Leeds Bradford Airport: TUI flight suffered 'catastrophic failure' before skidding off runway

The TUI flight, from Corfu, was landing at the airport during Storm Babet when it came off the runway on October 20, 2023.

All 195 passengers and crew were unharmed, but the airport was forced to close while investigations took place.

Now a report published today (Thursday, October 24) by the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) found one of the aircraft's nosewheel bearings suffered a "catastrophic failure" which resulted in the plane "juddering" as it came into land.

The AAIB report said: “After touching down at Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) in stormy weather, the aircraft began to yaw left of the runway centreline. When the pilot flying increased the right rudder input to correct the deviation, both pilots reported feeling a significant judder from the nose gear.

“This prompted the pilot flying to reduce the right rudder input and, although there were repeated brief right pedal inputs, the aircraft continued to deviate from the centreline and left the runway.

“The investigation found that one of the aircraft’s nosewheel bearings had suffered a catastrophic failure, likely during the rollout at LBA. The resultant juddering was unexpected, and the crew were uncertain as to its impact.”

The report said the initial phase of the landing was normal, with the aircraft touching down and decelerating properly before the plane deviated left due to a strong crosswind.

Despite the mechanical failure however, the investigation found that the fault should not have prevented the plane from being kept on the runway.

The report added: “Pilots are trained to deal with non-normal and emergency events and the aircraft deviation from the runway centreline may have been considered a challenging situation by the crew.

“There was limited time for the crew to assess the cause of the judder and the practical impact it had on the directional control of the aircraft and surprise or startle may have been a factor.

“However, as the aircraft approached the side of the runway, it is not clear why the PF did not attempt to use all right rudder available, in spite of the judder, to prevent the runway excursion.”

The aircraft sustained only minor damage and no one was injured during the incident. The crew followed normal shutdown procedures to secure the aircraft.

If you’d like to receive more stories like this and the latest news from the Yorkshire Evening Post, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

A spokesperson for Leeds Bradford Airport said: “Our Safety & Compliance team worked closely with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) following the incident in October last year. While supporting the AAIB, we also took the opportunity to conduct our own internal investigation to review our emergency response processes and procedures.

“We were satisfied that the conclusions presented in the AAIB bulletin issued on October 24 and the outcomes reached in relation to the airport mirrored the outcomes of our own investigation.

“LBA is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for the local community where we operate, our customers, partners and employees.”

TUI have been approached for comment.