Nosegear failed to lower on a Q300 flying into Wellington today and it diverted to Blenheim. Passengers bussed to Nelson (2 hours away) and flown from there to Wellington. IIRC SAS had a string of problems with Dash 8's a couple of years ago and abandoned the aircraft type.
Yes there was one last year which also diverted to Blenheim. BHE has the advantage of causing less inconvenience when runway is closed following the abnormal landing, and there are engineering facilities there.
Makes me wonder why they didn't just nip 'em up to Picton and pop 'em on the ferry! You do RC. And it wasn't just the nose gear, it was often the right or left hand side gear. Although SAS's were all the larger Q400 rather than Q300 that NZ uses. Plus a nice long runway without a big splash at the end, and a fairly hefty squad of military fire trucks, if my sojourn there last week is any guide. And I wouldn't dream of mentioning that every journo and his mother was at WLG today either...
Emergency services attend the Air Nelson plane after it landed without its front wheel down. Photo: Derek Flynn / The Marlborough Express
Although only temporarily, IIRC: SAS ended up being persuaded (inter alia with discounts for compensation) that the Q400 was too good an aircraft to be without, after all - so Widerøe has got some new ones now.
