Plane makes emergency landing
A Chicago-bound airliner with 195 passengers and crew has made an emergency landing at Manchester Airport, officials have said.
Today’s American Airlines flight 55 was thought to have been around an hour into its journey from Manchester to Chicago O’Hare when a flight crew spotted a problem with hydraulics in the landing gear.
The captain made the decision to turn back and an emergency landing was made at 2.10pm, Manchester Airport said.
The landing gear did come down as it should however a number of the tyres burst on impact.
After passengers disembarked, the plane was moved from the runway for examination.
Around seven incoming flights to Manchester were diverted to other UK airports and outgoing flights were suspended for around one hour.
A spokeswoman for Manchester Airport said: “The captain of flight AA55 could have continued to Chicago but decided to return to Manchester.
“As a precaution we implemented full emergency landing procedures and we lined the runway with fire engines.
“But it has to be said this is a fairly routine and common problem.
“The landing gear came down and two tyres on the plane sustained damage and as a result we could not tow the plane from the runway, causing some further delay.
“Operations were suspended for around one hour.”
