Plane forced into emergency landing after ‘part of landing gear fell into engine’
The plane is currently circling Madrid to burn fuel to be able to land
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Your support makes all the difference.A plane with almost 130 passengers onboard has made an emergency landing in Spain after parts of the landing gear reportedly fell into one of the engines shortly after take-off.
Air Canada flight AC837 departed Madrid Barajas Adolfo Suárez airport to fly to Toronto when the incident occurred.
Spanish pilots’ union Sepla tweeted that the plane had been forced into an emergency landing after the jet “lost parts of the landing gear that have entered the engine”.
Air Canada said it believed one of the jet’s tyres ruptured shortly after take-off.
Sepla added that the Boeing 767 aircraft would need to fly for another three hours to burn off enough fuel to be able to land. This is standard procedure for all aircraft that need to land unexpectedly shortly after take-off.
Flight data from Flight Radar 24 shows the Madrid-bound jet currently flying a series of circles above the Spanish capital as it prepares to land.
Spain’s air navigation operator Enaire said that the plane was returning to the airport due to a “technical issue”. It added that customers due to fly out of Madrid later on should check the status of their flight with the airline.
An Air Canada spokesperson confirmed the emergency landing request to The Independent, explaining that flight AC837 ”experienced an engine issue shortly after take-off”.
They added: “A tyre also reportedly ruptured on take-off, one of 10 on this model of aircraft. The aircraft opted to return to Madrid and is currently circling to use up fuel and lighten the aircraft for landing.
“The aircraft, a Boeing 767-300, is designed to operate on one engine and our pilots are fully trained for this eventuality. Nonetheless, an emergency was declared in order to obtain landing priority,” they said.
“There are 128 passengers onboard. We have no further details on the cause at present.”
Earlier today, Madrid Barajas Adolfo Suárez airport was shut for around an hour due to drone activity. Airport operator Aena said there had been 26 diversions.
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