Lufthansa Boeing 787 Nose Gear Collapse Mystery: New Evidence Suggests Landing Gear Retraction Test Gone Wrong
The dramatic images of a Lufthansa Boeing 787 collapsing onto its nose grabbed headlines worldwide, but important developments since then have received far less attention.
A closer look at the full surveillance footage reveals that the landing gear doors opened moments before the collapse—appearing exactly like a normal landing gear retraction sequence. This strongly suggests the incident was not caused by a structural landing gear failure, as many online discussions initially claimed.
According to Lufthansa, the aircraft was safely recovered after fuel was drained. Engineers lifted the jet, re-extended the nose landing gear, and successfully towed it to a maintenance hangar under its own weight.
Adding to the mystery, a German aviation publication reports that maintenance had reportedly been requested the day before due to an error message involving the main landing gear doors. This has fueled speculation that the collapse may have occurred during a functional landing gear test, similar to a British Airways ground incident in 2021.
Investigators have now completed evidence collection from the aircraft and are gathering witness statements. An interim report is expected within the next eight weeks.
What initially looked like a shocking gear collapse may ultimately prove to be a maintenance-related incident rather than a mechanical failure.