(3 Feb 2020) An Air Canada Boeing 767 aircraft carrying 128 passengers has made a safe emergency landing at Madrid Airport.
The Toronto-bound flight AC837 had departed from the Spanish capital in the early afternoon on Monday but had to request an emergency return after one of its two engines was damaged and a tyre ruptured during take off.
Emergency services including firefighting trucks and ambulances were deployed at the Spanish capital's airport before it landed.
Earlier Spain's Defense Ministry said that an F18 fighter jet had been dispatched from a military airport near the Spanish capital to evaluate the damage done to the landing gear of Toronto-bound flight AC837.
The aircraft had departed from the Adolfo Suárez-Barajas international airport and was scheduled to land in Toronto at 3:40 pm local time (2040GMT).
In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, the airline said the plane “experienced an engine issue shortly after take-off” as well as a ruptured tire - one of 10 on the Boeing 767-300.
It added that the aircraft “is designed to operate on one engine and our pilots are fully trained for this eventuality."
“Nonetheless, an emergency was declared in order to obtain landing priority," Air Canada said.
A spokeswoman with Spain's airport operator, AENA, told the AP that the airline had requested a slot for an emergency landing some 30 minutes after takeoff.
A spokesman for Enaire, Spain’s air navigation authority, said the plane's landing gear did not fold up properly on taking off and that a piece of it may have damaged part of one of the engines.
It was the second incident of the day at Madrid's international airport, the busiest in the country.
Earlier on Monday, the airport closed for over an hour due to the reported sighting of drones in the vicinity.
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