A privately-owned collector plane was forced to perform an emergency landing at Victoria International Airport on Saturday, according to airport and emergency officials.
The plane, a 1960’s era Nanchang CJ-6, was unable to deploy its landing gear due to a malfunction.
The pilot performed a belly landing, skidding along the surface of a closed runway and coming to a stop in the grass just past the concrete.
John Trelford, Fire Chief at North Saanich Fire Department, said that they were called to the scene at 11:53 a.m., but were informed prior to their arrival shortly after noon that their services were not needed.
“We basically got called out, and between the call coming and us responding the aircraft had come down without the landing gear out and done a belly landing,” said Threlford in an interview with Victoria Buzz.
“When we came on, they said we weren’t required.”
A spokesperson for the Victoria Airport said the plane suffered only minor damage, and very little debris was scattered on the runway.
Cleanup crews responded and swept the runway clean as a precaution, but no fluids had spilled and the plane was relatively intact.
Ambulance crews also arrived but the pilot suffered no injuries in the incident.
The aircraft was loaded onto a maintenance vehicle and transported to a hangar for further inspection and repairs.
The spokesperson was unable to confirm if the pilot houses the plane at the airport, and couldn’t comment on whether regular air traffic was affected.
