ISTANBUL: A FedEx Airlines Boeing cargo plane landed at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday (May 8) without the front landing gear deployed and managed to stay on the runway, Turkey’s transport ministry said.
The Boeing 767 aircraft, flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, informed the traffic control tower at Istanbul Airport that its landing gear failed to open and it landed with guidance from the tower, the ministry said in its statement.
No one was injured and the crew safely evacuated the aircraft, said Abdulkadir Uraloglu, Turkey’s transportation and infrastructure minister.
Airport rescue and fire fighting teams made necessary preparations on the runway before landing, the ministry said, without giving a reason for the failure.
Social media video showed the Boeing 767 using the back landing gear and then dipping its nose with the front portion of the fuselage with sparks flying and smoke billowing as the front end of the plane scraped along the runway, before being doused with firefighting foam.
The runway where the cargo plane landed has been temporarily closed to air traffic, but traffic on the other runways at the airport was continuing without any interruption, the airport operator IGA said.
The runway where the plane landed remained closed off while the aircraft was removed.
