Incident Overview

Date: Saturday 8 June 2013
Aircraft Type: Airbus A320-232
Owner/operator: Wizz Air
Registration Number: HA-LWM
Location: Roma-Fiumicino Airport (FCO) – ÿ Italy
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Substantial, repaired
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 171
Component Affected: Left Main Landing GearLeft Main Landing Gear
Category: Accident
An Airbus A320, en route from Bucharest to Roma, experienced a significant landing accident at Roma-Fiumicino Airport (FCO) due to a critical issue with the landing gear. The aircraft was carrying 165 passengers and five crew members. The flight was approaching Ciampino Airport’s runway 15, and the crew encountered difficulties with the undercarriage, leading to a Master Warning and a missed approach. The crew executed a diverted landing at Rome-Fiumicino Airport, utilizing a holding pattern and a gravity extension. A partial landing occurred, with the left main landing gear remaining stuck. The crew shut off the left engine and the right engine shortly before touchdown, and the aircraft scraped against the runway. Emergency evacuation was initiated.An Airbus A320, en route from Bucharest to Roma, experienced a significant landing accident at Roma-Fiumicino Airport (FCO) due to a critical issue with the landing gear. The aircraft was carrying 165 passengers and five crew members. The flight was approaching Ciampino Airport’s runway 15, and the crew encountered difficulties with the undercarriage, leading to a Master Warning and a missed approach. The crew executed a diverted landing at Rome-Fiumicino Airport, utilizing a holding pattern and a gravity extension. A partial landing occurred, with the left main landing gear remaining stuck. The crew shut off the left engine and the right engine shortly before touchdown, and the aircraft scraped against the runway. Emergency evacuation was initiated.

Description

An Airbus A320 of Wizz Air was damaged in a landing accident at Roma-Fiumicino Airport (FCO). There were 165 passengers and five crew members on board. Three occupants were injured. Flight W6-3141 departed Bucharest-Henri Coanda International Airport (OTP) about 06:45 hours local time (03:45 UTC) on an international passenger flight to Roma-Ciampino Airport (CIA). The flight was approaching Ciampino Airport’s runway 15 about 07:20 local time (05:20 UTC) when the crew encountered problems getting the undercarriage down and locked. A Master Warning occurred and a message was shown on the Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitoring (ECAM) display, which indicated “L/G GEAR NOT DOWNLOCKED”. The crew flew a missed approach procedure and headed to an area north of Rome were it entered a holding pattern at an altitude of 5000 feet. The crew carried out a recycle and performed a gravity extension as well as some g-force manoeuvres, but the left hand main landing gear remained stuck. The crew decided to divert to Rome-Fiumicino. Approaching Rome-Fiumicino Airport runway 34R at 07:58 (05:58 UTC), the aircraft was instructed by the Tower controller to go-around due to some incoherency in the information provided by the crew about the current position of the landing gear. A new approach to runway 34R was performed and the aircraft touched down on the runway at 08:06 (06:06 UTC) with the left main gear only partially extended. The flightcrew shutoff the left engine just before touchdown and the right one a few seconds later. The aircraft came to rest after scraping the left engine on the runway for about 1200 m. An emergency evacuation was carried out.

Primary Cause

A malfunction in the landing gear, specifically the inability to fully lock down the undercarriage during the landing sequence, combined with a miscommunication regarding the landing gear position, resulted in the aircraft becoming stuck.A malfunction in the landing gear, specifically the inability to fully lock down the undercarriage during the landing sequence, combined with a miscommunication regarding the landing gear position, resulted in the aircraft becoming stuck.

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