A Batik Air A320-200 suffered nose gear issues as it took off from Jambi, Indonesia. When the plane landed back nearly half an hour later due to the issue, the nose gear was found to have rotated 90° and ground down. Let's find out more about this bizarre incident.
Nose gear issues
The incident occurred on Batik Air flight ID-6803, operating a routine domestic service between the busy port city of Jambi and the capital of Jakarta. The one hour and ten minute journey between the cities is a popular one, with eight daily flights even during the pandemic.
ID-6803 departed Jambi Airport at 13:27 local time, slightly later than its scheduled departure time of 13:10. However, issues began during the rollout itself, with observers reporting seeing fire, sparks, and smoke from the nose gear, according to The Aviation Herald.
The plane took off successfully, but the crew reportedly received an indication of technical errors. Seeing this, the pilots stopped the climb at just 3,000 feet and opted to return to Jambi for an emergency landing.
After circling near the airport for a few minutes (possibly to burn fuel or to prepare for landing), the aircraft touched down in Jambi at 13:51 local time, less than 25 minutes after taking off. There were 117 passengers and six crew members onboard, all of whom safely disembarked via stairs. However, the landing caused further damage to the nose gear.
The damage
Once the aircraft safely landed and came to a halt on the runway, the ground crew saw the damage to the nose gear. The landing nose gear had rotated 90 degrees and ground down into the runway. The image below shows the extent of the damage to the gear.
It is possible that the landing gear turned and ground down due to the force of the landing and since it was already facing issues. The incident will now see a thorough investigation to find the reasons for the damage, after which we will know more. The aircraft involved will also need to undergo maintenance and repairs before returning to service.
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The plane in this incident, registered PK-LUT, is a 3.9-year-old Airbus A320-200, delivered new to Batik Air in May 2017, according to Planespotters.net. The A320 is one of 45 in the carrier's growing fleet, while also includes 31 Boeing 737s.
Batik Air
Batik Air is the full-service subsidiary of Lion Air, a major budget airline in the region and the country's largest airline group (which includes Malindo Air). The carrier primarily flies to domestic destinations, connecting the vast Indonesian Archipelago.
In addition to domestic routes, Batik also flies regional routes to cities like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Perth, Shenzen, Chennai, and several more.
Have you ever flown with Batik Air? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.