Cargolux B744 at Luxembourg on May 14th 2023, could not retract landing gear, on return right center gear bogey separated

Last Update: August 7, 2024 / 18:39:46 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Cargolux LX-OCV, Boeing 747-400 — Cargolux LX-OCV, Boeing 747-400 (Photo credit: Diegonvs / Flickr / License: CC by)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
May 14, 2023

Classification
Accident

Airline
Cargolux

Flight number
CV-6857

Departure
Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Destination
Chicago O'Hare, United States

Aircraft Registration
LX-OCV

Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400

ICAO Type Designator
B744

Airport
Luxembourg-Findel International Airport, Luxembourg

Airport ICAO Code
ELLX

A Cargolux Boeing 747-400, registration LX-OCV performing flight CV-6857 from Luxembourg (Luxembourg) to Chicago O'Hare,IL (USA), was climbing out of Luxembourg's runway 06 when the crew stopped the climb at FL100 due to being unable to retract the landing gear. The aircraft returned to Luxembourg for a landing on runway 06 at 19:00L (17:00Z) about 50 minutes after departure, upon touchdown the right hand center gear wheel bogey separated however. The wheel bogey came to rest in front of the Cargolux Hangar, the aircraft rolled out without further incident and was disabled on the runway. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

The airline reported the aircraft was unable to retract its landing gear, as result it was forced to dump fuel for the return to Luxembourg. On landing the right body landing gear detached from the aircraft. The aircraft came to a controlled stop, there were no injuries. The aircraft remains on the runway and recovery efforts are underway.

On Aug 11th 2023 Germany's BFU reported they are supporting the investigation led by the Luxembourg Authorities because the engines were designed in Germany. The BFU reported: "During landing the main body gear became damaged and separated."

On Aug 7th 2024 Luxembourg's AET released their preliminary report summarizing the sequence of events:

On 14 May 2023 at 16:08:43, the occurrence aircraft was cleared for takeoff on RWY 06 for a scheduled freight flight from Luxembourg Airport (ELLX) to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (KORD). Shortly after rotation, the PM was not able to select gear-up and a “GEAR TILT” EICAS message was triggered, followed by a “GEAR DISAGREE” EICAS message. The aircraft proceeded to the DIK holding with the gear extended, where the crew performed the related non-normal checklists, decided to dump fuel and return to ELLX with the gear extended. In order to be cleared to dump fuel over land, the crew declared an emergency, and the aircraft was vectored to an area over Belgium for fuel dumping. At 16:51:30, after dumping approximately 40 tons of fuel at FL100, the aircraft was vectored back to ELLX for an ILS3 approach to RWY 06. At 16:59:04 the aircraft was cleared to land on RWY 06. When the aircraft touched down at 17:00:46, the wheel truck of the RH BLG with part of the inner cylinder attached separated from the aircraft. In this process, the separated gear assembly impacted the lower part of the aft fuselage multiple times and struck the righthand horizontal stabilizer.

The crew was not aware of the RH BLG separation until they were informed by the tower that the aircraft had lost part of its landing gear on touchdown with four wheels attached. The crew then immobilized the aircraft on the runway.

...

Airport surveillance video footage showed that after becoming airborne, the RH BLG wheel truck initially rotated to a normal pitch-up position before an over-extension of the strut could be observed. The over-extension was accompanied by a vapor release. During climb out, the RH BLG wheel truck could be observed in a pitch-down position (Fig. 1-3). The same pitch-down position could also be observed on a publicly available landing video, up to the point of the RH BLG separation on touchdown.

The AET described the damage: "Nobody was injured during the occurrence. The aircraft sustained damage to the RH BLG, to parts of the lower aft fuselage and to the righthand horizontal stabilizer. The runway surface in the landing zone of RWY 06 was scratched by the separated gear parts and had to be repaired before reopening of the aerodrome on the same day. After a damage assessment by the aircraft manufacturer, some damage could be categorized as substantial (i.e., punctured fuselage preventing the aircraft to pressurize) and the event was subsequently classified as an accident."

The AET stated: "The examination of BLG components and the gathering of further information are still ongoing. The drafting of the final report has been initiated and will be finalized once all pertinent information is available and has been analyzed. At the date of publication of this Preliminary Report, no recommendation had been issued."

Related NOTAMs:
A2119/23 NOTAMR A2118/23
Q) EBBU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A /000/999/4937N00612E005
A) ELLX B) 2305141923 C) 2305142200 EST
E) RWY 06/24 CLSD DUE TO DISABLED ACFT

A2118/23 NOTAMR A2117/23
Q) EBBU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A /000/999/4937N00612E005
A) ELLX B) 2305141839 C) 2305142000 EST
E) RWY 06/24 CLSD DUE TO DISABLED ACFT

A2117/23 NOTAMR A2116/23
Q) EBBU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A /000/999/4937N00612E005
A) ELLX B) 2305141805 C) 2305141900 EST
E) RWY 06/24 CLSD DUE TO DISABLED ACFT

A2115/23 NOTAMN
Q) EBBU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A /000/999/4937N00612E005
A) ELLX B) 2305141707 C) 2305141810 EST
E) RWY 06/24 CLSD DUE TO DISABLED ACFT

Metars:
ELLX 141850Z 36007KT CAVOK 16/07 Q1015 NOSIG=
ELLX 141820Z AUTO 03010KT 9999 //////TCU 16/06 Q1015 NOSIG=
ELLX 141750Z 06008KT CAVOK 16/07 Q1015 NOSIG=
ELLX 141720Z 05010KT 9999 FEW050TCU 17/07 Q1014 NOSIG=
ELLX 141650Z 03011KT 9999 FEW050TCU 18/07 Q1014 NOSIG=
ELLX 141620Z 02010KT 320V070 CAVOK 18/05 Q1014 NOSIG=
ELLX 141550Z 06008KT 030V090 CAVOK 18/04 Q1014 NOSIG=
ELLX 141520Z 01012KT 340V040 CAVOK 20/03 Q1014 NOSIG=
ELLX 141450Z 03011KT 360V070 CAVOK 19/06 Q1014 NOSIG=
ELLX 141420Z 06007KT 010V130 CAVOK 19/06 Q1014 NOSIG=