The pilot was forced to circle for a short time after noticing the problem shortly before 11am.

Emergency services were called to the airport as a precaution.

The pilot landed the Piper 28 Arrow safely about 11.20am.

A pilot and a trainee pilot were on board the aircraft.

Anxious classmates from the ST Aviation Training Academy looked on as the plane touched down.

Police, paramedics and five fire units from Wendouree and Ballarat attended the scene as a precaution.

The academy's Chief Pilot John Matthews said the pilot radioed for help when a panel light to indicate whether the plane's landing gear had been deployed had failed to light up.

The pilot went through safety procedures while in the air before safely landing the plane.

''Because the aircraft carried around four hours of fuel there was no urgency and we just went through those procedures,'' Mr Matthews said.

''There is always a potential risk in these situations, therefore we took the action of a precautionary call out to the fire brigade and ambulance so they could come and stand by.''

He said the pilot had 15 years flying experience, while the trainee pilot had been with the academy for ebout eight months.

The plane's systems will be checked over by the academy's maintenance provider Field Air to identify the cause of the problem.

An almost identical incident happened at the airport in November last year.