16/02/2009 - BA plane loses wheel during landing
A British Airways plane lost its front wheel during a crash landing at London's City Airport yesterday.
The flight was carrying 71 people from Amsterdam when it suffered the "hard-landing".
None of those on board were seriously injured, with only one person taken to hospital suffering from minor injuries.
British Airways confirmed in a statement the nose-wheel on the aircraft had suffered a failure on landing upon landing at City Airport.
Authorities took the precautionary measure of closing the airport on Friday night but it has since re-opened although passengers are advised to expect delays today.
Those onboard Flight 8456 last night have described the drama of the crash landing and report how the cabin began to fill with smoke after the plane hit the tarmac.
"People were pretty calm at first but when the plane started to fill up with smoke, people were not moving fast enough and they got pretty fractious," Sky News quotes passenger Ray Hamblin as saying.
The Air Investigation Branch (AAIB) has begun its inquiry into the dramatic landing.
Less than ten days ago the runway at the airport was shut due to a bent nose-wheel on a similar aircraft.

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