Aircraft crash lands in Belfast

A Flybe aircraft crash landed in Belfast today after its nose gear refused to drop. 

The Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 took off at 11:20 from George Best Airport in Belfast when the pilot noticed a problem with the nose gear and began circling at 3,800 feet while they attempted to solve the problem. 

However, after an hour, the captain declared an emergency and circled for a further hour to reduce fuel to a minimum before attempting an emergency landing. 

The aircraft circled Belfast for two hours before the captain elected to land with the nose gear up leaving the aircraft sliding along the runway to be met by fire and rescue crews

However, the nose gear failed to deploy forcing the pilot to perform an emergency landing leaving the nose skidding along the runway of Belfast International Airport. 

The aircraft can carry 78 passengers.  

Flybe told MailOnline: ‘Flybe can confirm that there has been an incident involving one of our Bombardier Q-400 aircraft, flight no BE331 which landed with no nose gear in place.

‘The aircraft departed from Belfast City at 1107 local time bound for Inverness. The incident occurred at Belfast International Airport at approximately 1330 local time.

‘There are 52 passengers on board and four crew members.

‘Our primary concern is for the welfare of the passengers and crew.

‘All statements relating to this incident will be posted immediately on the Flybe website at www.flybe.com’

More to follow 

The Bombardier took off from Belfast at 11.20 and spent two hours circling to burn off fuel

The Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 declared an emergency after leaving Belfast this morning