Emergency plane diverted to avoid Wellington disruption

A report in The Press says that an Air New Zealand plane that crash-landed at the tiny Blenheim airport yesterday was diverted from the safety of a big city so as not to disrupt air traffic in Wellington.

The 17-seater plane crash-landed about 9.10am after the pilots were unable to engage the landing gear while in mid-air.

Terrified passengers were asked to brace themselves as the plane landed on its belly and screeched along the tarmac for more than 100m before it was doused in safety foam by waiting emergency vehicles.

The plane’s propellers shattered and were torn from the aircraft on impact.

The Beech 1900D aircraft, operated by Air New Zealand subsidiary Eagle Air, had taken off from Timaru and was due to land in Wellington when its wheels failed to drop down.

Diverted to Blenheim, the plane circled for about half an hour before performing the “wheels-up” landing.

No-one was seriously hurt in the crash, although questions have arisen over whether Blenheim emergency services could have coped with a more serious incident.

Nelson Marlborough District Health Board emergency planning officer Peter Kara said it was “always nicer if they could have gone to a larger hospital but the fact of the matter is it landed at Blenheim”.

He said the most seriously injured would have been treated first and patients diverted to other hospitals as required.

Marlborough Airport chief executive Dean Heiford said the plane was diverted to Blenheim to give the crew and ground maintenance staff time to sort out the problem while keeping out of the way of Wellington air traffic.

Heiford said there was a full emergency response team at the airport but he was not sure whether consideration was given to the extent of hospital facilities in Blenheim.

Wairau Hospital is small with limited facilities. Serious trauma patients are routinely flown to either Wellington or Christchurch hospitals.

Passengers yesterday told how close the plane came to disaster.

Stuart Bishell said those on board were advised there was a problem with the landing gear after the failed landing at Wellington, adding “I was down in the brace position and peeking out the side at the same time watching bits of debris flying past the window”.  “There was a terrible noise against the asphalt, metal on tarmac, kind of this smooth, grinding effect.”

Marty Solomon, of Wellington, said the landing was “not too bad” but as the propellers sheared off on the tarmac they left gouges in the side of the plane, perilously close to a passenger window.

His partner, Vaine Taae, said the incident had put her off flying, although she still had to catch a plane from Nelson back to Wellington. “This will be the last (flight) for a long time.”

Derek Zandbergen, of Timaru, said: “I saw the flaps come down and then go back again and I thought, ‘here we go’.”

Passengers were flown to Wellington by local charter operators and some were transported by bus to Nelson Airport.

Marlborough Airport operations manager Kelly Byrne said the landing was as good as it could possibly have been, with the plane coming to rest less than a metre off the centreline.

He said the airport had recently completed a mock exercise in dealing with belly landings and staff also had the advantage of time to plan.

Eagle Air general manager Doug Roberts said an initial assessment showed the crew had executed a “textbook wheels-up landing”, describing the event as “highly unusual and very, very, rare”.

The other 16 Beech 1900s in Eagle Air’s fleet were still flying and he was “perfectly satisfied” with their safety, he said.

Transport Accident Investigation Commission officials were yesterday sent to the scene, although results of an investigation could take several months.

New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association vice-president Glen Kenny said though wheel-less landings were one of the emergencies pilots trained for, it would have been a “reasonably stressful event”.

“It’s a fairly rare event. I can probably think of five in the last 10 years,” he said.

Report by The Mole