A pilot in Australia has landed after a mechanical failure left the plane he was flying without working landing equipment.

The light plane had three people on board the plane, which remained in the sky for almost three hours until fuel ran out.

The twin-turboprop Beechcraft Super King Air plane had taken off from Newcastle airport, north of Sydney, runway for a 112-mile flight north to Port Macquarie.

New South Wales Police said the pilot – a 53-year-old man from Queensland – raised the alarm about 9.30am on Monday.

They said the plane spent three hours in the sky as fuel burned out to reduce the chance of explosion.

A NSW Police spokesman said the plane landed on the tarmac without incident, praising the pilot for executing a “textbook” wheels-up landing.

More than a dozen fire, police, state emergency service and ambulance crews were on the scene, while an operations room was set up at the adjoining Williamtown Royal Australian Air Force base.

No passengers needed treatment after the flight.

Superintendent Wayne Humphrey of NSW Police said: “They got out of the plane themselves.

“It was great work by the pilot, to be honest.”