Air Canada Boeing 767 with 130 passengers on board has safely returns to Madrid Barajas Airport. On departure it has been reported that “part of the landing gear fell off into the engine”. Other sources have stated that part of the nose gear tire may have disintegrated and went into the engine. Neither reason has been officially confirmed at this time. What is known is the The crew of the Boeing 767 handled the emergency and elected to burn off fuel for a lighter weight landing.
Images posted to Twitter from a passenger on board AC837
The Air Canada pilots are reported as having told passengers, in a message “We are currently heading towards Barajas Airport and we are going to return to Madrid to land because as you know we had a little problem with one of the plane’s wheels when we took off.” Early models of the Boeing 767 did not come equipped with fuel dumping ability, it is not known if this was an option for the Air Canada crew.
During the emergency a Spanish Air-force F-18 intercepted the flight to assist the crew by assessing the damage to the aircraft. The flight landed safely shortly after 1900 local time. No word on when the aircraft will be back in service.
