METROPOLITAN Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens had a lucky escape when he was forced to crash-land his plane at Newcastle Airport.

It's the second time that the senior police chief has had a brush with death as he has also had a miraculous mid-air escape when the engine of his light aircraft failed at 5,000ft.

In the latest scare, the Commissioner was piloting a two-seater, twin-engined Seneca plane into Newcastle, on Saturday, when he alerted air traffic control that his nose wheel was jammed.

The pilot, who has 40 years experience and is also a qualified glider instructor, stayed in the air to burn off fuel for one-and-a-half hours.

He attempted manoeuvres which he hoped would dislodge the landing wheel without success. When that failed, he radioed ahead to say he was making a landing attempt and fire and ambulance crews were placed on standby.

Sir John, 57, cut the fuel as he was coming into land, glided in and gently brought the nose down onto the runway in what was described as a "text book landing".

Paramedic teams rushed to his and his passenger's aid, but they were unhurt and walked from the plane which suffered "minimal damage".

Neither Sir John nor his male co-pilot were hurt.

The runway was closed for 40 minutes but it caused no disruption to other flight traffic.

Ken Smith, duty passenger services manager at the airport, said: "It was a text book landing and both occupants were able to walk away unharmed and without needing any medical treatment.