An Emerald Airlines ATR72 operating on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional suffered a nose gear collapse following a heavy landing at Belfast City Airport (BHD) on the evening of Sunday, December 22, 2024. The aircraft had been attempting to land in strong winds when the incident happened, which resulted in the single-runway airport being closed while the aircraft was recovered.
The incident unfolded as Emerald Airlines ATR72-600 registration G-CMMK operated a domestic positioning flight from Edinburgh Airport (EDI) in Scotland back to its base at Belfast City Airport. The flight had two pilots onboard accompanied by two cabin crew. There were no passengers onboard at the time of the occurrence.
The flight operating with positioning flight number EA701P, departed Edinburgh Airport for its home base at Belfast City Airport. Emerald Airlines maintains a base at the city center airport operating a network of domestic UK and European flights on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional under a franchise agreement.
The airline operates two separate entities under the Emerald Airlines umbrella – one Irish-based and the other UK-based, both with their own Air Operators Certificates. The aircraft was operating under the UK AOC at the time of the incident.
The aircraft departed Edinburgh Airport at 15:27 local time for its short positioning flight back to Belfast. The aircraft had not been planned to be in Edinburgh but had been forced to divert there due to strong winds affecting Glasgow Airport (GLA), its intended destination.
The aircraft climbed to 12,000ft (3,658) before deciding over the Irish Sea towards Belfast, which had been suffering from strong wind warnings all day. The aircraft descended and made its approach into the airport, touching down at 16:06 local time, 39 minutes after departure. However, the aircraft was observed touching down with a strong nose-down pitch attitude, striking the nose landing gear on the runway surface, and collapsing as a result.
The aircraft slid to a halt on the runway where it was immediately attended to by the airport fire and rescue service. The airport was immediately closed while the incident was dealt with, with all departures being halted and incoming flights diverted elsewhere.
BELFAST HARD LANDING: NOSE WHEEL COLLAPSE SHUTS AIRPORT
An Aer Lingus regional flight’s nose wheel collapsed during a hard landing in stormy conditions at Belfast City Airport.
The positioning flight, carrying only four crew members, prompted emergency responses and closed the… pic.twitter.com/49DI5m5CEL
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 22, 2024
“At around 4pm today, Sunday 22 December 2024, an Aer Lingus regional flight, operated by Emerald Airlines, had an incident on landing at Belfast City Airport,” read a statement issued by Belfast City Airport. “This was a positioning flight with no passengers but four crew members onboard. The airport’s emergency procedures were enacted. The runway is currently closed and will be for the rest of the day. Passengers are asked to contact their airline.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the airline added, “The positioning flight, EA701P, with no passengers onboard, flying from Edinburgh to Belfast City Airport, 22nd December 2024, experienced a hard landing upon arriving due to the adverse weather conditions.”
Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) confirmed that it attended the incident at 16:15 when it dispatched four appliances, a specialist rescue team, a command support unit, and three supervisory officers. The NIFRS added that on attending the scene, crews encountered an aircraft that had experienced a nose wheel collapse on landing.
“The NIFRS had 24 personnel in attendance and assisted the Belfast City Airport Fire Service in making the scene safe. At 16:34, the NIFRS response was scaled back to one appliance, with three officers on the scene and all other appliances standing down,” confirmed the statement.
An Emerald Airlines UK ATR 72-600, callsign EAG71P, suffered a nose landing gear collapse during landing on runway 04 at Belfast City Airport (BHD/EGAC). The aircraft is operated on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional and was on a repositioning flight at the time.… https://t.co/aVirr0Xlyb
— Aviation Safety Network (ASN) (@AviationSafety) December 22, 2024
According to ch-aviation, the aircraft involved is nine years old having first been delivered to defunct UK carrier Stobart Air in December 2015. The aircraft seats 72 passengers in a single-class configuration and is leased from Irish lessor Aer Cap.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, flights operated by Aer Lingus Regional, KLM, British Airways, and easyJet flights due to depart the airport had been disrupted as a result of the incident, affecting the Christmas travel plans of hundreds of passengers trying to reach numerous destinations including Amsterdam, London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool.
However, on the morning of December 23, 2024, the airport confirmed that the stricken aircraft had been successfully removed from the runway and that operations had returned to normal.