came in to Merced Gateway News, the pilot driver failed to lower the landing gear before landing and skidded about 1,000 feet before coming to a complete stop, the small aircraft was also said to be coming from the Castle Airforce area but was not confirmed.

The incident will be under investigation by NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board.