Russian passenger airliner makes safe landing in Moscow after concerns of gear damage

October 25, 2009 A Russian passenger airliner safely landed at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow on Saturday, after concerns that its landing gear might have been damaged.

The plane, an Airbus A330 with 267 passengers aboard, had departed from Vladivostok, en route to Moscow. Shortly after takeoff, pieces of landing gear were discovered on the runway, which were "most likely from that particular airplane," according to an Emergency Ministry spokesman.

It was decided to continue to Moscow instead of returning to Vladivostok to land, since the latter option would require the plane to burn or dump off excess fuel before preparing to make an emergency landing.

Oleg Pesko, the chief of the Vnukovo airport press center, said that the Airbus made a safe non-emergency landing at the airport just before 11.00 UTC. He said that the emergency services of the airport had been placed on alert before the landing, and that the Vladivostok Avia airline, which operated the jet, would conduct an investigation into whether the tyres were indeed damaged.

"It's still unknown whether the problem was with this Airbus or not. The airline will find out after a special examination," he said.

Passengers on board the flight said that they were not aware of any problems while en route. "The flight went smoothly, there was nothing unusual. We were only told where we were and what temperature it was outside," one passenger said, as quoted by the NTV news agency.