Turkish Plane Takes Off from Katunayake with Unretracted Wheels, Circles Chilaw for Emergency Landing

A Turkish Airlines passenger plane, which departed from Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport bound for Istanbul, Turkey, made a safe emergency landing back at Katunayake early this morning (17) due to a sudden technical malfunction shortly after takeoff. The Turkish Airlines flight TK 733 had departed from the island around 10:00 PM yesterday (16), carrying 202 passengers and 10 crew members at the time.

After the takeoff of this large Airbus A-330 aircraft, manufactured in France, the pilot observed that its landing gear system was not retracting properly into the aircraft. With this technical malfunction, the pilot decided to land the plane again and took steps to burn off excess fuel to reduce the aircraft's weight for a safe landing.

Accordingly, the pilot kept the aircraft flying at an altitude of approximately 4000 feet and a speed of about 140 knots over the Chilaw coastline, circling until only the essential amount of fuel required for landing remained.

Following notification to Katunayake Airport authorities about this emergency, ambulances, fire fighting units, and medical teams were placed on high alert within the airport premises. In addition, special boats and rescue teams were stationed around the Negombo Lagoon to respond to any emergency, according to airport sources. However, after the pilot's strenuous efforts, the aircraft landed safely at Katunayake Airport around 12:27 AM today, and no passengers were harmed in the incident.