A Sabena Airbus A340-200 has been severely damaged in an incident which saw the aircraft's right main landing gear fail at the end of its landing run at Brussels Airport, Belgium, on 29 August. The damage is expected to take four months to repair, says the airline.
Following the starboard gear failure, the central gear also collapsed, the right wingtip and engines hit the ground and the aircraft rotated through about 100¼, following which there was an emergency evacuation of the 255 passengers and 10 crew.
The five-year-old aircraft (OO-SCW which, with 3,755 cycles and 22,000h, is one of the three highest-cycle A340s in service) was inbound from New York, and the pilots say there were no abnormal gear indications. An Airbus telex to operators reveals that the two-wheel rear section of the right main bogey had separated, and the main gear barrel had broken near the retraction actuator. Which break occurred first was not yet known.
Airbus says it will issue a service bulletin with precautionary inspection advice when enough information is known.
On 1 September, a mechanic at Brussels Airport was taxiing a Sabena A330 to the stand for a New York departure when it nosed into a Sobelair Boeing 737, badly damaging both aircraft.
Source: Flight International
