YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A Myanmar National Airlines plane made an emergency landing at Mandalay International Airport on Sunday, using only its rear wheels after the front landing gear failed to deploy. All 82 passengers and seven crew members aboard Flight UB103 from Yangon were declared safe after the Brazilian-made Embraer 190-LR touched down on its rear sets of wheels before the plane's nose tilted down to scrape the runway, sending off a shower of sparks as it slowed to a stop. Kyaw San, a spokesman for the airport, said the pilot informed the control tower before landing that he was unable to pull down the nose wheels. A statement on the airline's Facebook page explained that the plane's EICAS — Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System — indicated a failure of the front landing gear to deploy. The pilot tried a backup emergency procedure to pull down the wheels but that was unsuccessful. The aircraft did two fly-bys past the tower for air controllers to check visually whether the wheels had deployed. The captain followed emergency procedures to dump fuel to reduce the landing weight, and made a safe landing at 9:09 a.m., said the statement. Video apparently shot by one of the passengers and posted online showed an urgent but orderly evacuation of the passengers and crew. Passengers were seen walking away from the plane across the airfield, several of them smiling. Flight operations at the airport were temporarily suspended, and allowed to resume after about 2 ½ hours for smaller aircraft. The runways were expected to be reopened for use by larger Boeing and Airbus aircraft by late afternoon. On Wednesday, a Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft skidded off the runway after landing in bad weather at Yangon's airport, injuring at least 15 passengers and crew but none critically. The fuselage of the plane, a Bombardier Dash 8, was broken in at least two spots, along with the wings.<doc-sep>A Myanmar National Airlines flight landed safely at Mandalay airport on Sunday after landing gear problems forced it to touch down without the use of its front wheel. The airline said in a statement on their Facebook page that flight UB103 came from Yangon and the pilot flew around the air traffic control tower twice in order for staff to check if the landing gear had been activated before the decision was made to make an emergency landing. The statement also said the pilot followed emergency procedures and dumped extra fuel before attempting to land. Videos shared with Reuters showed smoke rising from under the seats of the aircraft shortly after landing. Passengers scrambled to evacuate as instructions were given over the speaker system. Emergency services were seen attending to the Embraer 190 XYAGQ aircraft with its nose on the tarmac. Local media said no injuries were reported on the flight carrying 82 passengers and seven crew members.<doc-sep>This was the second instance of a malfunctioning flight in less than a week within the country. A Myanmar pilot saved the day after his aircraft's landing gear failed, forcing the jet into an emergency landing with no front wheels on Sunday morning, an official said. The nailbiting touchdown -- in which nobody was injured -- was the second instance of a malfunctioning flight in less than a week within the country. The Myanmar Airlines flight UB-103 -- an Embraer-190 model -- was grounded at around 9 am in Mandalay (0230 GMT), a city popular among foreign tourists, with all 89 people on board including seven crew members, safe. An unverified video circulated on social media showing a graceful landing before the nose of the jet tipped over and ground to a halt. Ye Htut Aung, deputy director general of Myanmar's Civil Aviation Department, told AFP the pilot tried repeatedly to drop the landing gear at the front of the plane -- first through its computer system, then manually. "They tried hard twice by flying around twice and asked to check whether the nose wheel dropped or not," Ye Htut Aung said, calling it a "technical fault". "So they had to land with the back wheels... The pilot could land it skillfully," he said. "There were no casualties." Myanmar National Airlines are now sending engineers to Mandalay to check on the aircraft, Ye Htut Aung said, adding that all jets get a daily flight check. Passenger Soe Moe told AFP: "Smoke came out a little when we landed... All passengers are okay." Sunday's incident comes just days after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane crash-landed and slid off a runway while landing in Yangon airport during a storm on Wednesday, leaving 11 passengers injured. Myanmar's monsoon season has caused problems for commercial and military flights in the past. A military plane crashed into the Andaman sea in 2017 with 122 people on board -- one of the deadliest aviation accidents in the country's history -- which authorities attributed to bad weather. And in 2015, a passenger plane by Air Bagan veered off the runway due to bad weather and heavy rain.<doc-sep>
A Myanmar pilot safely landed a passenger jet without its front wheels on Sunday, after landing gear on the Myanmar National Airlines plane failed to deploy, the airline and an official said. It was the second aviation incident in Myanmar this week, after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off the runway during strong wind in Yangon on Wednesday, injuring at least 17 of those on board. An official praised the pilot for bringing the Embraer 190 aircraft in to land at Mandalay airport on Sunday morning despite the technical failure. No one was hurt. “The pilot did a great job,” said Win Khant, permanent secretary of transportation and telecommunication ministry, adding the incident was being investigated. Myanmar National Airlines, the state-run carrier, said in a statement the aircraft had departed from the city of Yangon and was approaching the airport serving the central city of Mandalay when the pilot was unable to extend the front landing gear. The pilot, Captain Myat Moe Aung, flew past the airport twice so that air traffic controllers could check if the landing gear was down, the airline said. “Then the captain followed emergency procedures and did the fuel burn out to reduce the landing weight,” it said. Video of the landing shows the plane touching down on its rear wheels before lowering its nose. The aircraft travels some distance along the runway on its nose, kicking up smoke, before coming to a halt. The crew then performed an emergency evacuation. The airline did not say how many people were on board but Embraer said on its website the aircraft has a typical capacity of between 96 and 114 seats.