Rollingthunder
4th February 2001, 04:49
A plane being flown by the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir John Stevens, has been involved in an emergency at Newcastle Airport.
Sir John was flying a twin-engined Piper
Seneca plane which had problems with its
undercarriage when the nose wheel landing
gear failed to engage properly about 1100GMT
on Saturday.
After several attempts to free it, Sir John
decided to make an emergency landing using
just the main wheels under the wings.
The aircraft managed to land safely although
there was a small amount of damage to the plane's nose.
The plane was forced to circle until 1330GMT
to burn off fuel before coming in to land.
Newcastle Airport was closed for about an
hour during Saturday's emergency.
Neither Sir John nor his male co-pilot was hurt.
Second emergency
It was the second time that the commissioner
has been involved in an emergency.
Last year his plane hit severe turbulence as he flew on an aid mission to Romania and was
forced to make an emergency landing in
Vienna.
Sir John, 58, praised emergency services on
the scene who helped talk him down.
He said: "I would like to thank all those who
gave advice and helped us to make a perfect
emergency landing with minimal damage to the
aircraft."
A police spokeswoman described the
commissioner as an"experienced pilot" but
would not confirm when he gained his
pilot's licence or how many hours flying he had accumulated.
Minimal disruption
An airport spokesman told BBC News Online the
emergency had caused only minimal disruption
to other flights at the airport.
He said: "It caused very little disruption. There was only one or two aircraft holding above. He added that this type of emergency was relatively rare.
The same model of plane was involved in the 1
June Newmarket accident where jockeys
Frankie Dettori and Ray Cochrane narrowly
escaped death and their pilot was killed.
Sir John was flying a twin-engined Piper
Seneca plane which had problems with its
undercarriage when the nose wheel landing
gear failed to engage properly about 1100GMT
on Saturday.
After several attempts to free it, Sir John
decided to make an emergency landing using
just the main wheels under the wings.
The aircraft managed to land safely although
there was a small amount of damage to the plane's nose.
The plane was forced to circle until 1330GMT
to burn off fuel before coming in to land.
Newcastle Airport was closed for about an
hour during Saturday's emergency.
Neither Sir John nor his male co-pilot was hurt.
Second emergency
It was the second time that the commissioner
has been involved in an emergency.
Last year his plane hit severe turbulence as he flew on an aid mission to Romania and was
forced to make an emergency landing in
Vienna.
Sir John, 58, praised emergency services on
the scene who helped talk him down.
He said: "I would like to thank all those who
gave advice and helped us to make a perfect
emergency landing with minimal damage to the
aircraft."
A police spokeswoman described the
commissioner as an"experienced pilot" but
would not confirm when he gained his
pilot's licence or how many hours flying he had accumulated.
Minimal disruption
An airport spokesman told BBC News Online the
emergency had caused only minimal disruption
to other flights at the airport.
He said: "It caused very little disruption. There was only one or two aircraft holding above. He added that this type of emergency was relatively rare.
The same model of plane was involved in the 1
June Newmarket accident where jockeys
Frankie Dettori and Ray Cochrane narrowly
escaped death and their pilot was killed.