A Myanmar national airliner plane made emergency landing at Mandalay International Airport yesterday, using only its rear wheels, after the landing gear was disrupted.
All 82 passengers, as well as the seven crew members aboard, survived unharmed. The front of the plane tilted as it landed on its rear wheels and slightly overcame the runway, causing the sparks to fly as they stopped.
A videotape, apparently taken by a passenger and posted on the Internet, showed an urgent and orderly evacuation of passengers and crew, as smoke was detected inside the plane. The passengers were seen as they walked away from the plane through the airport, while the faces of some of them showed signs of panic.
Airport spokesman Kyaw San said the pilot told the control tower before landing that he could not take down the front wheels.
A statement on the airline's page on Facebook said that the engine show system and the crew alert indicated the failure to take down the aircraft's front-wheel drive. The pilot tried a backup emergency to pull the wheels, but failed, while the plane flew twice near the control tower to visually check whether the wheels had been lowered or not.
The statement said that the pilot of the aircraft followed the emergency procedures to unload fuel to reduce weight on landing, and made a safe landing.