ANA’s B787 experiences landing gear fault

ANA’s Dreamliner was prompted to make a second landing approach at Okayama Airport after a reported glitch in the landing gear, which was linked to a hydraulic valve issue. No flights were cancelled as a result of the incident, but the subsequent flight NH654 on the B787 from Okayama to Haneda was delayed for about two hours. This incident comes less than two weeks after the 787 Dreamliner made its inaugural passenger flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong on October 26 (see story here).  According to a spokesperson from ANA, during the NH651’s approach for landing, an alert message on the cockpit displayed mechanical incidents for the landing gear. Pilots proceeded to deploy a manual backup system, and the aircraft touched down safely, albeit 27 minutes behind schedule. There were 241 passengers on board the flight, none of them was harmed in the incident. Business Traveller Asia-Pacific was told by an ANA spokesperson that while the landing gear glitch is not a common problem, it is not a severe issue by industry standards. As of now, the cause of the malfunction is still unclear. Boeing is investigating the situation. “ANA expects and is fully prepared for minor mechanical incidents which do not affect the operational safety of the B787. As a launch customer of the Dreamliner, we believe that it is our responsibility to tackle those issues with Boeing one by one in order to make the B787 a better operating aircraft,” said the spokesperson. ANA completed the repair work of the aircraft on November 6 and it resumed operations on November 7 to fly from Haneda to Hiroshima. For more information, visit ana.co.jp Tiffany Sandrasageran