Sunshine Coast Airport crash landing: Pilot reveals moments before Eurofox light plane may-day

A pilot who walked away from a plane crash at the Sunshine Coast Airport with a student on board has relived the dramatic moments that sparked a may-day call. Watch the video.

A pilot who crash landed a plane at the Sunshine Coast Airport says the only thing he thought as he approached potential disaster was “fly the aeroplane”.

Quentin Carter, 46, of the Sunshine Coast Aero Club and Flight School said he was on a training flight with a student to Gympie on September 8, 2022 when trouble unfolded.

He realised shortly after takeoff the right wheel of the Eurofox plane started to fold down under the aircraft and then fall off.

“I let out an expletive that probably won’t make print but just sort of thought ‘that wasn’t supposed to happen’,” he said.

The pilot of more than 20 years said his training “kicked in” and he started his may-day call, the first in his flight career.

Quentin Carter, 46, was the pilot who made an extraordinary crash landing on one wheelVideoat the Sunshine Coast Airport. Picture: Letea Cavander

The chief flying instructor decided to land on grass rather than the tarmac because it was the better option.

Mr Carter said the only thing in his head was “fly the aeroplane”.

The Eurofox plane following a crash landing at the Sunshine Coast Airport.

“Something that Bob Hoover said some time ago was ‘fly as far into the crash as possible’ so that was kind of going through the distant back of my mind,” he said.

The pilot said the landing was something that he was trained for.

“I just held that wheel on the ground, just pinned it on the ground,” Mr Carter said.

The pilot was with a student at the time and said they were actually training for forced landings during that flight.

“He was really calm,” Mr Carter said.

Quentin Carter put the plane down on one wheel during a crash at the Sunshine Coast Airport.

“It was with a wry smile that I said, ‘well, we’ve just briefed what we need to do and don’t panic’.”

Mr Carter flew again about two days after the incident.

“I got straight back on the horse,” he said.

The pilot acknowledged the emergency response of the airport.

“The fireys were there pretty quickly, as was airport management,” Mr Carter said.

Club president Warren Schulz said he saw the incident unfold.

“Everything seemed perfectly normal, and you don’t often, well I’ve never heard a may-day on the local frequency,” he said.

The president said it was surreal watching the incident.

“We could tell he had taken almost all the forward speed out of the aircraft but still it was a couple of hundred metres away so it was hard to tell what actually happened,” Mr Schulz said.

Recreational Aviation Australia is continuing to investigate the incident.