King Air Wheels Up landing at PE.

This afternoon at approximately 13h30 a Beechcraft King Air 200, ZS-MCE, based at Bhisho from 43 Air School, did a wheels up landing on runway 08/26 at Port Elizabeth.

The aircraft with 2 crew and 4 passengers on board were en-route to Port Alfred and experienced gear problems when they attempted to land. The aircraft returned to Port Elizabeth because it is better equipped to deal with such an emergency.

With crash tenders in attendance the aircraft did a flypast before attempting the wheels up landing. The engines were shut down just prior to landing to minimize damage. It appears that a nose gear extension problem may have been the cause of the incident.


Well done to the crew for putting the aircraft down safely. There were no injuries and the aircraft was being cleared from the runway within half an hour.