A Boeing 747 Dreamlifter cargo plane may be stuck at a minor airport
in Kansas for some time after it apparently landed there by mistake.
The giant cargo jet was heading for McConnell air force base in
Wichita but instead touched down at nearby Colonel James Jabara
airport.
Local media report that the jet may be too large to take off from
Jabara’s 1,860m (6,100ft) runway.
Boeing is sending a tug to the airport to turn the plane around, reports say.
The firm said in a statement it would release further details on
Thursday morning, local time.
It is not yet clear how the plane will leave Jabara airport.
The cargo plane normally requires a runway of 2,780m (9,119ft) to take
off at maximum weight, it says, and the tug dispatched to the airport
to turn the jumbo around has broken down en route.
The Dreamlifter, which landed at Jabara on Wednesday evening, is a
modified 747-400 passenger aeroplane, which can carry more cargo by
volume than any aeroplane in the world, according to Boeing.
The aerospace company uses its fleet of four Dreamlifters to transport
large assembled components of its 787 Dreamliner from suppliers around
the world to the final assembly location in Washington state.
The City of Wichita tweeted that no one was injured and no property
damage occurred when the plane landed. – BBC News
