Agape Flights plane survives gear-up landing at airfield in Haiti; pilots unharmed

Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·1 min read
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This Agape Flights 1985 Reims F406 Cessna Caravan II had an equipment failure that forced it to land April 5 at a small airfield in Haiti. The two pilots were not injured. (Credit: PHOTO PROVIDED BY AGAPE FLIGHTS)
This Agape Flights 1985 Reims F406 Cessna Caravan II had an equipment failure that forced it to land April 5 at a small airfield in Haiti. The two pilots were not injured. (Credit: PHOTO PROVIDED BY AGAPE FLIGHTS)

VENICE – One of Agape Flights two aircraft experienced a failure Friday morning that forced it into a gear-up landing at a small airport in Haiti.

Neither of the two Agape Flights pilots on board were hurt, according to a release from Tim Kenny, the nonprofit’s director of donor relations and development for the Venice-based nonprofit Christian aviation ministry .

The degree of damage suffered by the aircraft was not known as of Friday afternoon.

“We thank God that our pilots are fine and no one on the ground was injured,” Agape Flights CEO Allen Speer said in a prepared statement.

He also said the immediate priority was the safety and security of the air crew.

Agape Flights purchased the plane in late 2022 to replace an aircraft that was destroyed on the ground at Les Cayes Airport in March 2022.

Typically the plane carries about 2,000 pounds of cargo on weekly supply flights to Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Most recently, since unified gang unrest has made flights to Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince unsafe, the plane had also been used to evacuate missionaries and their families from Haiti.

No passengers were on the aircraft, though it had been scheduled to pick up several missionaries at another location in Haiti and return to Florida Friday.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Agape Flights plane stuck in Haiti after gear-up landing at airfield