Nosewheel Failed To Deploy; All Safe After Emergency
Landing
All Nippon Airways took the drastic step Tuesday of grounding
its 13-plane fleet of Bombardier DHC-8-Q400 turboprop airliners,
one day after the nosegear failed to deploy during a flight from
Osaka to Kochi. The Japanese government also ordered immediate
inspections of all 36 "Dash-8s" used in Japan.
None of the 56 passengers and four crew was injured as the pilot
of the stricken turboprop made a series of hard touch-and-go
landings on the plane's mainwheels, in an attempt to bump the
nosewheel into place. When those attempts proved unsuccessful, the
pilot circled the Kochi airport to burn off fuel --- before
bringing the plane in for a spot-on, though spark-filled,
landing.
"It was almost a perfect emergency landing," NHK quoted aviation
expert Soichi Kaji, according to the Associated Press. "Apparently
the pilot was very calm and did just as he was trained."
This isn't the first time ANA has had problems with its
Canadian-built DHC-8s. In February 2006, a flight crew was forced
to deploy their plane's landing gear manually after all three sets
of wheels refused to come down. Later that same month, two more
DHC-8s made emergency landings in Osaka after pilots received
indications of faulty heating systems, and a faulty door latch.
Those incidents -- along with the 2004 loss of a right maingear
wheel on another Dash-8 as it landed in Kochi, and a 2005 cockpit and cabin smoke
incident that forced an emergency landing in Osaka --
led ANA's president to apologize for the problems during a June
2006 shareholders meeting. On Tuesday, Executive Vice President
Shin Nagase made a similar mea culpa, apologizing for "causing
great concern."
On Tuesday, Japan's Transport Ministry ordered emergency
inspections for all 36 Bombardier DHC-8s in use by Japanese
carriers, citing possible problems with the aircraft's landing
gear, according to ministry official Yasuo Ishii. There have been
77 incidents involving DHC-8 aircraft in Japan since 2003.
Bombardier had no immediate comment
on this latest incident, though the company is reportedly working
with airlines to solve issues with its DHC-8.
"There has been trouble, but no accidents," acknowledged Masaki
Okahata, spokesman for Sojitz Corporation, the trading company that
is also Bombardier's representative in Japan. "Instead of laying
blame, the airlines are talking with the manufacturer about the
matter."