Pilot makes textbook forced landing | Northland News | Local News in Northland

 When Blue Hawthorne's engine cut out somewhere high above Doubtless Bay, fear wasn't an option. There just wasn't time.

The Kaitaia Aeroclub member was enjoying an aerial "tiki tour" to clock up flying hours in the club's Tecnam P96 light sports plane when the engine failed  about noon yesterday.

The intermediate-level pilot's emergency training kicked in and, picking a field free of obstacles and livestock, he executed a textbook forced landing in a paddock between State Highway 10 and Matthews Vintage Collection, just west of Taipa.

"I didn't have time to be scared," he said.

Mr Hawthorne said he'd been lucky with the weather and terrain, but the club's chief flying instructor, Jim Summerfield, wasn't buying the pilot's modesty.

"He did very well indeed. I'm bloody proud of him. I'd be pleased if I pulled that off."

The Italian-designed, New Zealand-built aircraft was undamaged and Mr Hawthorne - who had been trained in engine-out procedures - suffered no injuries.

Mr Summerfield said the cause of the engine failure was unknown. Late yesterday, he  was waiting for an aircraft engineer to arrive and pinpoint the problem.

 Mr Summerfield said it was only the second engine failure he knew of in his 43 years with the club.

Spokesman Bill Sommer said the Civil Aviation Authority would not be conducting a field investigation and had already spoken to the pilot.

The CAA would seek a report from the club, including an engineer's inspection of the engine, to determine the cause of the incident.

 The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand was also alerted.

The Tecnam involved in yesterday's forced landing was the same plane flown by World War II pilot Phil Lightband in a fly-past over Mangonui's Armistice Day service last Wednesday.