Sunbathers flee as plane hits beach

Pilot John Burns gets a hug from his wife after his forced landing on Omanu Beach. Picture / Alan Gibson

A woman and two children ran to avoid a microlight plane which lurched towards them before crashing on the beach at Mt Maunganui yesterday.

The microlight was forced to land on Omanu Beach when the engine failed as pilot John Burns was approaching Tauranga Airport.

Mr Burns, 69, escaped unharmed, but the nose of the two-seater Bantam B22S was punctured as the aircraft flipped in soft sand just after 1pm.

Wiki Kahika was sunbathing, and two children accompanying her, Brody and Raine Cooper, were playing in the sand when they saw the microlight losing altitude.

Ms Kahika said it appeared to be in trouble as it came over Mauao (the Mount), about 5km to the north, and no engine noise could be heard as it got closer.

"It just sounded like a glider," she said. "It was swaying from side to side.

"I said to the kids: 'You might want to get ready to run."'

Brody, 11, and Raine, 8, darted from side to side as they tried to judge the direction of the wobbling plane, worried that it was going to crash on to them.

"It was getting lower and lower," Brody said. "It was coming closer to us."

The microlight eventually landed and flipped about 100m from where they were.

The three, and a couple walking along the beach, ran to Mr Burns' aid, finding him hanging upside down in his harness.

Ms Kahika said he was calm, but had petrol running past his head.

The group quickly righted the aircraft and helped him out before emergency services arrived.

Mr Burns was checked by St John Ambulance staff, who said he was fine, but advised him to see a doctor, saying he could be sore once the adrenaline wore off.

Mr Burns said he no choice but to land on the beach when the engine cut out and he came within 30m of the ground.

"When the engine dies you've got no momentum," he said. "You haven't got time to be scared."

He was concerned about sunbathers but managed to land in an area where they were few, despite the main beach to the north being busy because of the summery weather.

Mr Burns has been flying microlights since 1993 and although he had never crashed, had experienced an engine failure before.

On that occasion, the engine stopped but surged, allowing him to make it back to the airport. He was on his way back from Pauanui, in Coromandel, when yesterday's accident happened.

He was thankful he had dropped off a passenger at Waihi and said the most unpleasant part was the petrol leaking from the fuel tank. "It didn't taste too good."

Emergency services, including police and the Fire Service, were on the scene minutes after being alerted by flight controllers at Tauranga Airport.

"They could see me disappearing," Mr Burns said.

A police officer went to inform his wife, Margaret, and drove her to the beach.

The cause of the engine failure is unknown and the Civil Aviation Authority is investigating.