An Indonesian cargo plane slammed into a runway on Tuesday after the aircraft’s landing gear ripped off during touchdown, sending the plane sliding for nearly a kilometre before coming to a stop.
The Trigana Air Boeing 737 cargo plane was carrying over 14 tonnes of fuel when it made the frightening landing at an airport in West Papua, Indonesia.
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White smoke could be seen billowing from the plane as it scraped against the runway.
“There were no loss of lives, and the fuel load is also safe,” said Ahmad Bambang, marketing director for Pertamina, to online news portal detik.com.
The pilot, co-pilot and technician onboard managed to escape before firefighters put out the fire.
Authorities said the plane’s left engine suffered major damage.
An experienced pilot, who has flown in Indonesia extensively, told CNN that the Wamena airport is surrounded by high mountains, and pilots often have to deal with low clouds.
“There is no instrument landing equipment here either so all landings are hand flown visually,” Matt Dearden told CNN.
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He added that there was almost an identical crash nearly a year ago at the same airport.
The aircraft was making a fuel delivery for Pertamina, an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation.
Authorities temporarily closed the airport to remove the plane’s fuselage and repair damage done on the tarmac.
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