An issue with a Ryanair plane’s nose wheel led to a full emergency at Dublin Airport on Sunday. Operations from the airport’s south runway were affected for some time, and the incident also resulted in a few diversions. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported.

Nose wheel damage

On April 9th, Dublin Airport declared a full emergency after Ryanair flight FR5542 faced an issue with its nose wheel after landing. The airline described the incident as a minor technical issue with the nose landing gear. It released a statement that said,

“This flight from Liverpool to Dublin experienced a minor technical issue with its nose landing gear upon landing. Passengers and crew disembarked normally and the aircraft will shortly be towed back to the hangar for further inspection by Ryanair engineers.”

Ryanair Boeing 737 nose wheel collapse
Photo: James

Traffic affected

The incident led to the suspension of services from the airport for some time. While the north runway resumed operations after some time, the south runway remained closed following the incident. The Dublin Airport Authority released a statement, saying,

“A Full Emergency was declared at Dublin Airport this afternoon following the arrival of Ryanair flight FR5542 from Liverpool. The Dublin Airport Fire Service responded, and the passengers disembarked the aircraft normally once the all clear was given by the Airport Fire Officer.”

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The Journal reports that four flights were diverted due to airport closure soon after the incident. These were two Aer Lingus flights from Paris and Santiago, and two Ryanair flights from Lanzarote and Malaga.

Interestingly, as the airport updated its Twitter handle about the incident, many passengers gave curious replies. They noticed that the incident was not over as some were still on the plane, waiting to be disembarked.

There have been several incidents related to an aircraft’s nose wheel. In 2005, a JetBlue flight between Burbank (BUR) and New York (JFK) had to perform an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) due to a malfunction of the nose gear. A local news helicopter advised that the nose landing gear was canted 90 degrees to the left, and the plane’s emergency landing was covered on live news.

In 2019, a SpiceJet Boeing 737 skidded off the runway at Mumbai airport and broke its nose wheel. The aircraft remained at the end of the runway for two days, affecting several flights and leading to cancelations and rescheduling.

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In 2021, a British Airways Dreamliner suffered a nose wheel collapse as it was being loaded with cargo for a flight to Frankfurt. The aircraft was producing three fault messages associated with the nose gear doors on the day of the incident.

While the team was inspecting the messages, the procedure also required downlock pins to be inserted in the nose and the main landing gear locks. The Nose Landing Gear downlock pin was incorrectly inserted, which resulted in the incident.

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Source: The Journal

  • Ryanair Boeing 737
    Ryanair
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    FR/RYR
    Airline Type:
    Low-Cost Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Dublin Airport, London Stansted Airport, Milan Bergamo Airport
    Year Founded:
    1985
    Airline Group:
    Ryanair Group
    CEO:
    Eddie Wilson
    Country:
    Ireland