Police were called to Motueka Airport at around 11:15am after a hard landing by a small aircraft. A vintage plane that sparked a large emergency response after a hard landing skidded on grass before it was stopped by a tyre barrier at the southern end of Motueka Airport, the co-pilot says. Neither of the two male occupants - the Nelson area-based pilot and owner, and his North Island-based co-pilot - was injured. The co-pilot, who was sitting in the canary yellow plane’s front seat, told the Herald the pair were doing landing training when the aircraft failed to stop on landing. “The aircraft skidded ... it came to a stop when we hit the tyre barrier.”

Source: New Zealand Herald February 06, 2026 11:00 UTC