A Delta Air Lines
Airbus A330-300 aircraft was involved in an incident at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
(AMS) after takeoff while on its way to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
(MSP) as flight DL161. The aircraft was operating a regularly scheduled flight but was forced to return to the Dutch capital due to a landing gear issue.

The incident

According to a report by AvHerald, the incident occurred on October 2, 2024. The A330 was climbing out of the Dutch airport when the crew was forced to abort the climb due to an issue with the landing gear. Per the report, the crew was unable to retract the landing gear and decided to return to Amsterdam. Inevitably, having the landing gear out throughout the whole flight has several consequences, not least the drag this would cause on the plane, increasing overall fuel consumption.

Delta A330-300 climbing shutterstock_2477789259

Photo: Minh K Tran | Shutterstock

Flightradar24 data shows that the A330 circulated over the North Sea, parallel to the Dutch coastline, before returning to AMS. It landed and passengers supposedly disembarked to allow for a technical inspection of the plane. The issue was seemingly resolved in AMS, though, as the aircraft returned to service on a regularly scheduled flight to Detroit (DTW) on October 5.

Per flightradar24 data, it does not seem as though a replacement aircraft was sent to take the stranded passengers to Amsterdam. Together with joint venture partner KLM (also flag carrier of The Netherlands), passengers were likely rebooked onto later flights US-bound.

The aircraft

The plane in question is registered N819NW. According to ch-aviation data, the example was with Northwest Airlines before coming under Delta Air Lines ownership after the merger agreement in the late 2000s. It is 17 years old and was delivered to the company in September 2007. It is pictured below in 2015.

Delta A330 landing on the runway in Amsterdam

It is configured with 282 seats, distributed across three classes as follows:

  • 203 in economy class (and 24 in economy plus)
  • 21 in premium economy
  • 34 in business class

At the time of publishing, the aircraft is finishing up the transatlantic leg of its flight from AMS to DTW, with Flightradar24 schedules indicating that its next flight is the return leg to the Dutch capital. It will then fly a return trip to MSP.

A similar incident in 2020

N813NW Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-323 in sky

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

In December 2020, another Delta Airbus A330 faced a similar issue related to landing gear retraction, forcing it to return to Amsterdam Schiphol. The aircraft was operating to Atlanta, but on takeoff, the flight crew could not retract the gear. The aircraft entered a holding pattern over the North Sea before heading to Amsterdam and landing overweight. The difference in that case was, however, that the plane took off for Atlanta without issue approximately two hours later.

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