Videos From Air India Express "Hard Landing" Show Touchdown Moment

An Air India Express flight from Hyderabad to Phuket made a hard landing at Phuket International Airport on Wednesday, damaging the aircraft's front landing gear and forcing the airport to temporarily suspend runway operations. The Boeing Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft was operating flight IX 938 and had 133 passengers on board. All passengers were safely evacuated after the incident.

Passengers Describe "Hard Landing"

Videos posted on X by passengers appear to capture the moments around the landing. One user claimed the aircraft - registered VT-BWQ - suffered a nose-wheel failure after touchdown, leaving it stranded on the runway and forcing airport authorities to suspend operations.

Another passenger, who was filming the landing, described it as unusually forceful.

"I was filming our landing on Air India Express flight IX 938 from Hyderabad to Phuket when we hit the runway really hard," the passenger wrote on X. "It was such a bad landing that you could actually smell something burning inside the plane. I think it's with front wheel."

@airindia @AirIndiaX @ndtv @aajtak
I was filming our landing on Air India Express flight IX 938 from Hyderabad to Phuket when we hit the runway really hard. It was such a bad landing that you could actually smell something burning inside the plane. I think it's with front wheel. pic.twitter.com/IaFgjqy3Na

— Minal Ahuja (@imminal35) March 11, 2026

Airline Responds to Passenger

Responding to the post on X, Air India Express acknowledged the incident and said safety procedures were followed.

The airline said the aircraft experienced an issue with the nose or front wheel after landing, but added that the situation was handled in line with standard safety protocols and that all passengers were safely deplaned.

Runway Temporarily Closed

Airport authorities issued a Notice to Air Mission (NOTAM) after the landing, closing the runway for several hours while emergency teams responded and the aircraft was cleared.

Sources said the plane experienced a problem during landing that damaged the nose landing gear, with photographs from the scene showing the broken wheel on the runway.

Emergency response teams and airport officials secured the area and carried out safety inspections before normal operations resumed.

Flight Details

According to data from Flightradar24, flight IX 938 departed Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 6:42 am, slightly later than its scheduled departure time of 6:20 am.

The aircraft landed at Phuket at around 11:40 am local time, after which the landing issue was reported.

The nose wheel is a key component of an aircraft's landing gear, helping support the front section of the plane and enabling steering during taxi, take-off and landing.