Achi news desk-
One of the pilots behind a frantic emergency plane landing at a Gold Coast airport has revealed how he managed to avoid disaster and walk away without a scratch.
With almost four hours of fuel left, the pair had to circle the Coolangatta Airport in an attempt to burn fuel to avoid the chance of ignition during the wheelless landing.
The quick-thinking pilots also flew over the tarmac at low level to assess how they would perform the landing.
“It was a little, a little daunting,” Hertel told 9News.
“The last thing you want to do is start to panic.
“And we were both very relaxed about it, we had enough time to rehearse what we were going to do.”
The pilots had one chance to make the precision landing, with emergency services on standby, prepared for the worst.
“We were a little apprehensive about it, as you can imagine,” Hertel said.
“We had to close the fuel, turn off the electricity right before landing, so that’s why we came in the dark.”
The pilots were able to make the landing successfully, with only sparks being seen flying from the plane.
“A shower of sparks, aluminum dust flying everywhere. At one point I thought the plane was on fire, it really wasn’t,” said Hertel.
Both pilots walked away unharmed.
