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The crew of FlySafair Flight FA212 made an emergency landing look easy this weekend after the flight had to be turned back to Joburg following damage to its landing gear.

Dramatic footage of the safe landing was circulating on social media yesterday after the plane, which had been en route to Cape Town, returned to Johannesburg.

Emergency vehicles gathered on the runway, but the aircraft, which had left OR Tambo International Airport just after 11.30, landed without incident at 14:06.

“It was a perfect landing. I saw it land. There were no concerns at all.”

AKirby Gordon, FlySafair’s chief marketing officer, said “After take-off, ground staff at OR Tambo reported witnessing what appeared to be damage to one of the aircraft’s back wheels. The crew was alerted and the decision was taken to return to Johannesburg.”

According to Gordon, the plane adjusted course back to Johannesburg and entered a holding pattern, near Parys, to burn off some fuel to lighten the aircraft for landing, which he explained was “standard procedure”.

Gordon added that the plane made a low pass over OR Tambo at 13:20 so that safety and technical teams could visually inspect the landing gear before the final landing.

The crew chanted, “brace, brace brace!”, passengers bowed their heads and hung onto the seat rests in front as the plane shuddered and shook.

 

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The observers confirmed that one of the four rear wheels had come adrift during the take-off roll. The wheel affected was one of the two attached to the left rear landing strut.

The airline praised the pilots for the safe landing and the crew for keeping passengers calm. The relevant technical teams and authorities were investigating the nature and cause of the tyre damage.

Kudos to the crew for handling a tricky situation like pros.

[source:news24]