Photo: WestJet

A recent WestJet flight from Kelowna to Edmonton required visual confirmation from the ground that its landing gear was down following a malfunction.

The Westjet Encore De Havilland Dash 8 400 was en route to Edmonton on Nov 29 when the crew received a landing gear inoperative indication, aeroinside.com reports.

There were 24 passengers and four crew on board.

The crew performed a manual gear extension on approach to the airport, which required excessive force to operate the system.

The captain elected to perform a low approach and have the landing gear inspected from the ground, however, the tower reported the nose gear had not been extended, only the main gear.

The crew declared an emergency and performed a second manual gear extension, which was successful, and the flight landed safely.

The Transportation Safety Board reported that maintenance found a loose bracket and two others that needed adjustment. In testing, the gear worked without further issue.

Aeroinside's report contains information from the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Report System.

Transport Canada endeavours to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the data contained within CADORS, however, the information within should be treated as preliminary, unsubstantiated and subject to change.