SAS Airbus A320neo Suffers Hard Landing & Engine Issues At Funchal Airport
SAS Airbus A320neo Suffers Hard Landing & Engine Issues At Funchal Airport
- Scandinavian Airlines flight encountered wind shear, causing a hard landing and engine compressor stall.
- The crew initiated a go-around and diverted to Gran Canaria due to maintenance facilities.
- The six-year-old aircraft holds the registration SE=ROE.
On January 6th, a Scandinavian Airlines flight from Stockholm to Funchal, Portugal, encountered a hard landing approaching the Madieran Airport. The aircraft, an Airbus A320neo, was on approach to airport runway 23 when it met wind shear, which led to the right-hand engine suffering a compressor stall, and the aircraft bounced.
The crew quickly initiated a go-around before deciding to divert to Gran Canaria, where it was able to land safely around 90 minutes later.
Scandinavian Airlines confirmed the precautionary diversion was due to more robust maintenance facilities at the Gran Canaria Airport (LPA).
SK2901
Departing from Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) on January 6th, had expected to leave the Swedish capital at 09:20. The flight experienced a slight delay on departure, eventually pushing back at 09:46. The flight operated without significant incident while flying at its cruising altitude of around 39,000ft, before descending for it’s approach to Funchal Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport (FNC) for an arrival time of 13:55
Funchal Airport, famous for its wind and challenging approach, saw the SAS flight descend into runway 23L at 13:48 local time, where the hard landing occurred. Once the flight diverted, the flight then continued for an hour before touching down in Gran Canaria. As reported by The Aviation Herald, a passenger did note that unusual fumes appeared shortly after the incident.
There have been no reports of injuries onboard at the time of writing.
SE-ROE
A 6.3-year-old Airbus A320neo bearing registration SE-ROE (serial number 7791) took the brunt of the attempted landing in Funchal. According to Airfleets, the plane is nicknamed ‘Harald Viking’ by the Scandinavian carrier. The aircraft is on loan from Irish lessor CDB Aviation and was delivered to the carrier on October 11th, 2017. Its first test flight was completed under D-AVVE on September 28th that same year.
Per Flightradar24, the aircraft remains on the apron at Gran Canaria after its nearly six-hour and 40-minute flight from Stockholm, and it remains unclear how passengers were re-accommodated to Funchal. However, it could be presumed that SAS has deployed another aircraft for stricken passengers, as a Fly SAS A320N was en route to Gran Canaria under flight number SK9239. The Norwegian registered aircraft, LN-RGN (MSN 7341), departed from Arlanda at 07:34 and is expected to arrive at LPA by 11:25.
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Wind causing a hard landing.
Wind direction and gusts can significantly affect aircraft during the final landing stages. Sometimes, a harder-than-expected landing can be due to changing wind gusts during the landing. It may be better to land quickly than risk an overrun. If a landing is overly hard – and possibly reaches aircraft limits – it will necessitate a full inspection.