Vietjet’s flight crew suspended after Buon Ma Thuot landing incident

Dinh Viet Thang, head of CAAV, said today that CAAV had suspended the crew of flight VJ356 from HCMC to Buon Ma Thuot to conduct an investigation into the incident in which the nose landing gear of the aircraft lost its two wheels during the landing and six passengers were injured.

The flight crew includes the cockpit crew, the cabin crew and other relevant staff who were responsible for the flight. Flight captain Ramon Alexander Carag Avila is from the Philippines while the first officer is Raul Vidal Alves, a Spaniard.

CAAV investigators have collected the black boxes and other materials involving the flight.

While the plane was landing, weather conditions were fine with visibility at 10km. The flight captain did not seek any technical assistance during the landing, the CAAV head said.

Flight VJ356 on the night of November 29 was carrying 207 passengers. Before the rough landing, the plane was shaking violently and producing loud noise. The incident prompted an emergency evacuation and left six passengers injured.

Vietjet began putting this plane into commercial service in the middle of last month.