Incident Overview
On 2 January 2004, at 20:48 UTC, an Air Luxor Airbus A-320, registration CS-TQE, was preparing for a passenger flight from Madeira Airport to Oporto. After push-back from stand A06 and while starting engine number 1, the aircraft suffered an unexpected and uncommanded nose landing gear retraction. The aircraft's nose struck the ground on taxi lane A, resulting in severe damage.
Sequence of Events
The flight crew consisted of 6 crew members and 172 passengers on board. Following push-back, the crew initiated start of engine number 1. During this procedure, the nose gear retracted without command. The ramp official assisting the flight was hit by the fuselage. The flight crew shut down both engines and coordinated a controlled disembarkation of all passengers through the front passenger door.
Injuries and Damage
No injuries were sustained by the 6 crew and 172 passengers. The ramp official suffered minor injuries. The aircraft incurred severe damage to the nose gear doors, nose gear leg, forward fuselage, and engine cowls.
Probable Cause
Investigation determined that an erratic failure, in conjunction with abnormal pressurisation of the gear retraction line due to a sealing ring anomaly, could lead to the uncommanded gear retraction. No other contributing factors were identified.