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The nose-wheels of a Singapore Airlines aeroplane gave way while the aircraft was being prepared for takeoff at the weekend. The Southeast Asian carrier released a statement saying that the incident had occurred at Singapore’s Changi Airport on Sunday morning and that nobody had been injured.
The statement continued by saying that no flight or cabin crew were aboard the Airbus A330-300, but there was an engineer. It explained the nose-gear caved in while the engineer was testing the landing gear.
Singapore Airlines said a formal damage assessment had not been carried out yet. The statement noted that the airline’s management and engineering staff would be cooperating fully with civil aviation authorities on all investigations into the matter.
The Airbus had flown from Pudong Airport in Shanghai and landed at Changi after midnight on Saturday. It was due to be utilised on Flight SQ890 from Changi to Hong Kong and was scheduled to depart at 07:35 on Sunday.
As the wounded aircraft had to be towed away, another aircraft was used for SQ890’s passengers and it departed about 40 minutes late. Airline industry sources at Changi say the damaged A330-300 had been in service since April 2009.
Singapore Airlines has a safety record that is the envy of other global airlines. The only major incidents were a hijacking in 1991 and a crash in 2000 which saw the airline record its first deaths.
Sunday’s mishap was the second this year. In May, another Airbus A330-300 plummeted 13,000-feet after losing power to both of its engines. The flight crew managed to correct the issue and the flight was able to fly on to its final destination.
