Landing Gear

The world's first Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner experienced a problem with its landing gear less than two weeks after the new aircraft embarked on its maiden passenger flight for carrier All Nippon Airways. The airline's pilots had to manually deploy the Dreamliner's landing gear after the automated system did not engage, the company said. The incident occurred on a Sunday morning flight when the plane was approaching Okayama Airport in western Japan from Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The aircraft has since resumed operations.

A commuter plane with 31 passengers aboard was forced to make an emergency belly landing in Newark, N.J., early Saturday morning when the aircraft's landing gear failed to fully deploy. After circling Newark Liberty International Airport several times trying to get the landing gear to move into normal position, the pilot successfully landed the plane with all the wheels retracted just after 1 a.m. local time. No injuries were reported. Videos posted to YouTube and other websites by witnesses showed bright flashes and trails of sparks coming from the plane's underside as it touched down.

NEW YORK -- A piece of a landing gear believed to be from one of the commercial jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center towers during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has been discovered wedged behind a building that became the site of a controversial Muslim center in Lower Manhattan. The bizarre discovery was announced Friday by police, who said the gear part was between the rear of a building on Park Place and the building behind it, on Murray Street. According to the statement from police spokesman Paul Browne, the gear was found during an inspection of the rear of 51 Park Place, and includes a clearly visible Boeing identification number.

NEW YORK -- Coroner's officials entered a narrow, closely guarded alley in Lower Manhattan early Tuesday to begin searching the area around a newly discovered chunk of a jet airliner to determine if human remains from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks might be buried there. Four days after surveyors stumbled upon the piece of metal, police have corrected some of the information initially released about it. It is not a piece of landing gear, as originally thought, but a piece of a wing.

A Southwest Airlines flight carrying 132 people from Las Vegas to Burbank was forced to make an emergency landing in Ontario on Tuesday afternoon, dragging one engine to a screeching halt on two-thirds of the plane's landing gear as passengers prayed, wept and then cheered their safe arrival. "It just felt so scary that you can't describe it," said passenger Steve Mouradian, 35, of Pasadena. "You're thinking, I just know this plane is going to blow up."

Part of the landing gear on the right side of a Mexicana Airlines jumbo jet collapsed as the plane was being towed away from a boarding terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, but none of the 315 passengers or 14 crew members was injured as the jetliner slumped to the pavement. The passengers on Flight 123, a DC-10 bound for Guadalajara and Mexico City, were reboarded on other flights, airport spokesmen said.

The problems with JetBlue Flight 292 marked at least the seventh time that the front landing gear of an Airbus jet has locked at a 90-degree angle, forcing pilots to land commercial airliners under emergency conditions, according to federal records. No one has been injured in the incidents, which span about a decade. There are more than 2,500 planes from the Airbus 320 family, which includes the Airbus 318, 319 and 321 models, in operation worldwide.

A jet with 78 people aboard made an emergency landing Sunday after its landing gear malfunctioned, and one wing caught fire briefly as it scraped the runway, officials said. No one was injured as the Delta Air Lines Boeing 727 was safely evacuated after it landed at Portland International Airport, authorities said.

A twin-engine private airplane skidded a short distance on the Van Nuys Airport runway Wednesday evening when its landing gear collapsed, authorities said. The accident occurred just after 5 p.m.as the Cessna was landing, said Diana Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. She said the landing gear on the right side of the plane collapsed, causing it to skid. There were three people in the plane but no injuries were reported, according to authorities.

An American Airlines DC-10 jet flying from Los Angeles to New York was forced to turn back Thursday when a cockpit light indicated a landing gear had failed to retract properly, an airline spokeswoman said. The plane, with 167 passengers and a crew of 11, landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport after dumping its fuel over the ocean. "Apparently there was a light that went on indicating the landing gear had failed to retract.

