British jet fighter makes emergency landing in Kuopio
|
|
|
A British jet fighter taking part in military exercises in Finland had to make an emergency landing at Kuopio’s Rissala Airport on Thursday because of a landing gear malfunction.
Neither of the two pilots in the Tornado jet fighter were reported injured, but the plane itself sustained minor damage.
The situation occurred at about 7:00 PM on Thursday when the plane, which was approaching for a landing, was not able to get its nose wheel out, and had to land on its rear landing gear alone.
The front of the plane scraped the runway over a distance of a few hundred metres.
“The landing succeeded because the pilot was able to keep the nose of the plane in the air for a long time, and the aircraft did not slip off the runway”, said Chief of Staff, Colonel Ossi Siven of the Karelia Air Command of the Finnish Air Force.
The plane dumped part of its fuel load before landing, and allowed the other 11 planes taking part in the exercise to land first, including eight Hornet fighters of the Finnish Air Force.
There were no explosive munitions on board the plane when it landed, and the pilot jettisoned the flares it was carrying above a nearby lake before approaching the airport.
Kuopio Airport in Rissala, in the municipality of Siilinjärvi, was closed for a couple of hours.
Two passenger flights were delayed by about two hours as a result of the situation.
The cause of the malfunction was not immediately known. An investigation will be performed by the British Royal Air Force, which is taking part in the Adex 2008 air force exercise with two two-seat Tornado fighter jets.
Colonel Siven says that one or two such situations, in which landing gear fails to drop, have occurred in the Finnish Air Force in recent decades.
A Hornet fighter was damaged last autumn in Rissala when it skidded off the runway because of landing gear failure.
The Adex exercise will continue in Finland throughout next week.
It involves a total of about 1,300 people and 50 aircraft at the Rissala and Pirkkala bases.
In addition to Finland and Britain, countries taking part include Denmark, Germany, and France.
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 23.5.2008 - TODAY |
 British jet fighter makes emergency landing in Kuopio |
|
