Forgotten Pin? Int’l Flight Loops Over Shanghai, Then U-Turns

Source: OT-Team(G), 新民晚报

A Shanghai international flight was forced to return shortly after takeoff due to a forgotten landing gear safety pin.

On July 21, a social media user reported that China Eastern Airlines flight MU735, which departed from Shanghai Pudong International Airport on July 20 en route to Sydney, returned to the airport shortly after takeoff, allegedly due to a landing gear safety pin not being removed. The incident reportedly led the aircraft to dump fuel before returning.

According to real-time flight tracking data from the Air Travel app, MU735 was operated by an Airbus A350-900. After takeoff, the aircraft circled approximately five times over the Yangtze River estuary before returning to Pudong.

Multiple aviation industry professionals also shared screenshots on social media, showing internal company messages reminding staff that, "A long-haul flight was forced to dump fuel and return due to ground crew forgetting to remove the landing gear pin. Let this be a warning to all."

When contacted on the afternoon of July 21, a China Eastern Airlines customer service representative confirmed that the return of flight MU735 was due to "aircraft maintenance reasons," but declined to provide further specifics. The airline arranged a replacement flight for affected passengers, who eventually arrived safely in Sydney after a delay of 3 hours and 33 minutes.

The landing gear safety pin is a critical pre-flight inspection item. If not removed, the landing gear cannot retract properly and may trigger warnings in the cockpit. According to the Airbus A350-900 manual, the recommended procedure in such cases is to dump fuel to reduce weight before returning to the departure airport.

This is not the first time a Chinese carrier has faced a similar issue. In January 2024, Air China came under scrutiny after it was revealed that flight CA1825, from Beijing to Changzhou, had to return due to failure to remove the front landing gear safety pin. On January 23, Air China issued an apology via its official Weibo account, attributing the incident to staff negligence. The airline expressed regret for the disruption caused to passengers and vowed to conduct a thorough internal review and strengthen accountability measures.