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Pilot safe after belly landing
By GREG McLEAN
08nov05
A TERRITORY pilot was forced to make an emergency landing at Tindal's RAAF air base after his landing gear failed.
The DirectAir pilot was on his way to Darwin on a private flight with no passengers in a single-engine Cessna when he was alerted to the hydraulics failure just after 5pm on Sunday.
He decided to make an emergency landing at RAAF Tindal air base outside Katherine rather than continue on to Darwin.
At the time of the initial report the plane was still carrying enough fuel for a further 40 minutes flying time, forcing the pilot to circle the area to burn off excess fuel before attempting a landing.
Crews from RAAF, police, fire and emergency services as well as paramedics were on the tarmac to respond if required but the pilot landed the plane safely on its belly and wing.
RAAF firefighters hosed the plane down with foam when it came to a halt on the tarmac as a precaution.
DirectAir Charter chief pilot Mark McLaughlin said the emergency landing was not a major incident.
"We're yet to establish what the problem was but there seems to have been a hydraulics failure," he said.
"All pilots are trained to handle these situations and there is always a good outcome.
"Sometimes when there is a failure with the landing gear the pilot isn't aware until they touch down but in this case the pilot knew what was happening.
"He did well and no one was injured."
Paramedics on the scene reported the pilot suffered no injuries but was shaken by the ordeal.
DirectAir only took possession of the aircraft six weeks ago and it has been registered to fly in Australia for less than two years.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the incident to determine the cause of the hydraulics failure.
NT News 08/11/05
At the time of the initial report the plane was still carrying enough fuel for a further 40 minutes flying time
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