Glitch forces MASwings aircraft to turn back

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KOTA KINABALU: A MASwings ATR72-500 aircraft that departed Kota Kinabalu for Sibu, turned back yesterday morning for rectification of a glitch in its landing gear mechanism.

After take-off, the operating crew of MH3183 noticed the left side gear lights remained illuminated and this prompted their decision to turn back in the interest of the safety of the passengers, a statement from MASwings said yesterday.

The aircraft did three fly passes in front of Kota Kinabalu Air Traffic Control to confirm the glitch in the left gear. After the third fly pass, it was confirmed that the left gear was in its normal position and the aircraft had an uneventful normal landing at 0909 hours.

There were a total of 23 passengers with four operating crew on board and all disembarked without any untoward incident.

They later boarded another standby MASwings ATR72-500 aircraft and departed for Sibu at 1015 hours.

MASwings apologises to the passengers of MH3183 for the disruption to their travel plans.