Airbus A321XLR's First Incident? Serious Bird Strike Forces Diversion
A Boeing 747-8 operating a transatlantic flight for German flag carrier and Star Alliance founding member Lufthansa had to return to its point of origin yesterday evening after reportedly experiencing issues with its landing gear. The quadjet left Chicago for Frankfurt, but touched back down in the Windy City 75 minutes later.
While the issues seemingly became evident fairly early on in the flight, the fueled-up double-decker widebody would likely have been too heavy to make an immediate return to Chicago. As such, it flew northward out over Lake Michigan, where it performed a handful of holding patterns, presumably in order to burn its excess fuel. This allowed it to make a safe landing back in Chicago, where the jet remains.
The Flight Was Much Shorter Than Expected
Lufthansa flight LH431 is a regularly scheduled commercial passenger service that is scheduled to leave Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) in the US federal state of Illinois at 16:00 every day. Its destination is Frankfurt (FRA) in Germany, where, after a scheduled block time of eight hours and 20 minutes, it is timed to arrive at 07:20 the next morning. Lufthansa serves this route with the Boeing 747-8.
According to Flightradar24, the German flag carrier rostered a 747-8 registered as D-ABYH on yesterday's iteration of flight LH431, which departed almost an hour late, at 16:52. However, the delay soon worsened, with the Aviation Herald reporting that the jet had to return to Chicago due to an issue with its landing gear. This prompted the crew to stop the flight's climb at 6,000 feet, and return to Chicago O'Hare Airport.
Simple Flying reached out to Lufthansa for further information on the diversion. A spokesperson for the airline said that it was unable to investigate this occurrence.
D-ABYH Remains On The Ground In Chicago
As seen in the earlier map, D-ABYH spent around an hour flying in holding patterns over Lake Michigan before making its return to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Flightradar24 observed that this would lower its fuel weight, but whether this was done by dumping fuel or if the flying itself was sufficient to lose the necessary tonnage remains unconfirmed. Either way, the jet safely made it back to Chicago.
Here, the Aviation Herald explains, D-ABYH touched down on the facility's 3,292-meter (10,800 feet) long runway 10C just 75 minutes after its initial departure. Runway 10C is actually one of eight runways at Chicago O'Hare International, with this impressive total making it the world's leading airport by the number of strips.
Commentary on social media sites such as X (formerly known as Twitter) and Reddit suggested that the aircraft's landing gear had failed to retract upon its departure from the Windy City, with the jet reportedly having been met by multiple aircraft vehicles after landing. Some also hinted at a potential wing issue. Either way, Flightradar24 showed at the time of writing that D-ABYH remained on the ground.
The Boeing 747-8 Is A Key US Workhorse For Lufthansa
According to fleet data from ch-aviation, D-ABYH is 12.44 years old. Lufthansa ordered the aircraft back in December of 2006, and it was delivered to the German flag carrier on March 27, 2013, just 18 days after making its first flight. The quadjet has spent its entire operational career at the airline, and it has 244 economy, 32 premium economy, 80 business, and eight first class seats for a total of 364.
All in all, D-ABYH is one of 19 units of the Boeing 747-8 that Lufthansa currently has at its disposal. These double-decker widebody quadjets have a mean age of 11.8 years old, meaning that the example involved in yesterday's diversion is slightly older than average. They were delivered between April 2012 and April 2015.
Lufthansa Airline Type Full Service Carrier Hub(s) Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport Year Founded 1953 Alliance Star Alliance Airline Group Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr Loyalty Program Miles & More IATA/ICAO Code LH/DLH Powered by Expand Collapse
According to present scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, the Boeing 747-8 is Lufthansa's second-most popular aircraft type on its routes to and from the US. Indeed, it accounts for 496 of the German flag carrier's 1,950 US flights this August, representing a proportion of around 25.4%. The only aircraft type with more is the Airbus A350-900, whose 506 flights equate to 25.9%.