Runway

A SMALL private aircraft skidded off a runway at Philadelphia International Airport about 1 p.m. Monday when its landing gear failed. The pilot - the only person on board - was not injured, said airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica. The runway, used mostly for small planes, was closed while crews removed the aircraft from a grassy area, but Lupica said that operations were not disrupted. The plane was inbound from Lock Haven in central Pennsylvania. Lupica said that when the plane landed, its landing gear was open but subsequently collapsed and that the plane veered off the runway.

Buckingham is in an uproar over fears of a longer runway at Doylestown Airport. Although the Bucks County Airport Authority insists it has no plans to lengthen the 3,000-foot runway, local residents and township officials have taken fearful note of the airport's master plan, which shows the runway at 3,750 feet. The plan is among supporting documentation for an application for an $815,000 federal grant for airport improvements. The grant has been approved. The authority says it needs to indicate the possibility of expansion to satisfy Federal Aviation Administration requirements for financing.

Grab a bowl of buttered popcorn and slip into your favorite pair of relaxed-fit jeans, because at 9 tonight on UPN, the winner of America's Next Top Model will be revealed. The second season of the series, which set a dozen undiscovered fashion queens on a quirky quest for swivel-hip celebrity, ends with supermodel Tyra Banks announcing who will reign on the runway. Below, two of the show's constant viewers take an eyebrow-pencil stab at which lucky gal will be left standing - or slouching - on fame's runway, and why. Tanya Barrientos: So it's down to the final three: Shandi Sullivan, the ugly duckling who waddled into haute couture from a Walgreen's in Kansas City; California waitress Mercedes Scelba-Shorte, who serves up sex and sass every time she looks into the lens; and Jacksonville, Fla., waif naif Yoanna House, whose bio lists her occupation as "baby-sitter.

When one of the world's most fearsome fighting organizations takes on a herd of deer, guess what you get? Bambiburger. Frozen, in two-pound bags. Those deer certainly won't imperil the airplanes at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station anymore. The brass at the 1,100-acre base in Montgomery County decided that the 40 to 50 deer who contentedly lived in a thicket near the main runway were a threat to safe flight. So, Navy guys with shotguns and powerful spotlights became a threat to the deer last week.

Whitpain Township supervisors will decide Dec. 19 whether to appeal a state Commonwealth Court decision giving the owners of Wings Field permission to extend the runway at the commuter airfield by 1,200 feet. In its 26-page decision, released Monday in Harrisburg, the state court overturned a 1987 decision by Montgomery County Court that the 2,600-foot runway could be expanded by only 1,000 feet. The Commonwealth Court ruled that the runway could reach a total of 3,800 feet, the length requested by Wings Field owners, Wings Field Associates, in September 1984.

The Whitpain Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to appeal to the state Supreme Court a decision allowing the runway at Wings Field to be expanded by 1,200 feet. At a meeting Monday night, the board voted, 5-0, to appeal the Dec. 5 ruling by the Commonwealth Court. "We've gone this far and cannot abandon the process," said board Chairman Leigh P. Narducci. More than 30 people, many of them township residents whose homes border the commuter airfield and others from Plymouth and East Norriton Townships, attended the meeting.

T HE FEDS have taken up the case against the Chadds Ford man arrested after driving his SUV onto a runway at Philadelphia International Airport. R. Kerry Kalmbach, the attorney for Kenneth Richard Mazik, said he expected Mazik to appear this week in federal court. Mazik, 24, was being held on $1 million bail. He is charged with driving under the influence, resisting arrest and other state charges. Under the federal complaint, Mazik is being charged with using an automobile to damage airport facilities and to disrupt airport operations.

A draft of the first updated master plan for the Northeast Philadelphia Airport in almost 20 years calls for building an additional runway and rerouting traffic to hold down noise in surrounding neighborhoods. The public will have a chance to offer suggestions on the plan, prepared by TransPlan Inc. of New York City, at a hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cannstatter-Volksfest Verein, 9130 Academy Rd. The Northeast airport, at Grant Avenue and Ashton Road, is the area's largest airport for general aviation, or flights by private and corporate planes rather than commercial passenger carriers.

