INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Singapore Airlines’ Plane Collapses During Regular Maintenance Check, No Injuries Reported

By Rahul Srinivas
Published on: 23:46 PST, Oct 10, 2015

In a bizarre incident, a Singapore Airlines plane that was being readied for its next flight collapsed on the tarmac after its nose landing gear retracted while on the ground. According to ABC News, the plane, which was an Airbus A330-300, was undergoing routine checks at Singapore’s Changi International Airport when the incident occurred. There were no injuries reported — mainly because there were no crew or passengers on board the aircraft. The only person inside the plane was an engineer who was doing routine checks on the plane. The aircraft was scheduled to fly from Singapore to Hong Kong as flight SQ890.

Singapore Airlines has in an official statement issued after the incident confirmed that the “nose gear of an Airbus A330-300 retracted while the aircraft was undergoing a landing gear system check.”

They further added the following.

“There were no passengers or crew on board at the time. One engineer who was on the aircraft was not injured. Singapore Airlines will be cooperating fully with the authorities in their investigations.”

Singapore Airlines is currently assessing the damage the plane has suffered. The plane remained at the gate for a long time since the landing gear had collapsed. The aircraft involved in the incident had come from Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport before the incident happened.

Meanwhile, passengers who were scheduled to fly aboard the affected aircraft were made to board another aircraft that Singapore Airlines managed to ready quickly. The scheduled flight took off nearly 40 minutes late, thanks to the incident. The original flight was scheduled to take-off at 7:35 a.m. local time. It was only after 8:10 a.m. that the rescheduled flight on the replacement aircraft took off. Singapore Airlines revealed that the plane that suffered this collapse was in service for nearly six years and that it flew for the first time in April, 2009. The registration number of the aircraft involved in the incident is 9V-STG.

Since the plane was at one of the gates attached to the Singapore airport terminal, several people managed to capture photos of the collapsed plane and posted them to social media websites.

This incident comes just a few months after another Singapore Airlines aircraft of the same kind reportedly lost power in both engines during a routine flight from Shanghai. The plane descended to an altitude of 13,000 feet before the pilots could restart the engines safely. That flight was carrying a total of 194 passengers and crew.

This latest incident is the latest amongst a string of aviation related incidents that we have reported in recent times. Last week, the Inquisitr reported about the tragic case of an American Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing after one of its pilots died whilst on flight. Prior to that, British Airways plane parked at Las Vegas airport caught fire. That aircraft was a Boeing 777 — the same kind of plane as that of the infamous Malaysia Airlines MH370 aircraft, which remains missing to this day, well over one-and-a-half years since it disappeared in March, 2014.

The Airbus A330 is a mid-sized, widebody aircraft that has a had a stellar safety record so far. Along with the Boeing 777, it is one of the largest twin-jets currently in operation.

More details about this latest incident involving the Singapore Airlines aircraft should come in after a detailed enquiry is completed.

[Photo by Allison Joyce / Getty Images]

Share this article: Singapore Airlines’ Plane Collapses During Regular Maintenance Check, No Injuries Reported
More from Inquisitr