A US Airways flight made a belly landing at Newark International Airport in the early morning hours on Saturday after the plane reported a problem with its landing gear, a spokesman for the airline said.

No injuries were reported after Express Flight 4560 landed just after 1 a.m. carrying 31 passengers and three crew from Philadelphia, US Airways spokesman Davien Anderson said in a statement. The De Havilland DASH-8 100 turboprop plane was operated by Piedmont Airlines, he said.

“Passengers were evacuated, transported to a terminal and loaded on buses,” Anderson said. “All passengers departed the airport shortly after the landing after being reunited with their belongings and baggage.”

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the emergency landing and assessing the extent of damage to the plane, the agency said on its Twitter feed on Saturday.

The plane declared an emergency after its left main landing gear failed to extend, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The FAA is also investigating the incident.

“The aircraft landed successfully on Runway 4L at about 1 a.m. The airport was closed until 2:55 a.m.,” the FAA said in a statement. “Runway 4L remained closed until 9:34 a.m.”

The aircraft sustained “minimal damage,” FAA spokesman Arlene Salec told NBC New York.

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A 250-pound chunk of an airplane wing that is believed to be part of a 9/11 jetliner was hoisted out of an alley near the World Trade Center on Wednesday where it was found last week and taken into police custody.

A dozen police officers worked for two hours using ropes and a hoist to lift the 5-foot-long piece of debris from the 18-inch-wide alley. They then wheeled it onto the street and loaded it into a pickup truck to take it to the NYPD property clerk's office in Brooklyn.

Deputy Chief William Aubrey said the National September 11 Memorial & Museum could eventually take possession of the part. He described the removal as eerie and emotional.

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

New York Police remove a piece of plane believed to be connected to the 9/11 terrorist attacks from an alley in downtown Manhattan.

"It's a piece of history," he said. "We tried to preserve it as best we could."

The part was removed after forensic authorities sifted the soil around it for human remains on Tuesday. The medical examiner's office said no potential human remains were found.

The airplane debris, identified as a piece of a 767 wing, was found wedged in the alley last week by surveyors hired by the property owner, as first reported by NBC 4 New York. The alley is between the rear of 50 Murray St. and back of 51 Park Place, the site where a mosque and community center has been proposed three blocks from Ground Zero.

Police say they have not determined whether the part came from American Airlines flight 11, which hit the north tower at 8:46 a.m., or United flight 175, which hit the south tower at 9:03 a.m. All of the other plane parts found in the immediate area were from flight 175.

Workers for the New York City medical examiner's office have begun sifting soil for possible human remains at a site near the World Trade Center where a chunk of airplane debris believed to have come from one of the 9/11 hijacked jetliners was found.

The aircraft part has been identified as a piece from a 767 wing, officials said Monday. NBC 4 New York, which first reported the finding in an alley near ground zero last week, has also learned the answer to the mystery of a rope that was found intertwined in the part — according to a law enforcement official, a detective who responded to the original call about the part last week tried to move it with a rope.

Authorities on Friday had said the rope might have indicated the part was lowered into the alley, but have since interviewed everyone who had contact with the part last week and have now answered that question. The official tells NBC 4 New York that the detective found the rope nearby and was trying to move the part to find a serial number or other identifying mark.

The NYPD also said Monday that a Boeing technician has confirmed that the 5-foot part is a trailing edge flap actuation support structure.

"It is believed to be from one of the two aircraft destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, but it could not be determined which one," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

On Sept. 11, American Airlines flight 11 hit the north tower at 8:46 a.m., and United flight 175 hit the south tower at 9:03 a.m. A FEMA graphic below shows that all the other plane parts in the immediate area were from flight 175.

Police and officials from the city medical examiner's office were on scene Monday preparing to sift the soil under the part for lost human remains. Officials said the part will be removed later in the week when that process is complete.

The part was found wedged between two buildings in a very narrow alley only about 18 inches wide between the rear of 50 Murray St. and back of 51 Park Place, the site where a mosque and community center has been proposed three blocks from ground zero.

The part bears a "Boeing" stamp, followed by a series of numbers.

The NYPD said the landing gear was found after surveyors hired by the property owner inspecting the rear of 51 Park Place called police on Wednesday. 

Most of the rubble from the 9/11 attack was cleared from the 16-acre site by the spring of 2002. Other debris, including human remains, has been found scattered outside the site, including on a rooftop and in a manhole, in years since.

A small plane made an emergency landing on the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 27 in South Florida on Sunday morning, but no injuries were reported.

The pilot told NBC6 he was flying from Opa-locka to Sebring, Fla., and was at an altitude of about 600 feet when he noticed his windshield becoming covered with oil.

