ABC News(MANDALAY, Myanmar) — Passengers on a Myanmar National Airlines flight have a brilliant flight crew to thank for miraculously landing safely after the plane’s front landing gear failed to deploy.
Flight UB103 touched down at Mandalay International Airport at 9:09 a.m. local time with all 82 passengers and seven crew members able to safely evacuate the plane after it scraped its nose down the runway and came to a perfect stop.
On approach, the captain tried to deploy the front landing gear, but found out it was malfunctioning and could not be activated, the airline said in a statement.
After circling the airport to burn off fuel, the captain came in for a landing with no front wheel.
Video shot from inside the airport showed the plane landing on its back wheels, steadying and then eventually coming down on its nose — sending a shower of sparks down the runway. Miraculously, it slid to a stop before passengers were able to be evacuated by inflatable slide.
“Myanmar National Airlines would like to express our deepest appreciation to all the passengers onboard and our crews,” the airline said in the statement.
The plane, an Embraer 190, had taken off from Yangon, Myanmar, about an hour flight south of Mandalay.
The airline commended Capt. Myat Moe Aung, first officers Myo Thiha Aung and Kaung Set Lwin, purser Cherry Myint and three attendants for safely landing the plane.
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