Emergency landing at Bournemouth Airport

The four seater Duchess aircraft came down this morning.

Breakdown recovery man Jon Parham, 37, was on his way to a job when he saw the plane coming down.

He said: "It was coming in for landing. One wheel at the back right hand of the plane hadn't come down.

"There were already police and fire engines waiting for the plane. It approached normally, coming in pretty slow, touched down and then as it lost balance, did a half spin and came to an abrupt stop.

All pictures Simon Adams

"There was no smoke or fire or sparks, but three blokes jumped out straight away and ran like hell.

"It was pretty scary, I was just hoping it was going to land okay."

The plane is still in the middle of the runway, which has been closed.

Police were alerted that the plane was in trouble by air traffic control at 10.26. The plane is thought to have circled the runway to run down its fuel before landing.

Parley Lane was closed between Chapel Gate and Hurn Bridge as a precaution and to stop drivers being distracted.

The road is now reopened.

Some flights were delayed from the airport while the runway was cleared.

Gary Ellson, the chief pilot at Bournemouth Helicopters, said the twin-engine plane had been on a local flight when it developed problems with its landing gear.

A prolonged effort to release the right-hand wheel proved unsuccessful, said Mr Ellson, resulting in the emergency landing.

Planes coming to land circled the airport during the rescue, while those waiting to take off were told to shut down their engines, said the pilot.

The airport’s dedicated fire crews had dealt efficiently with the incident, Mr Ellson added, allowing the airport to reopen 30 minutes after the incident.