Ex commercial pilot lands plane with no front wheel at Wynyard

The plane was piloted by former commercial pilot Lesleigh Griffin, accompanied by recently qualified young pilot Gretta Kingston.

Wynyard Aero Club president David McCarthy said the pair had just returned from a joy flight.

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"On touch down they had a problem with the nose wheel, so she (Ms Griffin) lifted off and circled around," he said.

He said Ms Griffin had noticed debris on the runway - which turned out to be remnants of the front wheel - and decided to land the plane on the grass.

"She shut down the engine, made sure the propeller was horizontal," he said.

"Then she did a controlled, nose-wheel-up landing. Basically you land on your main wheels and just hold the nose up as long as possible.

"She executed it perfectly, and that's what we'd expect from her. She's a very experienced pilot ... and it's part of the training."

The women were both taken to the hospital for monitoring, but were uninjured and quickly released.

Members of the aero club managed to remove the plane from the airfield a few hours later, allowing a delayed Sharp Airlines flight to take off shortly after.