Flights resume at Saidpur airport after Novoair landing scare
It took authorities over six hours to clear the runway
Flight operations have resumed at Nilphamari's Saidpur airport after a Novoair aircraft (VQ-967) suffered a tyre burst while landing on Wednesday night.
The Novoair ATR-72 500 (S2-AHF) aircraft was removed from the airport's runway with the help of Bangladesh Army at around 1:35am on Thursday.
Confirming the matter to The Business Standard, Saidpur Airport Station Manager Suplab Kumar Ghosh said, "The airport is now fully operational.
"A US-Bangla flight landed at the airport today at 8:15am after the runway was cleared to restore flights."
According to airport sources, the Novoair flight, carrying 74 passengers, took off from Dhaka on Wednesday evening.
During landing at the Saidpur airport, around 6:50pm, the front wheel of the aircraft exploded.
As a result, the plane could not complete its landing procedure, disrupting air traffic at the regional airport for several hours.
No casualties were reported.
"It is suspected that the nose gear tyres were tilted [which the pilots have no way of knowing or confirming] even before landing and runway touchdown. The pilots, however, handled the situation very professionally as soon as they received reports from the watchtower about sparks coming out from the nose gear area.
"They did not waste any time to ensure the safety of all passengers and evacuated everyone from the aircraft while maintaining directional control to keep the aircraft on the runway," reads a Facebook post of Bangladesh Aviation Hub.
