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Lana'i runway shut after hard landing
The Lana'i Airport runway was closed for nearly 2 1/2 hours yesterday after a single-engine airplane made a hard landing and skidded 35 feet off the runway.
The pilot, 48-year-old Kaua'i resident Scott Sims, and his four passengers were not hurt in the 12:53 p.m. incident.
"They were very lucky," said Lt. Chad Viela, the Lana'i District commander for the Maui Police Department.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker said the pilot was unaware that the Beech Bonanza A35 aircraft's landing gear failed to fully deploy before landing.
He said the mishap would be classified an "incident" rather than an "accident."
At least one commercial flight, an Island Air plane, was diverted to another airport while the runway was closed down, said Toby Wakumoto, a spokesman with the state Department of Transportation.
Viela described the flight as a pleasure excursion that began in the morning on Kaua'i.
The group, which included two people from out of state, stopped on Moloka'i before landing on Lana'i, he said.
Sims is a veterinarian who is owner of the Pegasus Veterinary Clinic in Kilauea, Kaua'i.
Man arraigned in hit-and-run
A 32-year-old Moanalua man was arraigned yesterday in Circuit Court on charges stemming from an August 2002 hit-and-run accident on Auahi Street in Kaka'ako that seriously injured three visitors from Japan.
Jung Sung Cho is charged with failure to render aid and causing first-degree negligent injury.
A man, his wife and daughter were crossing Auahi Street between Ward Warehouse and Ward Farmer's Market within a crosswalk at 7:50 p.m. Aug. 2, 2002, when they were hit by a black sedan.
Man, 18, charged in 2 robberies
Police charged an 18-year-old man Wednesday in connection with two robberies, including one in which a homeless man was stabbed in Kaka'ako.
George Preston was scheduled to be arraigned today at District Court on first- and second-degree robbery charges. His bail totals $150,000.
The first-degree robbery charge stems from a Sept. 12 robbery of a homeless man, 52, who was stabbed and robbed of his moped.
Preston is also accused of robbing an 18-year-old man on April 22 at a Kailua-area bus stop.
