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Cape Town - The pilot of a rare Partenavia AP68TP plane has shown his mettle on Thursday, 21 May, after expertly landing the extremely rare plane on only two wheels after its nose landing gear failed.
Lanseria Operations manager Mike Christoph told Netwerk24, the experienced pilot noticed problems with the Partenavia AP68TP's nose wheel shortly after take-off around 10:00 and then asked ground operational crew members at Lanseria to assist him in determining the problem.
The Perfect Emergency Landing At Lanseria Airport
The pilot then decided to turn the aircraft around and fly it low over the operational tower in order for the ground crew to conduct a quick assessment of the plane from the outside.
He also attempted to manually release the nose guard with a lever inside the cockpit, but was unable to do so.
According to Christoph, the pilot then did a hard impact touchdown on the tarmac to see if the Partenavia AP68TP's nose wheel would not 'fall out' when he made contact, but this attempt also failed.
The pilot and the ground crew struggled for nearly an hour before he decided to land the plane - without the nose gear.
The runway was cleared and closed off to other aircraft.
Eventually the pilot managed to land the Partenavia AP68TP with such precision that it balanced on the two wheels for several metres on the runway before slowing down and gently tipping forward, skidding with its nose on the tarmac.
Adrian Munro, an aviation photographer, managed to capture the landing on camera, and loaded it onto YouTube.
The privately-owned Partenavia AP68TP is a very rare aircraft and is one of only three in the country.
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*Correction - Mike Christoph is the operational manager of Lanseria International Airport, the pilot's name was not disclosed in the Netwerk24 report.
