U.S. regulators ordered inspections of 200 Airbus SAS aircraft to prevent their front wheels from locking sideways, two months after a JetBlue plane was forced to make an emergency landing.
Airlines must determine whether certain braking and steering units were installed in the planes’ nose landing gear, the Federal Aviation Administration said in an order released Wednesday in Washington. Gear with those units must undergo additional inspections and may need to be replaced, the agency said.
A JetBlue A320 jet carrying 146 people made a safe emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 21 after pilots found the front landing gear stuck with the wheels turned 90 degrees. The cause was the failure of some lugs and a braking and steering control unit, FAA spokesman Les Dorr said.
The order covers A318, A319, A320 and A321 models and would affect 650 planes worldwide if other aviation regulators order similar reviews, Dorr said. U.S. airlines must begin inspections Wednesday and complete work within 90 days, he said.
Airbus issued instructions to carriers Oct. 18 on how to perform the inspections, the FAA said. JetBlue has finished examinations on its fleet and found no problems, said airline spokeswoman Jenny Dervin.
Denver-based Frontier has a fleet of 49 aircraft, including 42 A319 jets and seven A318 jets. United has about 150 A319 and A320s in its fleet, which are used in its Ted and mainline operations.
The National Transportation Safety Board hasn’t completed its probe of the JetBlue incident, an official said.
