Created Friday, Dec 10th 2021 15:39Z, last updated Friday, Dec 10th 2021 15:39Z
A BoA Boliviana de Aviacion Boeing 737-300, registration CP-3077 performing flight
OB-604 from Cochabamba to La Paz (Bolivia) with 90 passengers and 6 crew, landed on La Paz's runway 10 when the aircraft suffered severe vibrations on the roll out and came to a stop on the runway, the aircraft was disabled. Emergency services responded and found the left main wheels had rotated versus the left main gear strut. 4 passengers received minor injuries.
Passengers reported a number of ceiling panels came down during the landing roll out.
The airline reported the aircraft stopped on the runway due to probelms with the landing gear.
Bolivia's DGAC reported the aircraft, a Boeing 737-300 registration CP-3077 performing flight
OB-604, suffered a malfunction in the main gear and became disabled on the runway, the runway needed to be closed for about 2.5 hours. Bolivia's Accident Investigation Unit have opened an investigation and will contact the aircraft manufacturer.
Late Oct 8th 2019 Bolivia's DGAC announced, that all operations of Boeing 737 Classic Aircraft at La Paz El Alto International Airport are temporarily suspended starting Oct 10th for as long as techncial evaluations with respect to Operations and Air Worthiness are being carried until risk mitigations and acceptable level of safety is re-established. A series of events prompted the assessment and suspension (editorial note: see also Incident: BoA B733 at La Paz on Mar 7th 2019, fracture of left shimmy damper on landing, Accident: Peruvian B735 at La Paz on Nov 22nd 2018, both main gear struts collapse on landing and Incident: BoA B733 at La Paz on Nov 1st 2017, gear fracture).
In a Spanish progress report Bolivia's DGAC reported the investigation is still ongoing, analysis of the facts with specialists and the compilation of the final report as well as safety recommendations are under way.
The DGAC reported that a visual inspection confirmed both shimmy dampers on both main gear struts were broken and the wheels were damaged.
The captain (53, ATPL, 9,012 total hours) also held a flight instructors (B737) license and was assisted by the first officer (23, CPL, 893 hours total).
The FDR was examined by the NTSB and was found to be consistent with shimmy damper failures, which typically is caused one of the three factors: maintenance, high speed landing or a low rate of descent on touch down. Maintenance can not be determined to be a contributing factor, it is likely that the landing speed was increased due to tailwind at the time of touch down. It is also likely that one gear strut touched down before the other causing torsional moments which exceeded the other gear's shimmy damper's limits.
The aircraft seen on the runway:
The main gear:
