British Airways 787 Nose Gear Collapses

On Friday 18th June, a British Airways converted freighter 787-8’s nose gear collapsed while being loaded at Heathrow Airport’s stand 583. The aircraft, registered as G-ZBJB suffered a collapsed nose gear while being prepared for a flight to Frankfurt. The reason for the incident is being investigated by British Airways and the AAIB (The equivalent of the NTSB in the UK). The AAIB stated: „We have sent a team to London Heathrow to begin an investigation into an incident involving an aircraft that suffered a nose landing gear collapse whilst being loaded with cargo“. A British Airways spokesperson said: „A freighter aircraft has been damaged while stationary on stand. As a frighter-only aircraft, there wree no passengers on board. Saftey is always our highest priority and we are investigating the matter“. No injuries have been reported yet.

About the aircraft involved

The aircraft involved in the incident was an 8 year old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered as G-ZBJB. The dreamliner is owned and operated by British Airways, and is configured with a three class cabin, consisting of 154 economy class seats, 25 premium economy class seats and 35 business seats. According to Flightradar24.com, the plane was last flown in from Moscow on the 16th of June on a commercial flight. The airplane was being used as a freighter plane at the time. This aircraft was one of the first four dreamliners delivered to BA in 2013.

Rumours

Many rumours have surfaced on social media sites that the engineer did not manage to lock out the nose gear properly according to the Daily Mail News. This has not been confirmed yet as it is still being investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch.