SAN ANTONIO, March 18 (UPI) -- Three boy scouts were scared but unharmed after the plane in which they were traveling was forced to land with malfunctioning landing gear in Texas.
After safely landing at the Hondo Municipal Airport Saturday, one of the three boys told the San Antonio Express-News that he was happy that pilot Thomas Skiles managed to land the damaged plane without incident.
"I'm glad to be down safe. I was really scared after I saw part of the wheel fall off," 12-year-old Eric Riegel said.
Also on board the flight, part of an effort to earn aviation merit badges, were 10-year-old Kirby Vandervort and Nathaniel Mayberry, 13.
While the plane landing was incredibly tense for the children on board, their parents were equally terror-stricken watching the event unfold from the ground.
"My son and the other boys were on one of the last round of flights, and we were on the tarmac watching the plane coming in when I sensed something was not well, something was out of place," Mayberry's father, Luther Mayberry, told the paper.
