A private aircraft made an emergency landing at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airport in Bengaluru on Tuesday after its nose landing gear failed to deploy. The aircraft took off from HAL airport for Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on Tuesday. But soon after takeoff, its pilot and co-pilot noticed the technical snag with its nose landing gear, reported news agency PTI. There were no passengers on board at that time.
Deciding to take no further risk, the duo returned to the HAL airport. They immediately informed the air traffic control who were standing by for any emergency. As soon as the duo made a highly skilled manoeuvre to land the plane, safety personnel rushed in and sprayed the aircraft with a layer of fire suppression foam on the runway. This was done to lower the damage level and prevent a fire as the plane's nose came in direct contact with the runway. The plane was a Beech 390 Premier IA aircraft with registration number VT-KBN. According to aviation news website, Aviation A2Z, the plane could have been leased from Indian charter airline Span Air.
Images of the landing showed the pilot balancing the plane on two wheels keeping its nose in the air. The nose crashed on the runway after the plane touched down. Both the pilot and co-pilot were reported to be unhurt in the incident.
Firefighters were also standing by to deal with any incident of fire. The Indian Express quoted HAL spokesperson Gopal Sutar as saying, “An aircraft belonging to a private aviation firm, took off to Bangalore International Airport and returned to HAL due to landing gear issue. On detailed inquiry and study, it was found that the nose wheel was not fully down. The aircraft was cleared for an emergency landing. After taking all safety precautions including steps taken for the runway to avoid fire, the aircraft made a landing without a nose wheel.” “Both pilots are safe. There was no damage to the runway. Recovery of disabled aircraft is in progress,” he added.