FAA issued July directive targeting a landing gear issue

The landing gear that malfunctioned Saturday and forced the emergency landing of a plane at Kennedy Airport was the subject of an "airworthiness directive" from the FAA in July, but whether that craft had fully complied with the directive is still under investigation, the FAA said Monday.

Captain Jack Conroy was piloting Delta Connection Flight 4951 destined for White Plains when he told air traffic controllers that the right landing gear wasn't working.

The flight was rerouted to Kennedy and Conroy brought the plane to rest after balancing it between its left wheel and right wing. The 60 passengers got out of the CRJ 900 twin-engine plane safely.

Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the FAA said, "The FAA issued an 'airworthiness directive' that dealt with a landing gear issue" for this type of aircraft. But, she added, "It will be part of the investigation to determine whether this [particular] aircraft had completed the required actions under the 'airworthiness directive.' "

It was still unclear last night whether the directive addressed the same type of problem with the landing gear that caused the mishap Saturday. There is a "compliance time" set by the FAA to allow the airline to address the issue - a complicated formula that can include factors such as frequency of use. But it was unclear whether the aircraft was within that window of compliance.

"The compliance time to inspect or replace the part would be different for each aircraft," Brown said. "The date for required inspection or replacement of the part would be different with the history of each airplane."

- With Zachary R. Dowdy