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A Norwegian Air flight to France landed back in Sweden after the aircraft’s tyre “exploded” on take-off this morning.
Flight D82046 from Stockholm’s Arlanda airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle made a U-turn due to a “suspected landing gear issue” on Wednesday (27 August).
According to Flightradar data, the Boeing 737-800 took off from the Swedish capital at 9.26am before circling slightly north of Stockholm and returning to its departure airport.
A loud bang was heard by the flight’s 181 on board passengers as the “tyre explosion” occurred, reported Swedish outlet Expressen.
Norwegian said that a “technical issue” had forced the captain to request a return to Arlanda.
After burning fuel in a holding pattern, the aircraft performed “a low fly-by” to confirm damage to the front left tyre.
Emergency services met the aircraft on the runway following the incident, with debris seen on the runway.
The crew made a “standard landing” at Arlanda airport, and passengers safely disembarked with no injuries.
An airline spokesperson said: “Our pilots are trained for situations like this and followed established procedures throughout.
“A spare aircraft was made ready so that our passengers could continue their journey to their destination.”
It’s not the only aircraft to encounter technical issues this summer.
Yesterday, an Air China flight from London Heathrow to China landed in Russia due to an engine “malfunction”.
The Beijing-bound aircraft carrying more than 250 people was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Siberia early on Tuesday (26 August).
According to data from FlightAware, the Air China Boeing 777 landed at Nizhnevartovsk airport in the Russian region of Khanty-Mansi after departing London at 10.43pm on Monday.
The passengers and crew were kept on board for 11 hours while a replacement jet was reportedly dispatched to the Siberian city to take everyone on to Beijing.
Read more: How a bizarre summer air fare decision led to the UK’s inflation surge
