An Air Canada Boeing 767 aircraft returned to Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport for an emergency landing on Monday after a part of the plane’s landing gear fell into one of its engines.
Video footage of the emergency landing showed the plane safely touching down on the airport’s runway just before 1 p.m. ET.
A spokesperson from Air Canada told Global News in a statement that Flight AC837 was returning from Madrid to Toronto with 128 passengers on board when it experienced an engine issue shortly after leaving the ground.
A Boeing 767 aircraft flown by Air Canada makes an emergency landing at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, in Madrid, Spain Feb. 3, 2020.
Juan Medina / REUTERS
They said one of the aircraft’s 10 tires ruptured on takeoff, prompting an emergency landing.
“The aircraft opted to return to Madrid and is currently circling to use up fuel and lighten the aircraft for landing,” the statement read.
“The aircraft, a Boeing 767-300, is designed to operate on one engine, and our pilots are fully trained for this eventuality. Nonetheless, an emergency was declared in order to obtain landing priority.”
Spanish pilots union SEPLA said on Twitter that part of the plane’s landing gear had fallen off and gone into one of the engines.
Guido Fioravantti, whose father was on board the plane, said he was feeling optimistic about the landing in an interview with Global News.
“Everything is under control,” he said, adding the cabin was “very calm” and was prepared for an uneventful landing.
Fioravantti, who works as a senior software engineer on geo-spatial products at Bloomberg LP, said the landing was a “standard manoeuvre.”
“No reason to panic at all,” he said.
People gather to watch the emergency landing of an Air Canada aircraft at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, in Madrid, Spain Feb. 3, 2020.
Susana Vera / REUTERS
The incident occurred just hours after a drone sighting near the takeoff area caused a brief disruption at the airport, with 26 flights diverted away from Barajas.
The Canadian airliner called air traffic control 30 minutes after takeoff and requested a slot for an emergency landing, an AENA spokeswoman said.
She was unable to provide further details or say whether the incident was in any way related to the previous shutdown.
Emergency services in Madrid said on Twitter they were co-ordinating with the airport and that troops were deployed in the surrounding area as a precaution.
— With files from Reuters.
© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
