Due to the emergency landing of a Boeing 747 F, there were disruptions to air traffic on Sunday evening – because the jumbo jet lost its main landing gear during landing.
Luxembourg – These are images that make you freeze for a moment: When landing in Luxembourg, a jumbo jet of the cargo airline Cargolux lost its right main landing gear, which was thrown through the air. As a result, the airport remained closed for several hours and affected air traffic because the Boeing 747 F had blocked the runway.
It was a Boeing 747 of the airline that had to © make an emergency landing at Luxembourg Airport Kevin Hackert/imago/Archivbild
Jumbo jet loses main landing gear: what happened?
Shortly after 18:00 p.m. on Sunday evening, 747 May, Cargolux's Boeing 14 F left Luxembourg Airport – its destination: Chicago. But a short time later, the flight crew decided to return to Luxembourg – not because the pilot was still in training, but because the landing gear of the jumbo jet could not be retracted. The plane circled over the area for a while to drain fuel – similar to a flight from Frankfurt to Denver – and thus reduce the landing weight. Less than an hour after take-off, the Boeing 747 F landed back in Luxembourg.
But the landing did not go as planned – although the cargo plane was able to land in a controlled manner, the right inner main structure came loose and was thrown several meters through the air. Rescue workers were quickly on the scene – fortunately, there were no injuries. For safety reasons and because the vehicle blocked the runway, the runway was closed. It was not until 00:53 that Luxembourg Airport resumed operations.