British Airways plane nose hits ground after landing gear error at Heathrow

AAIB release report on British Airways landing gear failure incident.

A British Airways plane suffered ‘significant damage’ and staff sustained injuries after it tipped forward and its nose hit the ground.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the incident happened while the jet was being prepared for a cargo flight to Frankfurt, Germany, on June 18 last year.

A pin inserted in the wrong place led the landing gear under the plane’s nose to retract during a maintenance procedure, causing the aircraft to fall forwards, the report by the AAIB has found.

The incident resulted in minor injuries to the co-pilot who was in the cockpit and a member of the cargo loading crew.

The force of the impact with the ground caused some onboard passenger oxygen masks to drop and overhead baggage compartment doors to open.

“To prevent the landing gear from retracting when UP was selected, the landing gear down lock pins were fitted. However, when UP was selected, the NLG retracted,” the AAIB said in its summary.

“As a result, the aircraft’s nose struck the ground, which caused significant damage to the lower front section of the aircraft. This inflicted minor injuries on the co-pilot and one of the cargo loading team.”

The design of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner created “an opportunity for error” when inserting the nose landing gear locking pin, investigators concluded.

Guidance on how to avoid the mistake had previously been published but action had not yet been taken with the plane involved in the incident. The deadline for compliance is January 2023.

A British Airways spokesman said: “Safety is always our priority and we’ve put a number of stringent measures in place to help mitigate the chance of an incident like this happening again in the future.”