Operations at London Gatwick (LGW) were halted for nearly an hour on Friday, Sep. 4, after a Norse Atlantic Airways flight aborted its take-off at high speed, triggering an emergency response and widespread disruption across the airport’s network.
Nose Gear Failure and Emergency Response
The Norse Atlantic Flight Z0701, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner bound for New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), began its departure roll on Runway 26L shortly after its scheduled 13:05 take-off time. As the aircraft accelerated, reaching 138mph, the pilots aborted the take-off, braking suddenly, after detecting a critical fault with the nose landing gear.
Reports say that the nose wheels had rotated 90 degrees during the take-off run.
Passenger Alice Kavanagh, a press reporter, described the moment the aircraft came to a sudden halt:
“Honestly, the whole situation was pretty scary,” she said. “We were starting to speed up for take off and all of a sudden, the pilot slammed the brakes on the plane. It’s so lucky that the pilot spotted it… god knows what would happen if we’d taken off.”
Emergency fire and rescue teams were deployed immediately, surrounding the aircraft on the runway as engineers boarded to assess the landing gear. Passengers remained seated throughout the inspection.
The Dreamliner was later towed from the runway for further checks.
Delays, Diversions and Gridlock
Although Gatwick has two runways, they are positioned too close together to operate simultaneously. As a result, the incident forced a complete suspension of arrivals and departures for 50 minutes.
Around 20 inbound flights were diverted to other airports, including London Stansted (STN) and Birmingham (BHX). Knock-on disruption continued into the evening, with easyJet services to Belfast, Paris, Venice and Prague all facing delays. One traveller reported being stuck on the tarmac in Milan for three hours before their return flight to Gatwick was cancelled.
A Gatwick spokesperson confirmed the runway reopened shortly after the incident, following “a full safety inspection.”
Consumer group Which? reminded affected passengers that airlines are responsible for ensuring travellers reach their final destination and must provide food, drink or accommodation depending on the length of delay.
According to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), this marks the eleventh Boeing-related incident this year.
Were you impacted by the Gatwick delays? Let us know in the comments.
