A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 was forced into a hard landing in Odessa, Ukraine, after the aircraft’s nose landing gear broke. A video of the incident showed passengers evacuating using emergency slides.
Photos of the incident, that took place around 10 pm local time on Thursday, show the plane several meters off the runway, nose down. Local media reported the aircraft made at least two approaches to the runway, and was spotted hovering over Odessa.
However, the second attempt to touch down did not work out so well, and saw the plane veering off the runway and making a hard landing nose-first. It is possible that caused the landing gear to snap, but that remains unclear.
All passengers are reported to have survived the ordeal unscathed. An eyewitness video posted on Facebook show them being evacuated through an inflatable slide.
Earlier on Thursday, a Dubai-bound business jet experienced similar troubles with its landing gear at the Odessa airport. The crew had to abort the takeoff and the airport was reportedly shut down for two hours after the incident.
While it’s still unknown what may have caused the problems with nose gears of both planes , some suggested that the Odessa airport airfield was simply not up to the task, making it dangerous for any incoming or outgoing flights.
“Two broken nose gears a day – that’s too much!!! Who would ever fly to us???Dubai-bound Gulfstream jet during the take-off in the morning, Turkish Boeing during the landing in the evening! Awful!,” Maskim Boldin, a local lawyer, wrote on Facebook.
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