Posted on 06/04/2026 10:52:24 AM PDT by DFG
A Boeing 787 plane bound for Los Angeles nosedived onto the runway while parked at Frankfurt airport after the landing gear unexpectedly collapsed.
Footage shared on social media shows the moment the nose gear of the plane, which is operated by Lufthansa, gave way.
'Passengers had not yet boarded,' a Lufthansa spokesperson said in an emailed statement, but crew members and ground staff were on board the aircraft at the time of the incident.
'Several staff members were injured and are currently receiving medical treatment,' the company added.
Their condition is not yet known.
Images showed multiple emergency vehicles parked around the two-engine widebody aircraft, which partly lay on its belly.
The incident occurred at 12.45pm local time, and the jet was scheduled to depart for Los Angeles as flight LH450, Lufthansa said.
The flight was due to take off at 1.50pm today, but has been cancelled following the incident, as the jet sustained significant damage, according to local media.
'We are currently investigating the exact circumstances with the relevant authorities,' the company added.
Technicians and support staff are already on staff, according to local reports.
It was not immediately clear whether the incident was the result of human error or a possible technical defect.
The 787, of which Lufthansa operates the 787-9 variant, is a relatively new addition for the group, which is planning to gradually phase out less efficient jets and simplify its fleet.
A spokesperson for Frankfurt Airport told The Daily Mail: 'We can confirm that there was an incident at Frankfurt Airport involving a Lufthansa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner at 12.45pm today.
'The exact circumstances are currently being investigated by the relevant authorities.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
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So true Even with the best of intentions you can't make a system "idiot proof".
I’ve never seen anyone mess with gear linkage unless the aircraft is raised and on jack stands.
Did he work on the early 757”s? I got the chance to see the wheels worn down to the hubs because the anti-skid brakes locked up on touchdown after a 757 test flight.
No, he would have been a small child then.
“Hey Fritz, I dare you to mash that switch right there.”
When I was working on secure comms (for a Navy program but what I wrote wound up being reused in something more widespread) I was consumed with concerns about making it idiot-proof. I figured the equipment would possibly be around for fifty years. I asked myself, how dead-simple can I make this architecture and software so an engineer thirty years from now can upgrade it without screwing it up?
I thought, planes today, have a fail-safe so if there is weight on the gear, even if you moved the landing gear lever, in the cockpit, to up, it would not allow the gear to move.
See post 25.
I have designed a couple landing gear for smaller aircraft. If this is common they didn’t add enough “over center” action to lock the gear in place when deployed. What I have designed will fail to retract(can’t retract the landing gear). So no matter what the gear will always be deployed even with a failure of the entire hydraulic system.
DEI strikes again...
So how does it takeoff & land at 150 mph without someone inserting a pin?
Most landing gear has “over center” locking device. This one obviously has issues.
Ground staff checked watch, realized it was time to kneel for prayer, and the plane was facing Mecca?
“A Boeing 787 plane bound for Los Angeles nosedived onto the runway while parked at Frankfurt airport after the landing gear unexpectedly collapsed.”
The worst worded sentence I’ve read in a long time. It wasn’t on the runway. It was parked and not moving, so it couldn’t nosedive and be parked at the same time.
rktman, this is the worst worded sentence I’ve ever read in my life.
The first sentence of the article is drek! It wasn’t on the runway, it was at the gate. Good grief! Poorly written....
Welllll, that’s not good...
Yep. As a former air traffic controller, I can absolutely guarantee I would never let an aircraft on the runway, in order to board passengers. The article writer is a moron.
CP: "Sure, here ya go... .... oops."
I had my first Portillo’s dog the other day. What is up with the day-glo green jelly stuff?
It's the reverse situation. The pins are to prevent the gear from cycling, not to allow it.
From the link at Post 25: "The procedure required downlock pins inserted in the nose and the main landing gear locks to prevent the landing gear from retracting during the cycling process."
During takeoffs and landings, the gear retracts fine. The pins are used when resetting the nosewheel landing gear doors while the plane is on the ground. If the pins aren't in properly, the gear retracts and the nose drops.
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