Myanmar plane lands without front wheel

Captain Myat Moe Aung of Myanmar National Airlines safely landed an Embraer 190 passenger aircraft at Mandalay airport in northern Myanmar after the front landing gear failed to deploy.

The pilot managed to land the jet on its nose, causing no injuries to the dozens of passengers and crew on board.

"The pilot did a great job," said Win Khant, permanent secretary of Myanmar's Ministry of Transport and Communications, adding that the incident was being investigated.

The airline did not confirm how many passengers were on board. The aircraft maker said on its website that the plane has capacity of between 96 and 114 seats.

How it unfolded

The state-run carrier said the plane had departed from Yangon near the Myanmar coast and was approaching the airport in Mandalay when the pilot was unable to deploy the landing gear.

He then tried a backup emergency procedure to pull down the wheels without success. 

The pilot then flew past the airport twice so that air traffic controllers could check if the landing gear was down, the airline said.

"Then the captain followed emergency procedures and did the fuel burn out to reduce the landing weight," it added.

An unverified landing video that spread on social media shows the Embraer 190 touching down on its rear wheels before traveling some distance along the runway on its nose, kicking up smoke. An urgent but orderly evacuation of the passengers and crew followed.

It was the second aviation incident in Myanmar this week. On Wednesday, a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off the runway during strong winds in Yangon, injuring 17 people on board, including the pilot.

shs/amp (dpa, Reuters, AP)

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