A pilot has walked away from a classic World War II aircraft after one of its brakes failed during a landing at Omaka Aerodrome in Blenheim.
The Focke Wulf FW190, piloted by Frank Parker from Auckland, was taking part in a practice session for this weekend’s Classic Fighters Airshow when the accident happened around 2.30pm today.
Classic Fighters Airshow organising committee chairman Graham Orphan said the plane had landed on the grass runway when one of the brakes failed.
Parker had to steer the plane with one brake and it swung to the left.
“It’s a little bit like a car swerving,” Orphan said.
He did not know why the brake had failed.
Orphan said a cross wind could have been a factor as well.
The undercarriage of the plane collapsed, the nose of the plane was slightly crushed, and the propeller broke off upon impact with the ground.
Bystanders rushed over to help but Parker walked free from the plane uninjured.
Orphan said he was “right as rain” and would fly at the airshow this weekend.
“It’s a scary thing to happen but we are thankful it was not very serious,” he said.
The Focke Wulf nicknamed the “butcher bird” was the only one of its kind that flew in the southern hemisphere.
The damage would be relatively easy to repair and Orphan hoped the aircraft would be able to return to the airshow when Blenheim hosted the event again in two years.
Blenheim man Owen Wilson teaches aircraft engineering at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and witnessed the crash.
“The pilot tried to correct the plane but it swung around like a weather cock in a full ground loop. The cloud of dust was spectacular.”
Focke Wulfs have a tail dragger instead of a wheel at the back of the plane which made it difficult to control in strong winds, Wilson said.