After years of struggling to acquire government funding for a controversial runway extension and renovation, the owners of Wings Field airport announced last night that they intended to lengthen the runway this spring - with their own funds if necessary. "My clients are almost definitely going to proceed with the runway construction this year, with a beginning date of April," said Paul C. Heintz, who represents the airport owners and said they still hoped to get government funds.

Talk about squeezing out every last bit of mileage . . . Give it a rest, already. Viewers get to see McCarroll stressing over shoes arriving late, making jewelry on a budget, inviting celebrities, and filling goodie bags. He doesn't, however, talk about why he turned down the $100,000 he was awarded for winning Runway , and relies on funding from the Humane Society. And he glosses over how he botched a potential sale with Philadelphia's Urban Outfitters, part of the reason his clothes weren't available last spring.

A SMALL private aircraft skidded off a runway at Philadelphia International Airport about 1 p.m. Monday when its landing gear failed. The pilot - the only person on board - was not injured, said airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica. The runway, used mostly for small planes, was closed while crews removed the aircraft from a grassy area, but Lupica said that operations were not disrupted. The plane was inbound from Lock Haven in central Pennsylvania. Lupica said that when the plane landed, its landing gear was open but subsequently collapsed and that the plane veered off the runway.

STATEMENT bags are defined by their color, shape, design and logo. Whether it's a purse, a clutch or a shoulder bag, these ladies rock high-end labels like Hermes (the famous Birkin bag), Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton that demand attention. And when paired with matching heels, they become runway-worthy, even if the runway is a city street.     Follow Reuben Harley on Twitter at @BigRubeHarley and at streetgazing.blogspot.com.

PHOENIX - After a face-to-face meeting with Mayor Nutter, US Airways chief executive Doug Parker says he is convinced that the city will be persuaded by "facts, not opinions" about the difficulties of the proposed massive expansion of Philadelphia International Airport. And an executive of the airport's second-biggest carrier, Southwest Airlines, says he believes the expansion plan, which calls for construction of a fifth runway, "will die of its own weight" because of the costs involved.

T HE FEDS have taken up the case against the Chadds Ford man arrested after driving his SUV onto a runway at Philadelphia International Airport. R. Kerry Kalmbach, the attorney for Kenneth Richard Mazik, said he expected Mazik to appear this week in federal court. Mazik, 24, was being held on $1 million bail. He is charged with driving under the influence, resisting arrest and other state charges. Under the federal complaint, Mazik is being charged with using an automobile to damage airport facilities and to disrupt airport operations.

The Chadds Ford man arrested March 1 after driving his SUV through a gate and onto a runway at Philadelphia International Airport will be prosecuted in federal court. R. Kerry Kalmbach, the attorney for Kenneth Richard Mazik, said he expected Mazik to have an initial appearance later this week before a federal magistrate judge in Philadelphia. Mazik, 24, was to have had a preliminary hearing Monday in Philadelphia Municipal Court, but the hearing was aborted after it was announced he would be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Bail was set Monday at $1 million for the man who disrupted Philadelphia International Airport last week by leading police on a high-speed runway pursuit after crashing through a gate with an SUV. Kenneth Richard Mazik, 24, of Chadds Ford, was arraigned Monday morning before Magistrate Judge Timothy O'Brien on charges of driving under the influence, resisting arrest, aggravated assault, possession of a controlled substance, and related offenses....

PHILADELPHIA International Airport was shut down for a half-hour yesterday when a man crashed through a chain-link gate in an SUV and drove onto a runway. Kenneth Richard Mazik, 24, of Chadds Ford, was allegedly drunk when, at about 11:15 a.m., he rammed a Jeep Cherokee through a gate at the west end of the airport, police said. He quickly was taken into custody after his Jeep was briefly chased onto a runway by authorities. Officials immediately closed the airport. About 15 aircraft were delayed in arriving and departing, said airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica.

A man who crashed his Jeep through a gate at Philadelphia International Airport and led police on a chase down two runways was charged today with a federal offense that carries a maximum 20-year prison term. An affidavit by FBI Special Agent Megan MacDonald said an airplane was about to land when Kenneth Richard Mazik zoomed down the flight's designated runway at speeds of over 100 mph in a Grand Cherokee about 11 a.m. Thursday. The flight was about 500 feet over the runway when it was diverted and put in a holding pattern, said MacDonald, assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.