Koh Jun Lin
Malaysiakini
1:51AM Apr 21, 2014
Passengers on board Malaysian Airlines Flight MH192 faced a four hour terror ride after the landing gear malfunctioned shortly after take off, forcing a turnback and several attempts at an emergency landing.
At about 2am, the plane successfully made an emergency landing. There were 166 people on board.
Flight MH192 departed at 10.09pm for Bangalore last night. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft was supposed to have arrived at 2.35am (Malaysian time) today.
In a press release after the plane had landed, MAS said the right main landing tire had burst during take off.
“The captain was alerted by Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control that tyre debris were found on the runway and immediately contacted Malaysia Airlines Operations Control Centre (OCC) at 10:25pm.
“As safety is of utmost priority to Malaysia Airlines, the aircraft was required to turn back to KLIA,” said MAS.
Accomodations for all passengers have been arranged in nearby hotels.
Followed live
MH192 will be retimed to depart KLIA at 3.30pm on 21 April 2014 and arrive Bangalore at 5.00pm the same day (8pm Malaysia time).
Earlier, some Malaysians were anxiously tuning in to aircraft tracking service FlightRadar24 and the live-stream of the ATC radio conversation.
According to FlightRadar24, MH192 then flew to just off the coast of Port Klang and began to fly in circles.
According to Boeing’s specifications, the 737-800 is not capable of dumping fuel in mid-air, meaning that it would have to burn off its fuel until the aircraft reaches an acceptable weight for a safe landing.
About thirty minutes later, it started to fly to towards Port Dickson, and then turned to make an approach on the runway, but only ended up making a low pass over it.
MH192 then went back to the vicinity of Port Klang and began to fly in circles again from about 11.25pm until 1.22am the next morning, before attempting a second approach on the runway but took off again without landing.
“Malaysian 192, can you confirm to land or another flight path?” the air traffic control (ATC) tower radioed, which was live-streamed.
“Err… Turn left, turn left, turn left. Low,” MH192 replied.
“Malaysian 192, roger that.”
‘Mayday, mayday, mayday’
As the aircraft made its series of left turns that would take it near Port Dickson for the third landing approach, MH192 radioed to check on preparations for a potential emergency.
ATC: “Malaysian 192, we have just received a message. They have already foaming the runway for you.”
MH192: “How long do they need?”
ATC: “We’ll advise.”
MH192: “Alright, understood. Now it is mayday, mayday, mayday. We are landing, low fuel.”
ATC: “Malaysian 192, roger mayday.”
The pilot sounded calm and composed – almost expressionless – even as he made the mayday call.
Two minutes later, MH192 began a slow left turn and then made its final, successful, landing approach. Thus far, there are no reports of injuries.
“Malaysia Airlines flight MH192 that made an air turn back towards KLIA has landed safely at 1:56am. Alhamdulillah (thank God),” MAS tweeted at its official Tweeter account.