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Plane skids off runway
30/03/2007 12:05 - (SA)
Hanoi - A Vietnam Airlines plane skidded off the runway when its brakes failed during an emergency landing in Ho Chi Minh City, but all 70 passengers and crew were unhurt, an official said on Friday.
The ATR-210 plane en route to southern Phu Quoc Island had to return to Tan Son Nhat Airport in the city 15 minutes after take-off on Thursday because the hydraulic-system pressure had dropped below normal, according to a release from the airline.
The plane, carrying 65 passengers and five crew members, landed properly but could not stop in time and skidded 25m off the runway due to the malfunction of the brakes, which were powered by the hydraulic system.
"One of the valves of the hydraulic system had broken, leaving the plane unable to retract its landing gears so it had to return," Tran Van Mai, the state carrier's Ho Chi Minh City maintenance director, said on Friday.
"It might have been a mistake by the manufacturer," Mai said, adding that the plane is only five-years-old.
Vietnam Airlines has had a string of technical problems this year, including three emergency landings in February during the heavy lunar new year travel season.
The state carrier also had a turbulent year in 2006, with a series of scandals, including allegations that it paid millions of dollars for the wrong kind of engines for its jets and that some of its staff have been involved in drug and cigarette smuggling operations. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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