Scoot plane heading from South Korea to Singapore lands in Taiwan with missing wheel

A Scoot aeroplane, that departed from South Korea for Singapore, was found to have a missing nose wheel upon its arrival in Taipei on Monday morning during a scheduled stop.

According to a statement released by the airlines, flight TR897, which connects Seoul, Taipei and Singapore, detected a technical fault upon landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

“The flight which was originally scheduled to depart from Taipei to Singapore at 1.30 am was subsequently cancelled,” it added.

As per Focus Taiwan reports, the flight had more than 300 passengers on board.

According to Taiwanese media outlets, the left nose wheel toppled at the time the plane was landing at 12:06 am after sensors detected abnormal tyre pressure before the aeroplane's descent.

“When the plane landed, the left tyre and metal rim on the nose gear were shorn off, leaving only the right nose tyre to keep the plane upright and moving,” reported Taiwan News.

Also, there were no signs of the wheel on the runway or taxiway, Focus Taiwan cited Taoyuan International Airport as saying.

As per the aviation safety portal SKYbrary, a nose wheel assists a plane in directional control during take-off and landing, and “allows the aircraft to manoeuvre whilst on the ground”.

Incident to be investigated, saysTaiwan's transport minister

Taiwan's transport and communications minister Wang Kwo-tsai said that the incident will be probed by its Civil Aeronautics Administration and relevant authorities, as per CNA reports.

“Hotel accommodation and flight refunds have been arranged for our passengers where applicable. Scoot will provide assistance to customers with connecting flights from Singapore,” CNA quoted Scoot as saying.

The airline further said that it had arranged a recovery flight TR897D for the remaining passengers from Taipei to Singapore on Monday at 8:45 pm.

The recovery flight landed in Singapore at 1:35 am on Tuesday, as per Changi Airport's website.

"Scoot sincerely apologises for the disruption and inconvenience caused. The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority, and we will continue to provide assistance to affected customers where necessary," CNA quoted Scoot as saying.

(With inputs from agencies)

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