An Australian pilot has been hailed a hero for staying “100% calm” landing an airplane after an equipment failure forced him to fly around an airport for almost three hours to burn off fuel.
Pilot Peter Schott and his passengers, a 60-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman, walked away unscathed after he landed the twin-turboprop Beechcraft Super King Air at Newcastle Airport, just north of Sydney, around 12:20 p.m. Monday, officials said.
Footage of the landing showed the plane skidding on the underside of the fuselage as fire trucks and ambulances drove up to where the plane finally landed.
Despite the chaos, the 53-year-old pilot noted that he had been flying since he was 15 and was certain he could land the aircraft safely — even without the necessary landing gear.
“Everything was thrown at us: bad weather, the showers came through, there were about 20 pelicans downwind -– you know, bird hazards,” Schott told Nine News television at the airport.
“I never had any doubt in the outcome of the flight,” he added
One of his passengers, Michael Reynolds, praised his performance despite the stressful circumstances.
“Pete the pilot, he did a wonderful job. He was awesome, 100% calm all the time,” Reynolds said.
The plane was headed from Newcastle for Port Macquarie when Schott raised concerns about the landing gear, police Superintendent Wayne Humphrey told reporters.
Schott then circled the airport for nearly three hours to burn off fuel before landing on the tarmac around 12:20 p.m. without incident.
Schott “made a textbook wheels-up landing, which I was very happy to see,” Humphrey added.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will investigate the incident.
The runway will remain closed for 24 hours while its condition is assessed, but damage to the tarmac appears to be “superficial,” Humphrey said.
With Post wires.