A KLM Boeing 747 was forced to divert to Frankfurt following a tire pressure warning. The incident took place on July 30th and involved a Boeing 747 flying from Amsterdam to Nairobi.

A Boeing 747 full of travelers was forced to divert en route to Kenya on the 30th of July. The flight took off from Amsterdam, however, a tire pressure warning led the aircraft to return to Schiphol. On the way back to Amsterdam, the situation developed, leading the aircraft to make a precautionary landing at Frankfurt Airport. Footage of the landing shows emergency services on the scene as the aircraft comes in to land.

The flight's details

KLM flight 565 is the Dutch flag carrier's service between Amsterdam and Nairobi. On 30th July, the aircraft was due to depart from Amsterdam at 12:55. The aircraft finally got underway at 13:18.

It was due to land in Nairobi at 21:50, however, over Greece the aircraft made a 180-degree turn intending to return to Amsterdam. According to the Av Herald, the reason for this return to base was "indications of both nose tires deflating".

The aircraft had intended to return to Amsterdam, however, en route the crew noticed that tire pressure had dropped below 30%. As a result, they decided to further divert to Frankfurt Airport. They touched down around 17:22 giving a flight time of around four and a half hours.

The aircraft kept its nose wheel in the air as long as possible, before vacating the runway and taxiing to nearby stand. The crew had warned the air traffic controllers that they might require assistance leaving the runway. A video of the aircraft landing was caught by mylosairplanefan and posted on YouTube:

Return to Amsterdam

The aircraft remained on the ground for around five hours until 22:10. It then departed from Frankfurt and took a short flight back to its home in Amsterdam where it arrived at 22:50, around ten hours after it was due to depart Amsterdam, and around two hours after the flight should have landed in Nairobi. Following the incident, the aircraft went on to fly the stranded passengers to Nairobi a day later (31st of July) departing at 15:23, and landing in Nairobi at 23:54. KLM's regular scheduled service also operated to Nairobi on the 31st of July. This flight departed at 14:11, arriving at 22:47.

The aircraft

PH-BFH is the registration of the Boeing 747 which had to divert to Frankfurt. The Boeing 747 was delivered new to KLM on 26th of April 1990. As such, the aircraft, which took its first flight in March of that year, is 29.4 years old according to AirFleets.net. The aircraft is named Hong Kong. KLM is due to retire all of its remaining Boeing 747 aircraft by 2021. Indeed, we have already seen one of KLM's Boeing 747s become a conversation piece outside of an Amsterdam hotel. Simple Flying contacted a representative of KLM but had not heard back at the time of publishing this article. Were you onboard KL565? Let us know in the comments below!