Plane lands safely without any landing gear thanks to pilot’s incredible reaction
- Thanks to the skill and calm approach of the pilot, a plane touched down safely without landing gear
- It was forced to circle an Australian airport for three hours to burn off fuel
- The wheels-up landing was described as ‘textbook’
Published on May 23, 2024 at 3:22 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on May 24, 2024 at 6:32 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
Both pilot and passengers walked away from a plane unscathed after it touched down without any landing gear.
The plane had just taken off from Newcastle Airport, near Sydney, bound for the 180-km (112-mile) flight north to Port Macquarie, New South Wales.
The pilot raised the alarm about ‘issues with the landing gear’, per police superintendent, Wayne Humphrey.
READ MORE! Pilot performs unbelievable maneuver landing Airbus A380 nearly sideways
Despite the potential peril, the pilot said he ‘never had any doubt in the outcome’ and chose to circle an Australian airport for almost three hours to burn off fuel.
The two passengers in their sixties onboard were full of praise, revealing their ‘wonderful’ pilot, 53-year-old Peter Schott, remained ‘100 percent calm’ during the ordeal, which could have ended up very differently.
The plane took off from the airport at about 8.30 am on May 13.
He landed on the runway three hours after its departure by killing the engine and gliding down at 12.20 pm local time.
Schott first piloted a plane when he was just 15 years old.
Following a ‘textbook wheels-up landing’, nobody required hospital treatment following the mechanical failure.
And you can see the sheer scale of the landing gear on a Boeing airplane here – the size might surprise you.
Schott spoke to Nine News television following the incident aboard a twin-turboprop Beechcraft Super King Air plane.
“Everything was thrown at us – bad weather, the showers came through, there were about 20 pelicans downwind, you know, bird hazards,” he said.
And it’s not the first time weather has caused aviation chaos, with a Boeing 747 captain tackling extreme crosswinds during a landing.
The plane is owned by Port Macquarie-based Eastern Air Services.
They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s thought Schott turned the plane around to go back to Newcastle because of its incredible emergency response resources.
Emergency services, including multiple fire engines and ambulances, were on standby at the scene.
“I’ll have a wine, I think,” Schott told reporters after everyone was safely on the ground.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will investigate the incident.
If you want to see more incredible landings check out the cockpit view of an F-18 landing on an aircraft carrier with undefeated precision.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
