RTL
A Cargolux Boeing 747 lost parts of its landing gear during an emergency landing at Findel airport on Sunday evening.
Shortly before 1am on Monday morning, Luxembourg Airport took to Twitter to announce that the runway was open again for safe air traffic.
What happened?
Flight CV6857, which departed for Chicago at around 6pm on Sunday, was unable to retract its landing gear upon departure, forcing it to return to Luxembourg immediately.
It first entered a holding pattern above Belgium and Ettelbruck to dump fuel, a regular procedure for aircraft that are overweight prior to landing, before returning to the airport, Flightradar24 data shows.
It landed shortly after. A video captures the moment the plane touches down and the centre right gear comes off:
The wheels can be seen bouncing down the tarmac. The runway was closed as airport crews began cleaning up and collecting debris.
Cargolux Airlines International S.A.
Cargolux would like to confirm that one of its aircraft, B747-400F bearing registration mark LX-OCV, suffered a significant landing incident at Luxembourg airport on Sunday evening at 18:52. The aircraft was unable to retract its landing gear on take-off from Luxembourg. As a result, it was forced to safely dump fuel in order to return to land at the airport. On its landing roll its right body landing gear detached from the aircraft. The aircraft however came to a controlled stop and was attended to by the emergency services. No persons on board nor on the ground suffered any injuries. The relevant authorities have been informed of the incident. The aircraft remains on the runway and recovery efforts are underway.
No one was injured in the incident.
Arrival flights were being diverted until the airport reopened. In addition, many flights were delayed and even cancelled.
Luxair flights LG5554 from Oslo, LG9514 from Hamburg and LG6996 were diverted to Liège.
In a press release, the airline states all affected passengers have been informed and that everything was being done to inform remaining passengers about their upcoming flights.
Patience was needed: passengers dissatisfied with communication
Since Findel airport was closed for five hours, this led to many delays and cancellations, much to the frustration of a number of passengers.
Some flights unable to land at Findel were redirected to other nearby airports, such as Brussels. Passengers were then transported to Luxembourg via bus, with some arriving at their final destination at around midnight.
The main point of criticism that people had was a lack of communication from the affected airlines. Also, some struggled to find accommodation on such short notice while again others took the situation with a pinch of salt.
