Plane with 3 people on board lands without landing gear at Australian airport after burning fuel

Melbourne, Australia — A light plane with three people on board landed safely without landing gear on Monday after hovering over an Australian airport for almost three hours burning fuel.

The Beechcraft Super King Air twin-turboprop had just taken off from Newcastle Airport, north of Sydney, on a 180-kilometer (112-mile) flight north to Port Macquarie when the pilot raised the alarm, officials said.

The plane landed on the tarmac about three hours later, at 12:20 p.m., apparently without incident, according to the video.

Fire trucks and ambulances were among the emergency services ready to respond.

A police statement said the plane had “mechanical problems”, while Australian Broadcasting Corp. quoted an unnamed police officer as saying the landing gear had failed. The plane is owned by Port Macquarie-based Eastern Air Services, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Aviation safety expert Ron Bartsch said the pilot may have decided to return to Newcastle because the airport had better emergency response resources than those available at Port Macquarie.

“The pilot made a proper landing and allowed everyone to land safely, and that’s the most important result,” Bartsch said. “The situation could have been much worse.”

“They have to cut off fuel and electricity to reduce the risk of fire during a belly-up landing. But obviously the driver achieved this result safely and in textbook style,” Bartsch added.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is reportedly investigating what happened.