A FLYDUBAI aircraft heading from Dubai to the Philippines made an emergency landing at U Tapao Airport soon after midnight last night (June 15) after the landing gear initially failed to deploy, Sanook.com, TV Channel 7, Naewna and Daily News newspapers said.

 

Approximately a hundred passengers plus the captain, a co-pilot and seven crew members were unharmed.

 

The captain of Airbus A319-115 (CJ) aircraft asked to land at U Tapao Airport at 00.30 a.m. after an emergency light flashed that the landing gear would not deploy.

 

The airport’s air traffic controllers quickly alerted the ground staff to prepare for this emergency landing with over 40 ambulances from Rayong and Chonburi quickly getting there.

 

by TNR Staff

PICTURE: The FlyDubai flight making an emergency landing at U Tapao Airport last night. Photo: CR and shared on X by F91 Trafficpro

 

Full story: THAI NEWSROOM 2024-06-15

 

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The distance between Dubai and the Philippines is approx 7k Km - the same range as a A319 - does that sound right ?

I fail to understand this incident. The pilot was supposed to fly from Dubai to the Philippines. I warning light shows, about the landing gear, and he feel the need to do an emergency landing at U-Tapao???? What if it was a temporary failure, and it fixes itself during the rest of the flight? Also, what is safer making an emergency landing at U-Tapao instead of continuing the flight and take care of the landing gear problem in the Philippines?

4 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Also, what is safer making an emergency landing at U-Tapao instead of continuing the flight and take care of the landing gear problem in the Philippines?

Maybe pilot decides that the problem will be escalating over time. For example, loosing some pressure or leak of some liquid. So he decided to land asap, while the problem is still manageable.

Curious.  There are no flights from Dubai to the Philippines on the Flydubai website (that I can see) and no A319's mentioned either. 

8 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

I fail to understand this incident. The pilot was supposed to fly from Dubai to the Philippines. I warning light shows, about the landing gear, and he feel the need to do an emergency landing at U-Tapao???? What if it was a temporary failure, and it fixes itself during the rest of the flight? Also, what is safer making an emergency landing at U-Tapao instead of continuing the flight and take care of the landing gear problem in the Philippines?

 

Yeah, I'd love to read the full safety report.  From the link:

 

However the airplane landed safely at 1.05 a.m. after the landing gear deployed fully just slightly skidding off the runway.

The airplane was at this Thai airport for around an hour for maintenance work and refuelling before taking off again for its destination.

 

I wonder why the landing gear warning would go off hundreds (thousands?) of miles before they needed to deploy the gear, and why they'd re-launch an aircraft an hour after it "skidded off the runway" as if nothing happened.  After topping it up...

 

Looks more like they either ran low on fuel, or they needed to clandestinely drop someone off in Thailand.  But I am a wingnut conspiracy buff.

 

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

But I am a wingnut conspiracy buff.

You might be, and that is your right. However, you make much more sense than the news. 🙂 

Just now, Gottfrid said:

You might be, and that is your right. However, you make much more sense than the news.

 

Just out of curiosity, where would Yingluck be coming from?

 

14 minutes ago, VBer said:

Maybe pilot decides that the problem will be escalating over time. For example, loosing some pressure or leak of some liquid. So he decided to land asap, while the problem is still manageable.

I might have gone with that as well. However, if the signal shows the landing gear is not working, then the scenario would be a landing without wheels, that´s the signal he got, and as a pilot he will know that is the most bad that can happen regarding landing gear system as it is a closed circuit of a plane and does not affect other parts.

6 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

 

 

Looks more like they either ran low on fuel, or they needed to clandestinely drop someone off in Thailand.  But I am a wingnut conspiracy buff.

 

Yingluck sneaking back in or the Red Bull heir Boss LOL

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Just out of curiosity, where would Yingluck be coming from?

 

Thanks! Now it all makes sense again. 😂

41 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

I fail to understand this incident. The pilot was supposed to fly from Dubai to the Philippines. I warning light shows, about the landing gear, and he feel the need to do an emergency landing at U-Tapao???? What if it was a temporary failure, and it fixes itself during the rest of the flight? Also, what is safer making an emergency landing at U-Tapao instead of continuing the flight and take care of the landing gear problem in the Philippines?

The pilot did not 'feel the need' to do an emergency landing, he followed the clear and strict instructions to land as soon as possible. It may only have been a spurious electrical problem or it could mean something more serious. And it seems that it was, the undercarriage initially failed to deploy.

 

Pilots don't try and 'second guess' a problem, they follow the procedures. They DO NOT ignore warning indicators, ever. The flight crew of Lauda Air flight 004 did that and look what happened!

Utapao was built for bomb laden B52's.  I seem to recall at one point it's runway was the longest in Asia.

Maybe the Captain just wanted the longest runway available with good emergency infrastructure.

58 minutes ago, JoePai said:

The distance between Dubai and the Philippines is approx 7k Km - the same range as a A319 - does that sound right ?

