Bathurst Airport: Landing incident, plane damage but pilot and passenger safe

An eye witness who was there at the time, and who asked not to be named, said an Nanchang war bird plane was attempting to land when the incident happened at about 3.45pm.

"It's landed and then the undercarriage [landing gear] has folded up underneath it," the witness said.

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"It dropped the aircraft onto the runway.

"The damage was fairly minor and the pilot and passenger were able to get out, but it could have been a lot more serious especially if you got a leak of fuel."

One runway was subsequently closed for a period of time while the aircraft salvage could be conducted.

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The witness said a crane was brought into Bathurst Airport to "sling load" the plane off the runway.

Emergency services were not called to the scene and the two men on board were uninjured during the incident.

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The Western Advocate understands that one runway remained open to light aircraft during the salvage operation and no commercial flights were impacted.

Bathurst Regional Airport was fully operational again by 5.20pm

The Nanchang war bird plane is a two-seat aircraft.