Plane makes emergency landing at Newark Airport

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Newark Liberty Airport has reopened after a United Express flight from Atlanta made an emergency landing, forcing an hour-long shutdown.

There were no reports of injuries among the 71 people aboard.

Authorities say Flight 5124 landed around 6:20 p.m. Monday, shortly after the pilot was approaching the airport to land as scheduled and noticed a landing gear problem.

Newark firefighters were called to the scene, but found no smoke or fire aboard the plane.

A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the airport was closed shortly after the landing. Two of the airport's three runways reopened about an hour later.

Additional details were not immediately available.

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NASA scientist wins free space trip on rocket plane

PALO ALTO, Calif. — A NASA scientist has won a free flight to suborbital space, but he may not be able to claim the prize.

Thomas Goodwin, a physiology and bioengineering researcher at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, won a suborbital flight on XCOR Aerospace's Lynx vehicle, a $95,000 value. Goodwin's name was randomly selected here Monday (Feb. 27) at the 2012 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC-2012).

"I'm not sure I can accept this," Goodwin said, referencing his status as a government employee, which may prevent him from using the prize. "I'm very surprised."

If government regulations and red tape prohibit Goodwin from claiming the award, a backup is ready to step up; XCOR officials drew an alternate name just in case. Conference attendees who registered in advance were entered in the drawing.

XCOR's Lynx is a two-person space plane designed to take off and land on a conventional airport runway. In addition to flights with paying passengers, the rocket-powered vehicle is being designed to carry research experiments to suborbital space.

XCOR officials have said the Lynx could be in flight-test operations by the end of 2012. The company plans to charge $95,000 per seat when the space plane is up and running. XCOR also announced Monday that it recently secured $5 million in equity funding that will help fund its work on the Lynx.

Whoever eventually goes up in the space plane will be in for a real treat, XCOR officials said.

"Hang onto your hat, because it's going to be one amazing ride," said former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander Rick Searfoss, XCOR's chief test pilot.

XCOR isn't the only company developing craft to take scientists, experiments and tourists up to suborbital space. Virgin Galactic, for example, is charging $200,000 for rides on its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, which seats six passengers, along with two pilots.

NSRC-2012, which runs through Wednesday (Feb. 29), brings scientists and educators together to talk about how commercial suborbital spacecraft can help advance research in atmospheric science, physics, planetary science, biology and physiology, among other fields, according to conference organizers.

The meeting is jointly hosted by NASA, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, and the Colorado-based Southwest Research Institute.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Plane, copter clip each other over CA, pilots hurt

ANTIOCH, Calif. (AP) — A helicopter and a small plane were forced into emergency landings after they clipped each other over Northern California, leaving the two pilots with minor injuries, authorities say.

The accident occurred about 7 p.m. Sunday just north of Antioch, about halfway between Oakland and Sacramento along the Sacramento River, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The two-seat Robinson R22 helicopter set down just off state Highway 160, while the six-seat Beechcraft Bonanza made a rough landing in a field just short of an airport, the officials said.

There was no immediate information on what caused the accident, details of the midair collision, or damage to the two aircraft.

The male pilot of the single-engine plane and the 29-year-old female helicopter pilot were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos said. The woman had cuts to her hands, he said.

The helicopter pilot was the only person aboard, while two people were aboard the plane, Gregor said. There were no reports of any injuries to the plane passenger.

The helicopter pilot came down about 50 feet from the highway, turned off her fuel tank and walked to the road to get help from drivers, Sacramento County and California Highway Patrol officials at the scene told Sacramento's KXTV-TV.

The plane had taken off and intended to land at an airport in the town of Byron, some 20 miles to the south, but went down shortly before reaching it. The small, two-runway airport in Byron does not have an air traffic control tower.

It was not clear where the helicopter took off, or where it was headed.

The crash was about eight miles from Rio Vista Municipal Airport, but its coordinator John Andoh said neither aircraft had any connection to the airport.

Both aircraft had private owners, according to FAA records.

The 2005 Robinson helicopter is registered to a Hayward-based business owned by Matthew Spitzer and was leased to Vertical CFI, a pilot training school, Spitzer's wife, Rosemary, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. A Vertical CFI official didn't immediately respond to a phone message.

The 1961 Beechcraft plane is registered to Ronald A. Gawer of Brentwood, Calif. in Contra Costa County, the records show.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

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Plane carrying marijuana strays into Obama L.A. airspace

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A small plane with more than 20 pounds of marijuana strayed into restricted airspace around President Barack Obama's helicopter on Thursday in Los Angeles, prompting U.S. F-16 fighters to rush to intercept it, officials said.

The two F-16s were scrambled from March Air Reserve Base, east of Los Angeles, by North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command officials alerted to an airspace violation "in the vicinity" of Los Angeles International Airport, a NORAD spokesman said.

The fighter jets made contact with the pilot of the Cessna 182, a single-engine plane, and the pilot then complied with instructions to land at Long Beach Airport, spokesman Michael Kucharek said.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said agents questioned the pilot and determined there was no apparent intention to harm the president.

An FBI spokeswoman said the pilot had been flying from Santa Maria, in Central California, to Long Beach and had failed to respond to radio communications prior to contact by the fighter jets.

Obama flew on the White House helicopter, Marine One, from Los Angeles to the seaside community of Corona Del Mar and back on Thursday morning for a fundraiser.

Members of the White Houses press corps made the same journey in another Marine helicopter that flew nearby. There was no sign of disruption or incident from the air.

After arriving back in Los Angeles, the president boarded Air Force One and flew to San Francisco.

There was no immediate word on whether criminal charges were filed in connection with the incident. But law enforcement sources who has been briefed on the incident said authorities found 10 kilos, or 22 pounds, of marijuana on the plane.

(Additional reporting by Alister Bull and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

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