COLOGNE- A missing downlock pin caused the nose gear collapse of a nearly new Lufthansa (LH) Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) on June 4, 2026, according to a preliminary report from Germany’s Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU).
Ground crews were preparing the aircraft, registered D-ABPQ and named “Herne,” for flight LH450 to Los Angeles (LAX) when the gear folded at the gate.
The Dreamliner had arrived that morning from Austin (AUS) and was undergoing landing gear maintenance when its nose dropped to the ground at 12:45 PM local time.
The BFU released its interim findings on July 9, 2026, confirming that no one had fitted the safety pin meant to hold the nose gear down, and that investigators later found it unused in a storage box.
Missing Downlock Pin Behind the Frankfurt Collapse
The BFU documented that no one had inserted the landing gear downlock pin into the designated hole on the nose landing gear, and that the pin sat nowhere near the nose landing gear either. Instead, investigators recovered the pin inside its storage box, untouched throughout the maintenance session.
A maintenance request had been raised the previous evening after an error message related to the landing gear appeared. Engineers set out to resolve a fault in the main landing gear door control system.
The procedure required them to place the aircraft on jacks and command the landing gear system while the aircraft stayed on the ground.
To keep the gear from physically retracting during this work, engineers must insert downlock pins into designated holes in each landing gear. With the pins fitted, the door system can operate while the gear stays locked down. Investigators confirmed the pins for both main gears were correctly installed. The nose gear pin was not.
The interim report said the gear retracted immediately after technicians in the cockpit moved a control lever to the “up” position during the maintenance test. With no pin securing it, the nose gear folded and the aircraft dropped onto its nose.
The BFU stressed that the Boeing 787 landing gear system worked exactly as designed. The failure points to a lapse in maintenance procedure rather than any mechanical defect in the aircraft.
What Airport CCTV Showed
Airport CCTV captured the collapse. At the moment the gear gave way, a unit load device (ULD) loader sat connected to the forward right cargo hold, and 2 passenger boarding bridges reached the two forward left doors. The nose gear tore off its access panel as it folded.
When the gear retracted and the nose struck the ground, the cockpit door slammed shut and the aircraft’s power and lighting went out. Ground service equipment near the forward fuselage struck the lower structure, causing substantial damage.
Injuries at Gate
Two people were taken to hospital with serious injuries, while another 21 were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
In total, the BFU identified 34 individuals connected to the incident, including 28 who were on board the aircraft and 5 ground handling staff on the apron, one of whom was a technician standing at the nose landing gear. No passengers were aboard, as boarding had not yet started.
Aircraft Details and Timing
The Boeing 787-9 was delivered to Lufthansa on January 17, 2026. It is one of the airline’s 16 in-service 787-9s, and it had operated 137 flights since entering service in February.
The jet carried Lufthansa’s new Allegris cabin interiors and had been flying for under four months when the accident happened.
The Boeing 787 is built largely from carbon fibre reinforced plastic rather than aluminium. Because composite structures require specialised inspection and repair techniques, analysts expect the aircraft could remain grounded for several months.
Lufthansa canceled the Los Angeles flight and rebooked affected passengers onto a replacement service.
2021 British Airways Incident
The Frankfurt accident closely resembles a nose gear collapse involving a British Airways (BA) Boeing 787-8, registered G-ZBJB, at London Heathrow (LHR) on June 18, 2021. Ground crews were preparing that aircraft for cargo flight BA906 to Frankfurt when its nose gear retracted during the same type of maintenance.
In the British Airways case, an engineer fitted the nose gear downlock pin into the adjacent apex pin bore rather than the correct downlock pin hole.
The AAIB found the two holes sat close together, with strong tactile and auditory cues that could mislead an engineer into believing the pin had seated correctly. When a technician selected the gear lever up, the nose gear retracted.
A safeguard for exactly this error already existed. After an earlier 787 event, the FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive with a 36 month compliance window from January 16, 2020, requiring operators to fit an insert over the apex pin bore to stop the downlock pin from going into the wrong hole. British Airways had not carried out that modification on G-ZBJB.
The Lufthansa case differs in a key way. The pin was not misplaced in the wrong hole. It was never fitted at all. The outcome, a nose gear retraction and collapse, was the same.
Next Steps in Investigation
The BFU has not assigned a cause and describes the July report as a factual account of what it has found so far.
A BFU spokesperson told Reuters that the agency expects to publish a final report in about a year, which could push the investigation into 2027.
The inquiry will continue to examine maintenance procedures, checklist compliance, and human factors before the BFU decides whether to issue safety recommendations.
Lufthansa Technik, the division responsible for the work, is expected to run its own internal review.
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