Yeah that's weird, i googled what you said and the airplane would be short in range for that flight?

34 minutes ago, petermik said:

Yingluck sneaking back in or the Red Bull heir Boss LOL

Update...Yingluck seen wearing itsy bitsy teen weeny yellow polkadot bikini on Pattaya Beach this am.....

 

 

jesting gents just jesting......

8 minutes ago, dddave said:

Utapao was built for bomb laden B52's.  I seem to recall at one point it's runway was the longest in Asia.

Maybe the Captain just wanted the longest runway available with good emergency infrastructure.

Right, with the added benefit of not disrupting traffic of one of Bangkok's main airports.

2 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Right, with the added benefit of not disrupting traffic of one of Bangkok's main airports.

Yeah right, it was just for the Vietnam war, nothing more or less.

1 hour ago, JoePai said:

The distance between Dubai and the Philippines is approx 7k Km - the same range as a A319 - does that sound right ?

Their website also claims that they have a single fleet-type of Boeing737s.

36 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

The pilot did not 'feel the need' to do an emergency landing, he followed the clear and strict instructions to land as soon as possible. It may only have been a spurious electrical problem or it could mean something more serious. And it seems that it was, the undercarriage initially failed to deploy.

 

Pilots don't try and 'second guess' a problem, they follow the procedures. They DO NOT ignore warning indicators, ever. The flight crew of Lauda Air flight 004 did that and look what happened!

So, there is no second guessing, as the landing gear was not to be used before time for landing. If land directly or when scheduled will give the same result. I am pretty sure it will not stand to land immediately, if a report of faulty landing gear if received.

That was no ordinary scheduled flight:

 

I ran an earlier live thread link of this incident, link below.

 

The details in the above report, is from Thai media, but from my earlier thread this was a VIP version of the A319 registration number 9H-LIV, operated by Comlux Malta.

 

Details are currently very limited, and I can find no evidence of a swalk code 7700, general emergency, being declared, through any aviation channel.

 

Information passed to responders at the RVP, changed from 100 passengers, to crew of 9 only, but neither stayed consistent. Most ambulances were keep at the RVP, and never went airside.

 

The aircraft fly out again after an hour on the ground.

 

This is the aircraft on the ground, last night. Registration number 9H-LIV Can be seen clearly

 

 

7 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

This is the aircraft on the ground, last night. Registration number 9H-LIV Can be seen clearly

 

 

Good info.  Thanks for the updates.  Now the wingnut in me is going to troll you a little with 2 questions:

 

1) Did the plane fly onto the Phils, or return west from U-Tapao?

 

2) Were there any up-armored limousines among the "emergency response crews"?

 

1 hour ago, dddave said:

Utapao was built for bomb laden B52's.  I seem to recall at one point it's runway was the longest in Asia.

Maybe the Captain just wanted the longest runway available with good emergency infrastructure.

 

Yes and it's a very very quiet runway,  less disruption.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The captain of Airbus A319-115 (CJ) aircraft asked to land at U Tapao Airport at 00.30 a.m. after an emergency light flashed that the landing gear would not deploy.

And those of us that are Boeing shareholders breathed a rare sigh of relief 😆

Remember the common inaccuracy of Thai reporting and I guess any responsible pilot would react to a warning light illuminating mid flight and get the plane on the ground before the issue escalates into something more serious. 

Just a thought, east bound planes to MONTREAL deploy their landing gear just past TORONTO - about 544 kilometers

1 minute ago, edwardflory said:

Just a thought, east bound planes to MONTREAL deploy their landing gear just past TORONTO - about 544 kilometers

 

Commercial jets will typically lower the gear a little after capturing the glideslope. Most commonly this will be at around 2,500 feet and less than 10 miles from the airfield.

 

They will start decending roughly based on the formula ((height in feet / 1000) * 3) + 10. Give or take and depending on any STAR (published arrival) selected.

10 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Good info.  Thanks for the updates.  Now the wingnut in me is going to troll you a little with 2 questions:

 

1) Did the plane fly onto the Phils, or return west from U-Tapao?

 

2) Were there any up-armored limousines among the "emergency response crews"?

 

The tracking of most VIP aircraft, like this, is blocked on public access flight tracking apps.so location is unknown, as is standard.

 

This flight, was not a scheduled commercial flight, so hence had no flight code number, it was only picked up on the tracking apps,, because it could be heard in the Pattaya and Sattahip area, as it made a low approach, and was required to have its transponder on.

 

The only vehicles on the tarmac are seen in the pictures above. There was a lot of witnesses at the airport. Pictures below from emergency RVP.

 

Details on this aircraft.

 

https://www.acj.airbus.com/en/iflyacj/acj319-9h-liv

 

A standard VIP A319 (if there is such a thing) will hold up to 16 or so passengers.

 

Lucky that all those ambulances weren't needed somewhere else.