A small plane was forced to make a wheels-up emergency landing at Newcastle Airport in New South Wales after its landing gear failed. As per the Guardian, the plane had been circling above Newcastle for almost four hours with three people onboard, including the pilot, after discovering the mechanical issue.
Notably, the Beechcraft Super King Air, operated by Eastern Air Services, had taken off at 8.30 am from Newcastle Airport, bound for a 112-mile flight north to Port Macquarie. However, just 10 minutes into the flight, the pilot raised an SOS alarm.
A video showed the plane approaching the runway without its landing gear activated before touching down and skidding along the tarmac until coming to a stop. Emergency response vehicles were on standby and could be seen in the video racing to the aid of the plane.
Meanwhile, authorities who guided the aircraft down and onlookers burst into applause as it safely landed.
Superintendent Wayne Humphrey from NSW police was all praises for the pilot for executing a successful landing. Neither the pilot nor his two passengers, a 60-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman were injured. Paramedics checked all three at the airport and none needed to be taken to a hospital, Mr Humphrey said.
''After some hours in the air burning off some fuel, he [the pilot] made a textbook wheels-up landing, which I was very happy to see … It ended really well, thank goodness,'' he said.
"It was a great result, really well done by the pilot. I could hear him on the air, he sounded very calm to me,'' Mr Humphrey added.
Newcastle Airport said in a statement posted on social media: ''We're incredibly relieved the aircraft landed safely this afternoon. We're investigating options to recover the aircraft and re-open the airfield as soon as possible.''
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will investigate the incident. The runway will remain closed for 24 hours while its condition is assessed, but damage to the tarmac appears to be “superficial,” Humphrey said.
