A 
Lufthansa
Boeing 787 Dreamliner remains on the ground at Denver International Airport (DEN) following a landing gear problem. Less than two months ago, the FAA proposed an airworthiness directive concerning the 787’s main landing gear.
Lufthansa 787 landing gear malfunction
On Wednesday, 25th September, a Lufthansa Boeing 787 (registration: D-ABPE) operating flight LH447 from Denver to Frankfurt (FRA) stopped its climb out of DEN at around 10,000 feet after a problem with its landing gear doors.
Photo: Kevin Hackert | Shutterstock.
According to a report from The Aviation Herald, a passenger said the plane had first returned to the apron due to an onboard medical emergency. After refueling, the aircraft took off but halted its climb, with the captain informing passengers that the landing gear doors would not close.
The widebody would first need to circle and dump fuel to achieve a safe landing weight and subsequently conducted a routine landing back at Denver. The flight was canceled, and the rescheduled flight the next day was also canceled. The plane has yet to return to service and has been on the ground for three days since the incident.
The Boeing 787’s landing gear was the subject of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness directive proposed last month, impacting over 130 in-service Dreamliners in the US alone. Boeing has faced a number of investigations into its manufacturing processes in recent times, including a probe into falsified inspection records on its 787 program.
The airworthiness directive followed a report that certain quality control inspections were not performed on the assembly line, increasing the risk of a landing gear collapse in the event of any undetected cracks. Boeing had initially released a bulletin for a select number of aircraft back in November 2023, the FAA expanded this to include all Dreamliner models.
About D-ABPE
The plane involved in this incident is less than three years old – interestingly, the aircraft was the first Boeing redelivery of a 787 after a brief suspension in early 2023, arriving at the German carrier in March last year. D-ABPE became Lufthansa’s fourth Boeing 787 and is one of the airframes not taken up by Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines.
As per data from ch-aviation, as of July, the aircraft has accumulated over 6,000 flight hours and 800 flight cycles during its time at Lufthansa. The German airline’s 787s can seat up to 292 passengers – 26 in business, 21 in premium economy and 247 in economy.
Photo: Lufthansa
Having taken onboard five Dreamliner airframes not taken up by Hainan, Lufthansa will eventually operate 32 Dreamliners as part of its order with Boeing. The airline first started operating the Dreamliner less than two years ago – Simple Flying was on the inaugural journey, which you can read all about here.