Probe launched after Boeing cargo plane lands in Istanbul without front landing gear

ISTANBUL: A FedEx Airlines Boeing 767 cargo airplane landed at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday (Might well well maybe also 8) without its front touchdown equipment, a Turkish transport ministry legitimate mentioned, including there maintain been no casualties and authorities had launched an investigation.

The airplane, flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, told the regulate tower in Istanbul that its touchdown equipment had failed to begin and touched down with steering from the tower, managing to remain on the runway, a ministry observation mentioned.

Airport rescue and firefighting teams maintain been scrambled before touchdown, but no one used to be injured. The ministry gave no motive dreary the failure.

The airplane fervent is a virtually 10-yr-primitive Boeing 767 freighter, for sure one of the major typical cargo planes and essentially based entirely on the 767 passenger mannequin relationship abet to the Eighties.

An legitimate from Turkey’s transport ministry mentioned its teams maintain been conducting examinations at the scene as half of the continuing investigation, but did no longer present extra particulars.

Boeing referred queries to FedEX, which mentioned in an announcement it used to be coordinating with investigation authorities and would “present extra knowledge because it’s a ways available”.

Video photos got by Reuters confirmed sparks flying and a few smoke because the front of the airplane scraped alongside the runway before coming to a end and being doused with firefighting foam. No fire perceived to maintain broken out.

The video confirmed the pilots preserving the airplane’s nose above the runway for various seconds after the most indispensable wheels had touched the floor, apparently executing the emergency drill for touchdown with a retracted nose equipment that pilots put together for, per the SKYbrary aviation database.

In June remaining yr, a tiny 22-yr-primitive Boeing 717 flown by Delta Airlines made the same gentle touchdown with out a nose equipment in Charlotte, North Carolina, in an incident later blamed on a fractured ingredient.

The runway used to be temporarily closed to air internet site traffic, but slightly a few runways at Istanbul airport maintain been peaceable working in most cases, the airport operator IGA mentioned.

Producers aren’t in most cases concerned about the operation or upkeep of jets once they enter service, but Boeing has been beneath intense media and regulatory scrutiny following a series of incidents on its smaller 737.