21-07-2025
Light aircraft crash-lands at West Sale Airport in Gippsland
An experienced pilot made an emergency crash landing at a regional Victorian airport on Sunday after the light aircraft he was flying issued an alert.
The man was flying a Cessna from West Sale airfield to Yarram on Sunday afternoon when on his way back he received an "unsafe" warning indication.
At about 3:30pm emergency services were notified of the incident and arrived at West Sale Airport.
Police, paramedics and the Country Fire Authority were all in attendance.
The aircraft circled to offload fuel before crashing as the pilot attempted to land just after 4:15pm.
Victoria Police Inspector Mel McLennan said the pilot had survived the crash uninjured.
"He was safe and well — no injuries," she said.
"And the plane? Well, that's another story.
"Thankfully, he had a friend that was in another Cessna close by that confirmed that his front landing gear wouldn't lock into place."
Veteran pilot and Edge Aviation co-owner Bob MacGillivray said he was called to the airport by the other pilot.
"He phoned me and said, 'Oh, look, there's an aircraft flying around … got an undercarriage problem, maybe you can race [to] the airport and provide some advice,'" Mr MacGillivray said.
Mr MacGillivray said he was at the airport when the landing was attempted.
"The problem was that he was flying around, he had all three undercarriage legs down," he said.
"But the reality is he had no indication in the cockpit that the nose gear was [down]."
Mr MacGillivray said the pilot suspected the nose gear might not hold during the landing.
"It collapsed on landing," he said.
"The aircraft skidded along on its nose.
"It's always scary when you have that sort of emergency but, you know, he was well-prepared.
A spokesperson for the Air Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said the aircraft's nose landing gear "failed to retract".
The ATSB said it had decided not to conduct an investigation.
