A light aircraft made an emergency landing at Cobar earlier today after the cabin began to fill with smoke.

Cobar's Fire & Rescue crew from station 265 were called to the airport at 11:06am and arrived to find smoke coming from the under the wing on the right hand side of the aircraft.

They were joined by the Cobar Headquarters Rural Fire Service brigade and NSW Ambulance.

The pilot of the small freight plane had been alerted in flight by a smoke indicator.

"They landed safely with smoke inside the cabin," said a spokesperson for Fire & Rescue NSW. "When crews arrived there were within the aerodrome area."

While the local crews may not have had aircraft-specific training, the spokesperson said that it was treated like any vehicle fire.

"It is most important to get to the point of origin of the fire.

"It was obvious where the smoke was coming from so they had to remove external panels to access the engine area," the spokesperson said.

Crews worked to disconnect the battery and isolate the electrical fault thought to have caused the fire. IMAGE: Fire & Rescue NSW Station 265 Cobar

The batteries were quickly isolated and the source identified as an electrical fault.

The fire was extinguished and on further inspection the aircraft was found to have significant fire damage to the internal flooring.

The flooring was removed and checked for further signs of heat.

After declaring the aircraft safe, it was ventilated, secured and handed over to airport staff.

The entire operation took less than 45 minutes.

The quick action of local crews meant that the fire was contained and total loss of the aircraft prevented.

The pilot was checked by local Ambulance but did not require hospital treatment.

Fire damage under the internal flooring of the aircraft. IMAGE: Fire and Rescue NSW Station 256 Cobar