The pilot, a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue lieutenant, did not want to be interviewed on camera but he spoke about how he brought the single-engine Cessna 182 to a stop in the right lane of U.S. 27 North, about 300 yards south of the Griffin Road exit.

The engine conked out and he knew he was in trouble -- but he also knew U.S. 27 was nearby, so he made a nice, easy landing on the highway in no traffic, he said.

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The plane, whose tail number is N5133R, was made in 1978, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

Sunday's emergency landing followed the crash of a small plane in a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., parking lot Friday that killed all three people aboard.

On Saturday, NFL player Donte' Stallworth and his girlfriend Soleil Guerrero received serious burns when when a hot air balloon carrying them crashed into power lines in Homestead, Fla.

A US Airways jet briefly caught fire on Monday evening at its gate in the Phoenix airport. No injuries were reported.

The fire started at 10:55 p.m. ET in the plane’s auxiliary power unit – a small motor that provides power to the aircraft when the engines are not running.

Two pilots and three flights attendants were on board when they noticed a problem to the rear.  The Phoenix Fire Department was then called to investigate a fuel leak, Phoenix Fire Department public information officer Jonathan Jacobs told NBC News.

Fire crews found a small blaze at the back of the jet and quickly sprayed the plane with foam.

There were no passengers on board the Vancouver, Canada-bound jet at the time, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport spokeswoman Kris Commerford told The Associated Press. The plane had arrived earlier in the day from California.

The flight's 101 passengers were put on a different US Airways flight, scheduled to leave two hours later.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A flight was forced to land at the Philadelphia International Airport due to what was believed to be smoke on the plane.

Officials said the plane departed from Philly International shortly before 6 a.m. and was headed to Cleveland.

Around 6:20 a.m., there was an indication of smoke on the plane, according to officials and the plane was forced to land as a precaution.

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No one was injured during the landing and crews said there was no smoke or fire on the plane.

The 47 passengers as well as the crew left the plane and were taken back to the terminal. All the passengers will be accommodated by United Airlines.

Crews inspected the plane and said they found nothing wrong.

Other runways were closed for 11 minutes but have since reopened.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for more details.

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A small, single-engine plane en route to a Federal Aviation Administration safety conference crashed into a house in a Jackson, Miss., neighborhood late Tuesday, killing all three people aboard, authorities said. A resident of the home escaped with minor injuries.

The Piper PA-32 had just taken off from the city’s Hawkins Field Airport when it began to falter. A police officer who saw the plane go down said it was sputtering, and the plane's owner told The Associated Press it struck several trees as it went down. The three people in the plane were said to be pilots.

The crash happened in west Jackson, just south of the city’s zoo, just after 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET) Tuesday. The house is located on Marcus L. Butler Drive south of W. Capitol Street, NBC affiliate WLBT reported.

Dramatic aerial pictures of the scene were aired by WLBT.

Large flames and black smoke rose about 50 feet from the house that was hit, which is in a neighborhood of single-family homes surrounded by big magnolia and oak trees, according to witnesses.

Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart confirmed to the AP that three people died in the crash. She said dental records or DNA would be needed to confirm their identities.

The plane was owned by Roger and Michele Latham, from Superior Pallet Company in Flowood, Miss., both of whom showed up at the crash site, along with their daughter, Emily Latham. Michele Latham said all three men on board were pilots. 

Emily Latham noted that her father was supposed to have been on board but changed his plans. "He went hunting," she told AP. "Thank God."

Rogelio V. Solis / AP

Fire fighters re-enter a west Jackson, Miss., home where authorities say a small plane carrying three people Tuesday evening.

"We had three great men who lost their lives," Roger Latham said. "I just want to wake up in a while and say, 'This didn't happen.'"

Authorities did not confirm the identities of any of the victims.

The plane had just departed Hawkins Field Airport headed for Raymond, Miss., for an FAA safety conference, just 25 miles away.

Latham said his plane had been parked in a hangar for a month and they wanted to take it out for a short flight before he flew it to Gulf Shores, Ala., for Thanksgiving. Latham said he had owned the plane for 2 1/2 years and described it as being in mint condition.

The plane took off at 5:10 p.m. and shortly after, the pilot asked for permission to return to the airport, according to a news release issued by the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority. The plane was unable to return and crashed.

Latham said a Jackson police officer who was about a block away when the plane was coming down told him "it was spitting and sputtering and ... starving for fuel."

Vivian Payne, who lives about six blocks from the crash site, said she heard a loud bang.

"It shook the walls of my house," Payne said as she stood among ambulances, police cars and fire trucks, their lights flashing in the chilly night air.

The National Transportation Safety Board along with the FAA will be investigating the cause of the crash.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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