The third private aircraft to get into difficulty in the Wakatipu in nine days made an emergency landing in a paddock near the residential Lake Hayes Estate yesterday.
An engine failure prompted the experienced Queenstown pilot flying a six-seater commercial fixed-wing Cessna 207 on final approach to Queenstown Airport from Milford Sound to make an emergency landing on private land.
The plane came to a stop about 20m from the bank of the Kawarau River.
Milford Sound Flights chief executive Mark Quickfall said last night the pilot and the passengers, two Queenstown residents and two overseas visitors, were not hurt and they "seem to have taken it in their stride".
Mr Quickfall said a Civil Aviation Authority representative happened to be in a plane flying behind the Cessna.
The pilot spoke to the representative, Queenstown police and Mr Quickfall. Civil Aviation will investigate and the Cessna's engine will be checked today.
CAA is investigating two other light aircraft crashes in the area.
Tauranga man Ian Sloan (59) died when the plane he was piloting crashed on Arrowtown golf course, last Monday. A 36-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman sustained serious injuries in the crash.
On October 15, a man and woman were unhurt when a plane failed to get airborne and crashed through a fence as it attempted to take off from a private airstrip at the Branches High Country Station, about 30km up the Shotover River.
