A Saudi Arabian Airlines’ Airbus A330-200 was forced to make an emergency landing at King Abdul Aziz airport in Jeddah after suffering a malfunction with the front landing gear.
Flight SV3818, which was travelling from Madinah to Dhaka, had to be diverted to Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport with the nose gear retracted.
The aircraft had circled Jeddah for several hours and was forced to make two low passes until it was permitted to land on runway 34R at around 22:00 local time.
The Airbus 330 suffered substantial damage and the passengers were evacuated via emergency slides and no injuries have been reported so far.
An official spokesman of Saudi Arabian Airlines, Eng. Abdulrahman al-Tayeb, said that at around 8:00 pm local time Monday night, the Airbus A330 flight No. SV3818 took off from Medina headed for Dhaka Airport in Bangladesh. Sometime after takeoff, a defect in the hydraulic system was noticed and a decision was made to divert the plane to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.
“When the landing attempt was made, the front wheels could not be lowered. After several attempts, they decided to land without taking down the front wheels after taking all necessary precautions. The plane landed safely and the 141 guests took off the plane with the 10 crew members,” the spokesperson added.
