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Queenstown police check a private plane that set down on vacant land near the Kawarau River and Lake Hayes Estate yesterday. Photo by James Beech. |
The third private aircraft to get into difficulty in the
Wakatipu in nine days made an emergency landing in a paddock
near the residential Lake Hayes Estate yesterday.
An engine failure prompted the experienced Queenstown pilot
flying a six-seater commercial fixed-wing Cessna 207 on final
approach to Queenstown Airport from Milford Sound to make an
emergency landing on private land.
The plane came to a stop about 20m from the bank of the
Kawarau River.
Milford Sound Flights chief executive Mark Quickfall said
last night the pilot and the passengers, two Queenstown
residents and two overseas visitors, were not hurt and they
"seem to have taken it in their stride".
Mr Quickfall said a Civil Aviation Authority representative
happened to be in a plane flying behind the Cessna.
The pilot spoke to the representative, Queenstown police and
Mr Quickfall. Civil Aviation will investigate and the
Cessna's engine will be checked today.
CAA is investigating two other light aircraft crashes in the
area.
Tauranga man Ian Sloan (59) died when the plane he was
piloting crashed on Arrowtown golf course, last Monday. A
36-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman sustained serious
injuries in the crash.
On October 15, a man and woman were unhurt when a plane
failed to get airborne and crashed through a fence as it
attempted to take off from a private airstrip at the Branches
High Country Station, about 30km up the Shotover River.
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