Air India B744 could not retract gear, captain grounded

An Air India Boeing 747-400, flight AI-824 from Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) to Mumbai (India) with 300 passengers, had taken off Riyadh, on May 27 when the crew could not retract the landing gear. Air India's dispatch ordered the crew to fly to Mumbai (duration 3:25 hours) all the way with the gear down, the captain however refused and returned to Riyadh for a safe landing.
Media in India report, that Air India grounded the captain and stopped his salary in reaction to the return.
The incident raises memories of the Hapag-Lloyd Airbus A310-300 registration D-AHLB performing flight HF-3378 from Chania (Greece) to Hannover (Germany) with 142 passengers and 8 crew on July 12th 2000. The crew could not retract the gear, but continued their flight and crash landed short of the runway in Vienna (Austria) due to fuel exhaustion and resulting loss of thrust on both engines. Some minor injuries occured, the airplane had to be written off.
16/06/09 Simon Hradecky/The Aviation Herald

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Categories: Air India - International Jun 2009, Airports Jun 2009, Foreign Jun 2009, NACIL Jun 2009, Safety Jun 2009