A Myanmar pilot who managed to bring a plane with 89 passengers on board safely to ground after its front wheels failed to deploy is being hailed a hero.
Captain Myat Moe Aung circled the airport twice while air traffic controllers tried to determine if the landing gear was down, Myanmar National Airlines said.
Flight UB-103, a Myanmar National Airlines flight, had flown from Yangon and was approaching Mandalay when the front landing gear failed to extend. According to the airline, the pilot followed emergency procedures and burned excess fuel to reduce the aircraft’s weight.
Ye Htut Aung, deputy director general of Myanmar’s civil aviation department, said the pilot first tried to deploy the front landing gear through its computer system, then manually. Neither method was successful. ‘So they had to land with the back wheels … The pilot could land it skilfully,’ Aung said, as reported by the Guardian. ‘There were no casualties.’
‘Smoke came out a little when we landed … All passengers are OK,’ said one passenger, Soe Moe.
This was the second aviation accident in Myanmar in a week. On Wednesday, a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off the runway, injuring at least 17 people, when it landed in bad weather at Yangon’s international airport.
State owned @fly_mna ‘s flight UB-103 Yangon to Mandalay, made emergency landing Sunday at #Mandalay International Airport (VYMD) after unable to extend nose gear of @embraer E190. All 82 onboard are safe without any injuries. Bravo to Capt. Myat Moe Aung & crew | #Myanmar pic.twitter.com/H4FNJxB5Ig
— Myat Thura (@mtygn) May 12, 2019
Featured image: STR/AFP/Getty Images
