MANDALAY – A pilot in Myanmar is being hailed as hero for safely landing a jet without front wheels after the landing gear failed to deploy.
Captain Myat Moe Aung of Myanmar National Airlines managed to land the Embraer 190 passenger aircraft on its nose at Mandalay airport in northern Myanmar, causing no injuries to the dozens of passengers and crew on board.
None of the 89 passengers was hurt, the BBC reports.
Captain Myat Moe Aung circled the airport twice to allow air traffic controllers to determine if the landing gear was down, the airline said.
The aircraft had departed from Yangon and was approaching Mandalay when the pilot was unable to extend the front landing gear. He followed emergency procedures and burned excess fuel to reduce the aircraft’s weight, the airline said.
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A video of the landing showed the plane landing on its rear wheels before the nose touched down on the runway. The plane skidded for about 25 seconds before it stopped.
“The pilot did a great job,” said Win Khant, permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, adding that the incident was being investigated.
On Wednesday, a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off the runway when it landed in bad weather at Yangon’s international airport, injuring at least 17 people.
