A Cargolux Boeing 747-400F freighter aircraft sustained significant damages after its right body landing gear bogie detached following an emergency landing.
A bogie is the attaching mechanism used when more than two wheels are attached to a landing gear strut.
The 23-year-old Boeing 747-400, with registration code LX-OCV, was scheduled to operate from Luxembourg Airport (LUX) to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) on May 14, 2023.
However, upon takeoff from LUX airport the aircraft was unable to retract its landing gear, Cargolux said in a press statement.
The decision was made to return to LUX airport. But with the large jet full of fuel for a long-haul flight, the aircraft circled around the area while it dumped fuel in order to reach the maximum landing weight.
The aircraft landed in LUX airport 52 minutes after departure, but not without hiccups.
“On its landing roll its right body landing gear detached from the aircraft. The aircraft however came to a controlled stop and was attended to by the emergency services,” the carrier confirmed.
Various video footage of the aircraft’s landing have been uploaded to Twitter, and show the landing gear bogie detaching before flying away from the aircraft.
The Luxembourgian flag carrier cargo airline confirmed that no persons on board nor on the ground suffered any injuries.
Following the incident, LUX airport shut the runway, forcing the diversion of several flights.
At 00:53 local time on May 15, 2023, the airport operator said that the runway had reopened and that flights had resumed.
Another landing gear accident
Update: On May 20, 2023, another Cargolux Boeing 747-8F aircraft involved in another landing gear incident.
The aircraft, registered as LX-VCB, was forced to declare an emergency after the crew received an alert that the aircraft’s landing gear had not properly deployed on approach to Luxembourg Findel Airport (LUX).
The Boeing 747-8F was coming into land at LUX during the operation of flight CV5486 from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) on May 20, 2023, when the crew received a notification on the Engine-indicating and crew-alerting system (EICAS) warning that the aircraft’s landing gear had not deployed properly.
“They executed a low fly past to confirm that all gears were down. The aircraft landed safely with the emergency services on hand,” Cargolux said in a statement released on May 20, 2023.
Data from Flightradar24.com showed the aircraft was on its final approach at around 11:30 am local time (UTC +2) when the crew decided to abort the landing attempt and circle around LUX in a holding pattern at 3,900 feet. Subsequently, the Cargolux pilots performed the low fly-past in what was likely to have been a chance for Air Traffic Control (ATC) to assess whether the landing gear had been deployed before attempting to land once again at 11:47 am local time (UTC +2).
The crew squawked 7700, the code for a general emergency, just prior to landing at LUX at 11:57 am local time (UTC +2), before successfully landing the Boeing 747-8F at the airport at 12:00 pm local time (UTC +2).
On May 14, 2023, another Cargolux Boeing 747F, a -400F, lost its right-body landing gear bogie after it detached after landing at LUX. Although it had lost its landing gear bogie, the aircraft came to a controlled stop without any injuries onboard or on the ground. The operator of LUX shut down the runway after the incident and resumed operations on May 15, 2023.
