Smoke in cockpit forces Orion to make emergency landing

An air force Orion has been forced into an emergency landing at Hamilton Airport after smoke filled its cockpit mid-flight.

Fire engines from Hamilton, Cambridge and Te Awamutu were called to the airport when smoke was detected in the cockpit of the Orion with 14 people on board at 1:10pm.

A northern communications spokesman said the plane landed safely.

The incident was caused by a fault with a hydraulic pump on board, he said.

All Fire Service personnel had been stood down and engineers were investigating the cause of the fault.

Hamilton International Airport chief executive Chris Doak said airforce planes routinely conduct "touch and go" training techniques at the airport but today's landing was an unscheduled emergency.