
Pictured: An Air-India Airbus A310-324 in Dubai
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Alastair T. Gardiner
What: Air India Airbus A310-300 en route from Hyderabad India to Dammam Saudi Arabia
Where: Dammam
When: Dec 29th 2009
Who: not available
Why: After having a hydraulics failure, the crew manually lowered the gear prior to landing. After a normal landing, the plane had to be towed to the gate.
* While there is bound to be a way to manually lower gears from inside the plane (safely), when I hear the crew manually lowered the gears, I can’t help picturing Burt Lancaster (in tights) or members of the Cirque du Soleil (in the off season) swinging around the undercarriage in impossible formation.

Virgin Atlantic flight VS-107 had to return and make an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport, London, England, on April 27th.