Light plane damaged in attempted landing at Moorabbin Airport

A PILOT and his passenger have had a lucky escape after making an emergency landing in Melbourne’s southeast.

MFB and police officers are on scene at Moorabin Airport. Picture: Paul Stacchino/Twitter

A PILOT and his passenger have had a lucky escape after making an emergency landing in Melbourne’s southeast.

Moorabbin Airport was forced to close after a pilot made a distress call.

The airport was closed shortly before 1pm on Sunday as a light plane performed a nose landing after experiencing a problem with its landing gear.

An earlier attempt to land had caused damage to the front wheel.

After taking off again and circling the airport, the pilot made another attempt and successfully landed on a foam blanket.

Emergency services including Victoria Police, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the CFA and Ambulance Victoria were on the scene to help at Moorabbin Airport.

Lucky escape for pilot who just made an emergency landing at #Moorabbin Airport. MFB & CFA created a foam blanket for him to land on ^PS pic.twitter.com/wfUAoNUbL8

— Paul Stacchino (@MFBChief) January 8, 2017

MFB Commander Will Glenn said emergency services were in place before the plane was ready to come down.

“It’s a very good outcome, the pilot obviously has been trained well,” he said.

“The foam blanket ensured that it cut down sparks that might happen if the metal from the plane hits the runway.”

The pilot was a middle-aged man with short grey hair. He was wearing a pilot’s shirt.

The pair were taking aerial photography on their flight.

A senior instructor at Soar Aviation Flight Training who would not reveal his name said he was “not able to give any comment” on the situation.

The CEO of Soar Aviation told the Herald Sun he was “not in a position to talk” about the emergency landing.

When the Herald Sun called the company, two separate people hung up the phone, unable to provide a comment on the incident.

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