A Luxair flight from Findel airport made an emergency landing at its destination in southern France on Thursday.
Flight LG 8255 to Nice, “operated with a Dash 8-400 aircraft, carried out an emergency landing following a problem with the aircraft’s right-hand landing gear,” Luxair said in a press release.
“The aircraft landed safely and, for safety reasons, came to a stop on the runway,” Luxair said.
A video posted on Youtube shows the aircraft landing with one engine switched off. Cutting off the engine was “standard procedure in this type of situation,” Luxair said. “When a problem is detected with landing gear, it is standard to cut, for safety reasons, the engine on the side effected, which in this case was the right side.”
The incident caused widespread disruptions in Nice, with the local newspaper Nice Matin reporting that the runway was shut down for more than an hour and airport firefighters were dispatched to check the aircraft on the runway as a precaution.
At around 17:00, the airport’s website showed all arriving and departing flights delayed.
The aviation data site Flightradar 24 and Flightaware showed Thursday’s LG 8255 flight took 2 hours 40 minutes, compared to the normal time of an hour and a half.
The two sites indicate that the return flight from Nice to Luxembourg, flight LG 8256, has been delayed and will be flown using a different aircraft. Tomorrow’s LG 8255 flight form Luxembourg to Nice will be operated by a different aircraft.
Luxair also stated: “Appropriate procedures were applied in accordance with safety regulations. The 74 passengers were disembarked and driven to the terminal by bus, where they are being taken care of. All passengers and crew are safe, and psychological support is being provided as needed. The root cause of this incident will be thoroughly investigated in line with airline safety regulations.”
(With reporting by Christophe Lemaire and Tom Rüdell)