Watch: Boeing plane skids on runway as landing gear fails
A cargo aircraft made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday after its front landing gear failed.
A video on social media showed the Boeing 767 belonging to FedEx Express using the back landing gear and then dipping its nose with the front portion of the fuselage.
The plane was on the last leg of its flight from Paris to Istanbul when the pilots realised the front landing gear failed to open, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.
No one was injured and the crew safely evacuated the aircraft, said Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, the transportation and infrastructure minister for the Turkish government.
The runway where the plane landed was closed off while the aircraft was being removed, he added.
Whistleblowers complain about Boeing safety
A host of safety concerns have been raised about Boeing aircraft in recent months.
In January, a door panel was blown out of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft on an Alaska Airlines flight in mid-air, forcing the aircraft into an emergency landing.
Two months later, at least 50 people were hurt when a Boeing 787, operated by LATAM Airlines, abruptly lost altitude during a flight from Sydney to Auckland. Passengers spoke of being thrown from their seats by sudden turbulence.
Last month, a whistleblower made a number of different quality allegations about several Boeing planes and urged the US company to ground every 787 Dreamliner jet worldwide.
The Boeing engineer, Sam Salehpour, claimed his employer took production shortcuts while making the 787 which compromised its safety. He also raised issues about the production of the 777, a similar type of jet.
The American regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, is investigating the allegations.
Two other former Boeing employees, who made whistleblower complaints against the company on safety grounds, have also died this year.
Boeing has insisted the 787 and 777 are safe. In a statement last month, Boeing said: “We are fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner because of the comprehensive work done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft. These claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate.”
