Although the plane’s landing gear failed and part of the plane fell off after landing, it didn’t become a catastrophe; there were no deaths or injuries. While it was frightening, things could have gone very badly if this had happened.
A United Airlines flight was arriving at Orlando International Airport, and people on the internet noticed immediately how hard the aircraft landed. The flight had come from O’Hare Field in Chicago, IL, and had only been flying for two hours before this incident occurred.
After the videos were posted online they became very viral; the videos demonstrated how the aircraft landed with its back end hitting first followed by its front wheels. Soon after the plane touched down one of the aircraft’s nose wheels broke off and ran away from the aircraft and onto the “grass” beside the runway; it looked like it came from a Hollywood film.
Based on the information that United Airlines has gathered, they believe that the aircraft’s landing was caused by a mechanical malfunction during the landing sequence. United Airlines has verified that none of the passengers on board sustained any injury, which is certainly great news in this whole story.
Once the aircraft was completely stopped and all passengers were taken safely to the terminal via Bus, the ground crew began clearing the runway of debris.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reacted with urgency, issuing a statement indicating that a hard landing had caused damage to the airplane and that an exhaustive investigation will take place to determine what led to the hard landing and equipment failure.
Mechanical problems are not a thing of the past; in fact, they are taken very seriously in the aviation industry, especially those that involve parts falling off during the landing phase of the flight.
Due to the damage caused to the airplane on the runway, flight operations at the airport were temporarily suspended, according to the airport authorities. There was an influx of delays for other passengers as crews worked to remove the damaged aircraft from the runway; however, the delay did not last long.
Although the initial downtime was short-lived, it is likely that the one- to two-hour downtime for the whole airport caused many passengers significant inconvenience due to the ripple-effect caused by the downtime.
The standout quality of this event is that it does not represent a singular event. Just a few weeks prior, on January 6, another incident involving a Boeing 767 aircraft (LATAM) that had been involved in an incident while landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) from Peru where several of the aircraft’s tires had failed.
According to reports, 8 out of 10 tires were damaged due to explosions and/or melted during the landing.
But when taken together, these situations create some very uncomfortable questions. Although air travel is generally considered statistically safe, the issues with landing recently have served as a reminder for everyone on how critical an effect on aviation safety is through adequate maintenance, inspection and quick decision making when something goes wrong.
Safety systems functioned properly this time, thanks to the professional response of the crew, the passengers were able to leave the plane.
Perhaps that is the important point in the end. Aeroplanes are very complicated pieces of equipment and when failure occurs, it can happen quickly and without warning or indication. That said, the manufacturers of aeroplanes have built their products with many layers of safety, training and emergency prepared to assist you through this type of event.
As they say, “One wheel lost, but there were zero lives lost.” No question, it is still a victory, even if it was a round of exciting stress.
