By Justin Tuburan

A Whitianga flying veteran was forced to make an emergency landing over the weekend after his propeller snapped mid-flight.

Evan Wheeler, who serves as the President of the Whitianga Aero Club, was flying home after an Ōpōtiki barbecue Sunday when his plane instantly started shaking while near Mount Maunganui.

Wheeler told Newstalk ZB’s Matt Heath and Tyler Adams “it was just ‘bang’ and everything started vibrating, like it was split-second”.

He said pilots are used to hitting turbulence “but this was a bit more than that”.

“I pulled the throttle immediately” then Wheeler describes going through his list of checks to find the problem.

He says the the most important thing to him at that moment was to watch his airspeed.

“The engine almost stopped, I pulled it back up again and I knew the engine was okay, so then you just sort of get into the mode of - where am I going to land?”

He told 1News he only had a minute to land on a remote beach on nearby Matakana island otherwise he’d have to go into the water.

After landing, the extent of damage to the propeller became clear.

The turbulence set off the plane's emergency signal which was picked up by the Rescue Coordination Centre in Lower Hutt who made contact with Wheeler soon after landing.

Another plane also heard the distress signal and was circling overhead, leaving after Wheeler made radio contact to confirm he was okay.

A fellow pilot who had also been at the Ōpōtiki barbecue flew back to Tauranga from Whitianga to pick up the now stranded Wheeler.

He says it's important as a pilot to stay calm and go through your checklists.

“You need to accept that, in this situation, this is for real, and I need to get to the shore, so you’re just busy going through your little checks”.

The Murphy Rebel bush plane has since been fitted with a new propeller so it could be flown back to Whitianga for a full assessment before it can be set to fly again.