Malfunctioning landing gear closes down Juanda Airport

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)