Estonian investigators are probing a landing incident involving an Airbus A320 during a training flight at Tallinn.

The SmartLynx Estonia aircraft (ES-SAN) had seven people on board and, on 28 February, was conducting approach and landing exercises.

But 5h into the programme, at 17:04, the aircraft carried out an approach to runway 08 but failed to gain altitude and impacted the runway, says Estonian safety investigation authority OJK.

It became airborne and turned left, conducting an emergency landing on the opposite-direction runway.

The jet suffered an excursion and damage to its undercarriage during the event, says OJK.

SmartLynx says the flight experienced "technical difficulties" during the landing. It says the aircraft was manufactured in 2000 and had logged just over 45,000h.

Its seven occupants comprised two pilots, four trainees and an inspector from the Estonian civil aviation administration.

All were safely evacuated but two crew members were briefly hospitalised, although they did not suffer serious injuries.

Engineers replaced the damaged wheels of the aircraft and it was towed to the ramp at 07:40 today. Tallinn airport's operator – which had imposed short-runway restrictions after the event – says it was able to restore full-length runway operations by 08:00.

SmartLynx says it is co-operating with the inquiry and adds: "All our aircraft are checked regularly according to the strictest procedures and we want to emphasise that the safety of our passengers and crew is our highest priority."

Source: Cirium Dashboard