THE pilot of a light aircraft averted disaster when he made an emergency landing at the East London airport after the Cessna 414’s landing gear failed to fully deploy yesterday morning.
No one was hurt in the incident, which an eyewitness said made a “horrible scraping and banging sound on the runway”.
Blu Crane Air operates daily flights between Port Elizabeth and East London and is based in PE.
By the time the Daily Dispatch team arrived after 11am the aircraft’s wheel was being worked on by three men who said they were not authorised to speak to the media and referred all queries to pilot Daven van Heerden.
Van Heerden, 26, confirmed he was piloting the aircraft yesterday morning and that he had made “an emergency landing due to mechanical failure”.
He said he and maintenance engineer Dave Hart were on a post-maintenance flight and spent about half an hour in the air to “see if everything was working fine”.
“Obviously it wasn’t and the left main wheel did not deploy,” said Van Heerden, whose father Dr Marcus van Heerden co-owns the aircraft.
“I landed on two wheels and controlled the situation as best I could with a wheels-up landing.”
He said the left wing scraped along the tarmac during the landing, causing damage to the left engine.
“When I was in the air, I thought of the different scenarios that could happen, but we train for these sorts of things and we both walked away from the accident.”
He said the Port Elizabeth to East London service would resume once a replacement aircraft had been found.
Shocked eyewitness Johan Bezuidenhout said he thought the aircraft would burst into flames after its emergency landing.
He was in the yard of his Collondale house when he saw the eight-seater aircraft approach after 9am yesterday morning.
“I could see one of the back wheels was not out and so he (the pilot) went up again and circled for about 10 minutes,” said Bezuidenhout.
He can see the East London airport runway from his home.
He said four fire engines were on site within seconds.
“Once all the emergency services were in place I saw the aircraft land. It was a horrible scraping and banging sound and not something I ever want to hear again. Afterwards I couldn’t get that sound out of my head. I was waiting for fire and flames.
“I was rattled just watching it so I don’t know what those on board must have felt like.”
Another Collondale resident, Jackie Godfrey, said she heard what sounded like “zinc roofing falling off a wheelbarrow” and ran to the airport fence to have a look. “I saw the fire engines and could smell what smelt like burning tyres.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Skilled pilot ‘walks away’ after plane’s emergency landing
No one was hurt in the incident, which an eyewitness said made a “horrible scraping and banging sound on the runway”.
Blu Crane Air operates daily flights between Port Elizabeth and East London and is based in PE.
By the time the Daily Dispatch team arrived after 11am the aircraft’s wheel was being worked on by three men who said they were not authorised to speak to the media and referred all queries to pilot Daven van Heerden.
Van Heerden, 26, confirmed he was piloting the aircraft yesterday morning and that he had made “an emergency landing due to mechanical failure”.
He said he and maintenance engineer Dave Hart were on a post-maintenance flight and spent about half an hour in the air to “see if everything was working fine”.
“Obviously it wasn’t and the left main wheel did not deploy,” said Van Heerden, whose father Dr Marcus van Heerden co-owns the aircraft.
“I landed on two wheels and controlled the situation as best I could with a wheels-up landing.”
He said the left wing scraped along the tarmac during the landing, causing damage to the left engine.
“When I was in the air, I thought of the different scenarios that could happen, but we train for these sorts of things and we both walked away from the accident.”
He said the Port Elizabeth to East London service would resume once a replacement aircraft had been found.
Shocked eyewitness Johan Bezuidenhout said he thought the aircraft would burst into flames after its emergency landing.
He was in the yard of his Collondale house when he saw the eight-seater aircraft approach after 9am yesterday morning.
“I could see one of the back wheels was not out and so he (the pilot) went up again and circled for about 10 minutes,” said Bezuidenhout.
He can see the East London airport runway from his home.
He said four fire engines were on site within seconds.
“Once all the emergency services were in place I saw the aircraft land. It was a horrible scraping and banging sound and not something I ever want to hear again. Afterwards I couldn’t get that sound out of my head. I was waiting for fire and flames.
“I was rattled just watching it so I don’t know what those on board must have felt like.”
Another Collondale resident, Jackie Godfrey, said she heard what sounded like “zinc roofing falling off a wheelbarrow” and ran to the airport fence to have a look. “I saw the fire engines and could smell what smelt like burning tyres.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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