Santa Barbara Airport reopened Monday afternoon to commercial service after an accident forced the shutdown of the field for 19 hours. Dozens of commercial airline flights had to be cancelled. The main runway reopened just before 5 Monday.
A privately owned C-130 transport plane made an emergency landing at the airport Sunday night while en route from Santa Maria to Mesa, Arizona.
The plane reported hydraulic issues, and was unable to deploy its landing gear. The aircraft skidded off the main runway, and ended up in a grassy area. Firefighters quickly controlled a fire.
No one on board was hurt. But, the plane couldn’t be moved until federal investigators completed their preliminary investigation.
While the main runway used for commercial traffic reopened, other runways used for non-commercial flights remained closed Monday night.
