A Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM Mozambique (TM)) Bombardier Q400 operating flight TM205 between Chimoio and Maputo, on Sunday 16 December 2012, was forced to make an
emergency landing at Beira airport, following gear retraction problems on take off from Chimoio.
Official reports state neither the
passengers nor the aircraft suffered harm, though unofficial sources had
stated that the aircraft had been damaged and that Mozambique's First
Lady, Maria da Luz Guebuza, was on board and was the "reason" for the incident.
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| The unconfirmed tweet alleging the Mozambican First Lady was aboard |
According to Mozambique's official news agency, Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM), the aircraft had set off from the city of
Chimoio near the Zimbabwean border at 16h00L (three hours later than scheduled) on a flight to
Maputo, following which, the crew noted that the undercarriage had not fully retracted.
The captain subsequently chose to divert to the port city of Beira, some 25 minutes flying time from Chimoio, thereby necessitating the burning off of fuel.
According to passengers on the plane, the pilot assured them that “there was no security problem” after which, the aircraft landed safely. Passengers were offloaded onto other flights with the Q400 later being ferried to LAM's maintenance hangar at Maputo International Airport.