Vintage plane makes emergency landing

A vintage aircraft pilot was forced to make an emergency landing on the Wairau Bar in Marlborough yesterday after the plane suffered engine trouble.

Mark O'Sullivan was flying a Chinese-made Nanchang CJ-6A from Blenheim's Omaka airbase yesterday when he lost power and was forced to bring the plane down on the bar, The Press reported.

"Once you realise there is a problem with an engine like that then you need to make quick decisions about the way the wind is coming, where the best place to land is, and what your best options are," he said.

That place turned out to be a bumpy four-wheel-drive track running along the bar.

Neither Mr O'Sullivan nor his passenger were injured, and the plane also survived the unplanned landing unscathed, despite bouncing over scrub.

The cause of the engine failure was not clear.

- NZPA