Gatwick runway forced to close after plane makes emergency landing

The runway at Gatwick Airport was forced to close on Tuesday evening (July 12) after a plane had to make an “emergency landing” due to a “gear fault”. The plane, an Emirates A380, landed on the runway safely however a problem with the gears meant the plane could not turn, and therefore could not move off the runway.

The runway was closed “for a short time”, which meant a number of planes had to circle over Gatwick until the runway was clear. The Emirates plane eventually had to be towed off the runway to allow for other flights to land and operations to return to normal.

A London Gatwick spokesperson said: “The Main Runway was closed for a short time last night, following an Emirates A380 making an emergency landing. It landed safely but due to a gear fault it could not turn off the runway, which meant it needed to be towed.”^[1]

The spokesperson continued: “Our team worked to get the plane off the runway as quickly as possible.” Despite the flight having to make this “emergency landing”, no injuries or issues apart from the gear fault were reported.

Everybody onboard the flight was safe and well, and other planes set to land at Gatwick were able to land safely once the runway was cleared. Gatwick have not confirmed how long the runway was closed for.

References

1. ^{^} Gatwick (www.sussexlive.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Part of ‘Sussex’s best beach’ cordoned off for ‘controlled explosion’ after ordnance found (www.sussexlive.co.uk)