No One Injured In Plane's Nose-Gear Malfunction: Fire Department

LITTLETON, CO — An airplane landed safely at Centennial Airport after its nose gear became twisted Monday morning, the South Metro Fire Department said in a tweet.

There was no fire, and neither of the two people on board were injured, the department said.

The incident occurred on runway 17L, and the airport will be handling the investigation and the removal of the plane, the department said.

The term 'nose gear' refers to the landing gear under the nose of an airplane, according to Aviation Safety Magazine. In smaller airplanes, such as the Lear 45 that was involved in Monday's incident, the nose gear is smaller and encompasses only a single wheel that can sometimes "shimmy" upon landing.

In this incident, the nose gear twisted sideways, making safe forward movement difficult.

A similar incident occurred at the same airport and on the same runway just under a year ago, according to a Feb. 20 tweet from Centennial airport. Then, the nose gear of a small twin-engine plane collapsed; no fire or injuries were reported at that incident, either.