Aircraft

An All Nippon Airways (ANA) Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 made a nose gear-up emergency landing at Kochi airport in western Japan today after the gear failed to deploy.

The aircraft, operated by ANA Group carrier Air Central, was operating as flight NH1603 from Osaka’s Itami airport.

Click here to watch the BBC video of the ANA nose-gear up landing

It was forced to make an emergency landing at 10:53 with its nose gear up and live television pictures showed sparks from the nose as it made contact with the runway on the landing roll.

ANA says there were 56 passengers and four crewmembers on board. There are no immediate reports of injuries. No fire broke out.

“The cause of the failure of the front landing gear to descend is unknown,” the Star Alliance carrier says in a statement.

“ANA will co-operate fully with the relevant authorities to ascertain the cause.”

Last year the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau asked Bombardier to improve the reliability of Q400s, saying there had been more problems with the aircraft than with other newly developed types.

Officials said at the time that problems with the landing gear were of particular concern.

Click here to watch the BBC video of the ANA nose-gear up landing