After hours in the Air, a plane makes a successful wheels-up emergency landing

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AUSTRALIA, May 13: In a heart-stopping incident at Newcastle Airport in Australia’s New South Wales, two passengers and a pilot escaped unscathed after their small plane was forced to land without landing gear due to a mechanical failure.

The aircraft, identified as a Beach B-200 Super King, circled the airport for hours, meticulously burning fuel to reduce the risk of fire upon landing, as reported by CNN affiliate Nine News.

Video footage captured the tense moments as the plane approached the runway, its landing gear conspicuously absent. Despite the odds, the pilot skillfully executed a “textbook” wheels-up emergency landing, with the aircraft skidding along the tarmac until it came to a halt.

Emergency response teams, prepared for the worst, rushed to the scene as the plane touched down. Superintendent Wayne Humphrey of NSW police commended the 53-year-old pilot for his cool-headedness and expertise, noting that all occupants emerged unscathed, with the passengers even able to drive home, according to Nine News.

Humphrey further remarked, “It was a great result, really well done by the pilot. I could hear him on the air, he sounded very calm to me.”

Prior to the emergency landing, the plane had spent several hours circling the airport to deplete its fuel reserves, a standard procedure in such situations.

In a moment of relief and celebration, applause erupted in the control room as the aircraft safely made its landing, Humphrey revealed.

The flight, initially scheduled to cover a distance of 26 minutes from Newcastle to Port Macquarie, situated approximately 400 kilometers (248 miles) north of Sydney, was abruptly halted by the mechanical failure, underscoring the unpredictability of air travel.

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