Air Astana plane flies with wheels out over China’s Xiamen for 3 hours

ASTANA. KAZINFORM An aircraft operated by Air Astana JSC of Kazakhstan was flying with the landing gear out for three hours over the airfield of Xiamen city, Fujian, the People's Republic of China, Kazinform cites the press service of the airline.

According to the airline, having completed a C-check scheduled maintenance at HAECO maintenance center in Xiamen, Air Astana's aircraft was performing a repositioning flight to Almaty without any passengers or cargoes on board today, on October 12.

"After takeoff at 08:00 am Almaty time and gear retraction, there was a warning that the landing gear is out. As the aircraft had the maximum quantity of fuel, to return to Almaty it needed to burn out the fuel in mid-air (so that to have an allowable landing weight). Therefore, the aircraft was flying over the airfield for three hours," Air Astana's press service says.

The plane successfully landed at 12:20 pm Almaty time. There were 2 pilots and 2 engineers on board. HAECO's servicing personnel are now carrying out a troubleshooting procedure.