Busy Moments at Istanbul Airport: Aircraft Lands on Fuselage as Landing Gear Fails to Deploy

A potential disaster was narrowly averted at Istanbul Airport. A cargo plane belonging to a foreign airline (FedEx), operating a Paris-Istanbul route, had to make a belly landing as its landing gear failed to deploy. Fortunately, there were no fatalities or injuries reported. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister stated that both pilots had been evacuated from the aircraft, and the runway where the incident occurred was closed until 3:00 PM. It was announced that flight operations continued smoothly on other runways at the airport.

A cargo plane at Istanbul Airport made a belly landing due to the failure of its front landing gear to deploy.

According to information received, a Boeing 763 cargo aircraft belonging to FedEx Airlines, operating on the Paris-Istanbul route, requested permission from the Istanbul Airport control tower to make a belly landing after a malfunction occurred in its landing gear.

As a result, necessary precautions were taken at the airport, and the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Service teams were dispatched to the runway. While the aircraft successfully made its belly landing, the cabin crew evacuated the aircraft without injuries.

Runway 16R at Istanbul Airport, where the aircraft landed, was closed to flights.

Efforts are underway to remove the aircraft from the runway. Investigations into the accident are ongoing.