Buddha Air plane lands safely in Kathmandu after technical glitch

 A Buddha Air aircraft with 73 passengers and four crew members did emergency landing safely after s technical glitch.

The pilot detected the technical glitch, while it was preparing to land at the Biratnagar airport, but returned to Kathmandu to make the emergency landing as its landing gear was reportedly not detected. The aircraft 9N-ANI with 73 passengers onboard including 68 adults, two children and three infants, had taken off for Biratnagar from Kathmandu, according to Buddha Air.

According to a press note issued by the Buddha Air, the pilot of flight U4 701 spotted a bug on the landing gear during the landing procedure, which was confirmed by the control tower, which prompted the captain to decide to return the flight to Kathmandu.

Two individual indicators, one for each gear, indicate the position of the landing gear. "The landing gear system did not deploy after the plane was preparing to land at Biratnagar airport and the pilot had to fly back to Kathmandu declaring emergency. The Kathmandu airport was closed for 30 minutes for emergency landing.

The jet safely landed at the TIA after circling the capital skies for more than an hour to reduce fuel use in accordance with safety requirements. According to safety norms, the aircraft had to burn fuel to reduce its landing weight. "The flight has two landing gear indicators, with the primary indication failing to show whether the landing gear has opened," the press note reads, adding that the secondary signal, on the other hand, had functioned properly and indicated that the landing gear had effectively opened. "Following the 'Zero Tolerance in Safety' policy, the captain decided to return the plane to Kathmandu."

The Captain apparently conducted a normal landing in TIA after the Budhha Air Technical staff confirmed that the issue with the landing gear has been resolved, the airliner said, apologising for the inconvenience caused to the travelers and their families.

It further expressed gratitude to all TIA staff and security personnel for their preparedness.