The small plane, with damaged right wheel prepares to make an emergency landing. PHOTOS/JADE CVETKOV and TOM TAYLOR
TOM TAYLOR
tom/[email protected]
Hood Aerodrome was the scene of an emergency landing on Friday night as a small aircraft had issues with its landing gear.
Fire and Emergency was on standby, with an ambulance and police cars also on the scene.
A police spokesperson said police were advised at 3.30pm that a small plane with one person on board had a problem with its landing gear.
The plane had flown around for about three hours since then, preparing to make an emergency landing.
A Masterton District Council spokesperson said the plane was burning off its fuel and planned to land on the grass strip at Hood Aerodrome at about 7pm.
The spokesperson said the person on board was an experienced pilot.
“It’s just a case of him using up some of his fuel before landing.”
As the plane came in to land just before 7pm, it became clear that there was a fault with its right wheel.
The plane turned its engines off before landing smoothly on the grass. It travelled down the runway before veering to the right and coming to a stop resting on its right wing.
The emergency vehicles on hand departed the scene shortly after the landing.
