A Boeing 737 flying with South African carrier FlySafair made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff after one of its main wheels flung off the aircraft, news agency New York Post said in a report citing South African news media outlets.
A Boeing 737-800 lost a wheel while taking off from Johannesburg Airport (South Africa), Aviation24 reports.Ground personnel identified the damage and informed the pilots. The plane returned and landed safely.
No one was injured during the emergency, but there were flight… pic.twitter.com/5JNIyE6zGA
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The plane packed with passengers billowed smoke from the unprotected wheel hub as it landed on the runway at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
A huge bang rang out shortly after and the plane screeched to a halt along the runway. The report said the undercarriage and right wing partially collapsed in the incident.
There were no reports of casualties. The report said the ground crew were quick to notice the missing landing wheel immediately after the Cape Town-bound plane took off.
“The crew were alerted to the observation and the decision was taken to return to Johannesburg. Flight FA212 adjusted course back for Johannesburg and entered a holding pattern near Parys to burn off some fuel to lighten the aircraft for landing,” FlySafair spokesperson Kirby Gordon was quoted as saying by South African news outlet EWN Eyewitness News.
The aircraft first made a low pass over the airport so that other officials on ground could assess the landing gear and give the go-ahead for the crew to return to the runway.
“The wheel affected was one of the two attached to the left rear landing strut. The aircraft proceeded into a second holding pattern over Centurion to burn away remaining fuel before their final landing approach,” Gordon further added.
The passengers were taken to Cape Town on a backup aircraft several hours later.
Planemaker Boeing is facing intense pressure from the US government since a door-plug panel blew off a 737 Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The company is under multiple investigations, and the FBI has told passengers from the flight that they might be victims of a crime. Regulators limited Boeing’s rate of aircraft production, and even minor incidents involving its planes have attracted news coverage.
Major safety failures have pushed Boeing into a crisis that has already resulted in a management shakeup, including the CEO’s decision to step down at the end of this year.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates airlines and aircraft manufacturers, was also heavily criticized during Wednesday’s hearings.
The FAA was battered for the way it approved the 737 Max nearly a decade ago without fully understanding a key flight-control system. Two Max jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. Critics continue to accuse the agency of being too cozy with Boeing.
The FAA is now under a new administrator, Mike Whitaker, who has taken a tougher approach to Boeing. He limited Boeing’s production of 737 Max jets and gave the company until May 28 to produce a detailed plan for how it will fix manufacturing problems and resolve safety concerns.
(with inputs from the Associated Press)
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