On Thursday, June 4, a LufthansaBoeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft saw its nose gear collapse at Frankfurt Airport (FRA). This resulted in several employees being injured and requiring medical attention. The incident occurred as the plane was being prepared for a nonstop flight to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) when it appeared that the nose landing gear unexpectedly retracted.

Fortunately, at the time of the incident, only Lufthansa crew members and ground staff were onboard. Passengers were still waiting in the terminal for the call to board their US-bound flight. Around lunchtime, support staff and technicians quickly arrived at the scene to begin an investigation into what had occurred. A similar incident occurred with a British Airways 787-8 in 2021.

Nose Gear Collapsed At Frankfurt Airport

Credit: Flickr

Lufthansa flight LH450 was subsequently canceled to Los Angeles following the incident, with passengers reaccommodated onto other services. The airline will now look to lift the nose of the plane off the tarmac using inflatable pneumatic mats, as suggested by Turbine Traveler on X. This was exactly what was used during the comparable incident five years ago.

For the German airline, the aircraft involved was D-ABPQ, a plane that had been in operation for just four months. The plane was delivered to the airline back on January 17 this year, and is named ‘Herne’. It is configured to carry a total of 287 passengers across three classes, according to ch-aviation data.

This incident is scarily similar to that of the British Airways incident at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) back on January 18, 2021. Where the aircraft suffered a nose landing gear collapse while parked at a stand. This has raised the question of whether there is a weight issue towards the front of the plane.

G-ZBJB Suffers A Nose Gear Collapse At Heathrow

Credit: Shutterstock

Almost five years ago to the day, British Airways aircraft G-ZBJB suffered a nose gear collapse while parked at a remote stand at the United Kingdom’s busiest airport. The nose landing gear experienced an unexpected retraction while parked at the stand, which resulted in minor injuries to the co-pilot onboard and a cargo loading crew member.

Following a thorough investigation by the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), it was found that the cause was the maintenance team incorrectly inserting the nose landing gear (NLG) dowklock pin. This was placed in the link assembly apex pin bore instead of the required pin hole.

Because the safety pin was in the wrong position, line engineers were performing required checks before the plane’s dispatch when the gear accidentally retracted, causing the front of the Dreamliner to drop to the ground and crush the lower front section of the 787.

A Major Error Of The NLG Downlock Assembly

Credit: Flickr

The AAIB subsequently determined that the design of the NLG created a major opportunity for error, as both holes were so close together that the pin could be easily inserted into the incorrect spot. According to Aviation Safety, a Service Bulletin and an Airworthiness Directive were available that would have prevented the incident; however, the actions had not yet been undertaken on this aircraft.

G-ZBJB was subsequently taken out of service for five months while it underwent extensive structural and mechanical repairs at LHR. This plane was eventually returned to service on November 21, later that year. Despite the initial speculation that the plane would be a write-off, it was repaired and remains in active service today.

For Lufthansa, its latest incident at Frankfurt had many passengers in the terminal watching, with photos and videos quickly shared online capturing the nose gear collapse. The plane is expected to be out of service for a while as repairs and maintenance are undertaken on the practically new aircraft.