A New Zealand pilot has been praised as a hero for landing her chartered plane on a Darwin beach at the weekend after its engine failed on a landing approach to the city's airport.
Nikola Labes, 29, barely had time to tell her passengers what was happening before making the"perfect" forced landing on the sand as stunned beach-goers scrambled to get out of the way of her Cessna 210.
The plane slid 50m, launching a spray of sand into the air before coming to rest nose-down, but the pilot and the five tourists on board were not injured.
The Barrier Air plane was on its way back from a charter flight over Kakadu National Park, south of Darwin, and the airline's operations manager, Thijs Bors, praised the young pilot.
"Nikola Labes did a fantastic job," he told the Northern Territory News, which reported the New Zealander was a "hero".
"Her training and skills resulted in a textbook landing," said Mr Bors. "The fact that the aircraft had minimal damage and no one was injured is a credit to Nikola."
St John Ambulance station officer Warren Purse said the single engine had cut out on approach and the pilot had tried to restart it. When she realised it would not start, she "took a left turn and landed on the beach".
"She undid her seat belt, opened the doors, got out of the aircraft ... then everyone got out and gave each other a big hug.
"No one had any injuries."
Mr Bors rejected reports the plane had run out of fuel, and said the engine will be sent to Brisbane for testing.
