American Airlines plane crash lands at Manchester

An American Airlines plane carrying 195 passengers has made an emergency landing at Manchester Airport.

The Chicago-bound flight 55 is thought to have been an hour into its journey from Manchester to Chicago O'Hare when a crew member spotted a problem with hydraulics in the landing gear.

The captain decided to turn back and make an emergency landing at 2.10p.m. at Manchester Airport.

The landing gear functioned properly although several tyres burst on impact.

Several incoming flights to Manchester were diverted to other UK airports.

A Manchester Airport spokesman said: "The captain of flight AA55 could have continued to Chicago but decided to return to Manchester.

"As a precaution we implemented full emergency landing procedures and we lined the runway with fire engines.

"But it has to be said this is a fairly routine and common problem.

"The landing gear came down and two tyres on the plane sustained damage and as a result we could not tow the plane from the runway, causing some further delay.

"Operations were suspended for around one hour."

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