Piper Cherokee: Aircraft on landing, gear collapsed at Canberra Airport - Australia

A light plane has been towed off the runway after its front wheel collapsed on landing at Canberra Airport around midday. 

According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the plane was being piloted by a student on a training flight.

A Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said the nose wheel of the plane collapsed on landing.

"It blocked both runways," Mr Gibson said.

Two fire trucks went to the assistance of the aircraft on the runway, according to Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Allan Beattie, who didn't see the crash-landing, but had a bird's-eye view of the recovery.

''There were two fire trucks sitting either side of it. At the moment it’s just being towed by a ute with a police car in front,'' Mr Beattie told The Canberra Times at midday.

‘‘It was sitting down on its nose on the runway."

Mr Beattie said the plane has since been towed to a nearby hangar for inspection.

A Canberra Airport spokeswoman said the incident was “very minor” and nobody was injured.

“It wasn’t a crash, it was just the nose wheel of a light aircraft collapsing on landing on the cross runway,’' she said.

The spokeswoman said an emergency alarm was activated as a matter of routine and fire trucks were deployed to the cross runway.

She said the incident did not occur on the major runway, and no passenger flights were affected.

“Normal operations resumed very quickly,” she said.

The aircraft is a Piper Cherokee, a light plane often used in training, operated by Goulburn Aviation Pty Ltd. The ATSB said it will not send an investigator, but is expecting a full report from the pilot of the plane.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au