Plane crashes at Tauranga Airport

Two people were on board this plane when it made a crash landing at Tauranga Airport. Photo / George Novak

Witnesses at the scene have recounted a close call between two incoming planes moments before one crash landed at Tauranga Airport.

A red vintage style plane landed at the airport and a yellow bi-plane followed in close behind.

Witnesses described the yellow plane wobbling before the left wing scraped the ground. It then came to a stop on its nose and smashed the propeller off.

A man and a woman ran from the plane and were treated by St john paramedics.

The crashed plane was a Tiger Moth.

A reporter at the scene said the small, yellow bi-plane had crashed on a grass runway.

The plane was on its wheels but its nose was in the ground. There were about three fire trucks on the runway alongside the plane.

Another plane appeared to be waiting on the runway.

It was not clear if the crashed plane's occupants were injured at this stage.

Emergency services at the scene of the crash. Photo / George Novak

Tauranga Council communications manager Aimee Driscoll said the aircraft had "difficulty landing" just before 3pm and suffered minor damage.

There were no injuries to the two people onboard and no disruption to Air New Zealand services, she said.

The aircraft suffered a broken propeller and was now being removed.

The Civil Aviation Authority would determine whether an investigation needed to be carried out.

Emergency services said they were too busy to respond to media queries at present.

The Tauranga Aeroclub has refused to comment on the incident.

Communications staff at Tauranga Airport have so far been unavailable.