NEW YORK -- A piece of a landing gear believed to be from one of the commercial jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center towers during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has been discovered wedged behind a building that became the site of a controversial Muslim center in Lower Manhattan. The bizarre discovery was announced Friday by police, who said the gear part was between the rear of a building on Park Place and the building behind it, on Murray Street. According to the statement from police spokesman Paul Browne, the gear was found during an inspection of the rear of 51 Park Place, and includes a clearly visible Boeing identification number.

The passengers and pilot of a Learjet survived a scare Monday afternoon when the aircraft's landing gear developed a problem and forced an emergency landing in St. Louis. Those aboard were able to walk off the plane unharmed after the jet landed at 1:30 p.m. CST at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, where fire crews were waiting, spokesman Jeff Lea said. "It did land safely, without incident," Lea said. The exact nature of the landing-gear problem wasn't clear. Diane Earhart, an administrator with St. Louis Downtown Airport, told the Associated Press that controllers at a Cahokia, Ill., airport tower had confirmed that the plane was "not in proper landing condition.

The world's first Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner experienced a problem with its landing gear less than two weeks after the new aircraft embarked on its maiden passenger flight for carrier All Nippon Airways. The airline's pilots had to manually deploy the Dreamliner's landing gear after the automated system did not engage, the company said. The incident occurred on a Sunday morning flight when the plane was approaching Okayama Airport in western Japan from Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The aircraft has since resumed operations.

A small private plane crashed into the water off Newport Beach on Sunday evening, killing at least three people, Newport Beach police said. "Whether or not we have more victims, I don't know," Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Burdette said. The single-engine Beechcraft Musketeer was traveling from Mexico to Torrance when the crash occurred at about 5:45 p.m., according to Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Burdette said the pilot knew the plane was in trouble and had radioed that he wanted to try to land on the street near the Fashion Island shopping mall.

More than 70 China Eastern Airlines passengers stranded in Los Angeles since the weekend because of mechanical problems with their plane finally departed for Shanghai late Tuesday night. The Airbus A340 took off at 11 p.m., according to an airline spokesman. The plane was originally scheduled to depart at 1:30 p.m. Sunday but was grounded after problems with its landing gear were discovered. Many of the initial 282 Shanghai-bound passengers took direct flights to Beijing on Monday and Tuesday, while others canceled their trips.

About 160 China Eastern Airlines passengers remained stranded in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, more than two days after their flight to Shanghai was delayed because of problems with the plane's landing gear. The Airbus A380 was originally scheduled to take off at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, but mechanical problems arose as the plane began to taxi. Passengers remained onboard for about four hours as repairs were made, but they were eventually told to disembark.

The pilot of a small plane who feared his landing gear was disabled circled Van Nuys Airport for about 90 minutes Tuesday before making a safe emergency landing, authorities said. Shortly after 11:45 a.m., the pilot of the twin-engine Beechcraft Dutchess radioed the control tower that he was having a problem with the landing gear, said airport spokeswoman Charlene Klink.

An American Airlines MD-80 jet made an emergency landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Saturday after the pilot reported the landing gear would not retract. American Airlines Flight 330 left Vancouver, British Columbia, about 1:30 p.m. en route to Dallas. After the problem occurred, the pilot tried unsuccessfully for an hour to retract the landing gear. Then the plane was diverted to Sea-Tac Airport. The plane landed safely. None of the 118 passengers on board was injured.

A twin-engine plane with two people aboard landed safely at Van Nuys Airport after an equipment failure forced the plane to return to the airport after taking off Tuesday morning. The pilot of the privately owned Cessna 310 reported landing gear difficulty just after 11 a.m., said Harold Johnson, an airport spokesman. The plane landed safely about 12:20 p.m., and both passengers walked away from it. It landed on both rear landing wheels and, before it came to a stop, plopped down on its nose.

A US Airways Express airliner slid down a runway without its nose landing gear during an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport. No injuries were reported. Before the Havilland Dash-8 turboprop, which took off from Allentown, Pa., was scheduled to land, the crew got an indication that the landing gear was not down. They did a flyover to confirm that the nose wheels had not deployed. Fire crews spread foam on the runway as a precaution, but there was no smoke or fire.