Flybe de Havilland Dash 8-400, performing flight from Belfast City to Inverness, with 53 passengers and 4 crew, was climbing out Belfast City Airport when the crew stopped the climb at 4000 feet reporting problems with their gear.

The aircraft entered a hold while the crew was troubleshooting the problem, but was unable to resolve the problem, the nose gear remained in an unsafe position and could not be extended again. The crew decided to divert to Belfast’s Aldergrove International Airport, where the aircraft landed safely on runway 25 about 2:05 hours after departure coming to a stop on its main gear and the nose. One person was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, the aircraft received substantial damage.

The airline confirmed flight BE-331 landed with the nose gear retracted. One passenger was taken to a hospital with a minor hand injury. There were 52 passengers plus one infant and 4 crew on board.

According to ground observers the aircraft’s nose gear doors were open, however, the nose gear could not be seen obviously remaining locked up in the nose wheel well.

On Nov 14th 2017 the AAIB reported the nose gear failed to extend. The occurrence is being investigated by the AAIB.