A local pilot walked away from his first accident in more than50 years of flying Thursday after the nose gear collapsed while hewas landing his plane at the Brookhaven Municipal Airport.

“I’m fine. It’s not as big a disaster as it looks like it is,”said Jesse Beeson as he discussed the accident with law enforcementand emergency response officials.

Beeson, 75, said the nose gear on his Beechcraft Baron collapsedwhen he was coming in for a landing around 1 p.m. He said he hadchecked instruments to make sure the three-part landing gear wasengaged.

“I had three green lights,” said Beeson, who attributed theaccident to mechanical error.

When Beeson landed, one of the instrument lights went out toindicate a problem with the landing gear, said Brookhaven PoliceChief Pap Henderson.

“It did not lock in,” the chief said.

Beeson’s plane slid on its nose an estimated 250 to 300 feet onthe runway, said Rickie Hart, a cropduster who witnessed theincident.

“As soon as he landed, the plane was decelerating and the nosegear just collapsed,” Hart said.

With the grass along the runway moist, Brookhaven AirportCommission Chairman Paul Barnett indicated the accident could havebeen worse had the plane gone of the runway.

“He did a good job of keeping it on the runway and not flippingover,” Barnett said of Beeson.

Beeson said he has had the plane about eight years.

Following the accident, the airport was closed for about an hourwhile the airplane was removed from the runway, said airportmanager Clifford Britt.