Malfunctioning landing gear closes down Juanda Airport

SURABAYA (JP): A Navy Bufallo training airplane of the Eastern Fleet Command with malfunctioning landing gear on Tuesday afternoon forced Surabaya's Juanda International Airport in East Java to turn away domestic and international airplanes.

An officer with state airport operator Angkasa Pura I, Yuwono Kramadibrata, confirmed the accident, saying that the aircraft developed trouble after two test flights.

"The first landing had no problems. But when it was making a second landing, the airplane's landing gear flopped," Yuwono said.

He declined to identify the pilot and instructor of the plane.

Eastern Fleet Air Operation chief Col. Muh. Jurianto told Antara that the plane's three tires could not be lowered for takeoff and landing as a result of the trouble.

"Since 3 p.m. (Tuesday), we have been trying to fix the landing gear in a bid to tow the plane back to the hangar. The landing gear's engine suddenly retracted the tires. This needs quite some time to repair," the officer said.

Due to the incident, most flights in and out of Juanda Airport were either delayed or canceled, including those of Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines, which were removed to Denpasar, Bali.

Yuwono said that it would take airport workers five hours to fix the landing gear so that traffic could return to normal at 7 p.m.

Long lines of passengers heading to Surabaya from Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, grew longer in the afternoon.

Antara quoted passengers in Hasanuddin Airport as saying that among the air services canceling flights to Surabaya were Merpati, Mandala, Garuda and Pelita.

Yuwono said material losses resulting from the incident were not calculated yet. "Of course we suffered large losses," he said. (nur)