LONDON - Flights resumed but delays plagued London City Airport on Saturday, a day after 71 people escaped serious injury when their plane's front wheel gear collapsed upon landing.
About 65 flights were scheduled to leave the airport Saturday but some were delayed as long as three hours because of the previous night's disruption, which forced 11 incoming flights to divert, airport officials said.
The partial collapse of the landing gear on a British Airways passenger jet arriving from Amsterdam sent the plane scraping along the tarmac. All 71 people aboard escaped by emergency slides. The London Ambulance Service says four people were treated for injuries, and one was taken to a hospital.
The airline said the four-engine Avro 146-RJ100, made by BAE Systems, was carrying 67 passengers and four crew. London firefighters said the plane crashed onto the runway around 8 p.m.
There was no immediate explanation for the failure of the front wheel, and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch was investigating.
"The front wheel collapsed, the cabin filled with smoke and everyone had to vacate from the rear of the plane," said passenger Ray Hamblin. "People were pretty calm at first, but when the plane started to fill up with smoke, people were not moving fast enough and they got pretty fractious."
