A jet aircraft managed to land safely yesterday afternoon despite suffering from a punctured tyre.

The plane, a medevac Learjet carrying five people, is understood to have blown a tyre after taking off from Santa Maria in the Azores.

It was flying to Bermuda for a scheduled stop and, as it made its approach to the island at around 4.40pm, the pilot contacted airport officials to explain that the aircraft was suffering from landing gear issues

“As a precautionary measure the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service was asked to take up standby positions off the runway for the arriving aircraft,” Watch Commander Paul Dill of the Airport Division said.

The aircraft landed safely without incident and came to a stop on a nearby taxiway where it was discovered that the outer left tyre on the port side main landing gear was flat.