Another Scandinavian Airlines Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 has been involved in a landing accident after reporting landing gear problems, forcing the airline’s parent SAS Group to ground its entire fleet of the 72-seat turboprop. SAS also says it plans to "permanently" axe its Q400 fleet after losing confidence in the aircraft following its third accident in less than two months.
SAS confirms that a Q400 (LN-RDI) was involved in the accident during the landing at Copenhagen on 27 October after a flight (SK2867) from Bergen with 40 passengers (including two infants) and four crew. The accident happened at 16.55.
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Above: The Scandinavian Airlines Bombardier Q400 turboprop sits on its starboard side after landing gear failure today |
The airline says that prior to the accident “problems with the main landing gear were reported”. It added that as a result of this accident, “all Q400 aircraft within the SAS Group will be grounded until further notice”.
It added later that following an unscheduled board meeting it had decided to "immediately discuontinue" using the type, after heavily criticising the Q400's reliability and becoming increasingly concerned over the effect on passenger confidence. Bombardier said it was disappointed with SAS' decision, adding that it believes the Copenhagen accident was unrelated to the two earlier events.
Watch video of the aircraft's landing with its starboard gear still up via this Danish website
Last month, SAS Group grounded all 27 Q400s from the Scandinavian Airlines and Wideroe fleets following two landing accidents in which the right-hand main gear on two separate aircraft collapsed on touchdown. These incidents resulted in all high cycle Q400s being temporarily withdrawn.
SAS returned its Q400s during October after undergoing modification to correct the corrosion problem linked to the incidents. Danish investigators identified corrosion of threads in the undercarriage actuator as the source of the problem, and SAS Group subsequently discovered similar corrosion on virtually all of its grounded turboprops.
The group has already stated its intention to seek compensation from Bombardier over the grounding.
See video of the September Q400's gear collaspe at Aalborg: flightglobal.com/q400video
Source: FlightGlobal.com
