Xian Aircraft Company (Xi'an Yanliang) has successfully applied to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to ground some active MA-60s following a series of incidents involving the type's landing gear assembly and indication system. The CAAC on Friday, February 28, issued a directive grounding fifteen MA60s worldwide including those owned by Okay Airways (BK, Tianjin) and JoyAir (JR, Xi'an Xianyang) as well as those owned by Lao Airlines (QV, Vientiane), Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare International), Transporte Aéreo Militar - TAM (La Paz El Alto), and those formerly operated by Zest Air (Manila Ninoy Aquino International) in the Philippines.
The first incident occurred on February 4 when the nose gear of a Joy Air MA-60, B-3455 (cn 803), inexplicably retracted during roll out on Zhengzhou's runway 12. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. Then on February 25, an Okay Airways MA-60, B-3710 (cn 510), was forced to hold for two hours around Shenyang Taoxian International airport while crew verified whether or not the aircraft's gear was down and locked. The turboprop was able to land safely.
"As a precaution, Xian Aircraft Company has decided to apply as soon as possible to the airworthiness authorities to temporarily ground MA-60 aircraft. The grounding will allow AVIC to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the aircraft's landing gear indication system," AVIC said in a statement.
Once confirmed safe and reliable, it will then apply to the authority to return the type into service.
The ch-aviation aircraft database shows a total of 88 MA-60s have been built of which the majority are operational in China.
