Fire engines called as smoke seen when Airbus A380 lands at Birmingham

Fire engines were called to assist an Airbus A380 after its landing at Birmingham airport saw blue smoke billow from the wheels.

Abdullah Hussain, an aircraft enthusiast from Birmingham, said he saw the plane make "quite a rough landing".

He said he believed "a front tyre looked damaged and flat".

A source close to the airport said the Emirates aircraft had a problem with its brakes, but no one was hurt and there had not been a fire.

The Airbus A380 is one of the world's largest passenger aircraft, carrying 615 people, and only recently returned to Birmingham Airport after not being seen there since before the pandemic.

It serves a twice daily route between the city and Dubai.

Mr Hussain said he had seen A380 land a number of times and "normally glides really well", so it was clear to him that this was "not a normal sort of landing".

"A whole bunch of then fire engines and other vehicles then came out", he said.

Abdullah Hussain said he thought one of the aircraft tyres looked a bit flat

Emirates said the flight, from Dubai to Birmingham, made a safe landing and was then "attended by emergency services and maintenance technicians as there were reports of smoke during taxiing".

It said: "A technical issue was identified, engines were shut down as a precaution and the aircraft was towed to a remote stand.

"Passengers and crew safely disembarked."

After the inspections the aircraft was returned to service and Emirates apologised for any inconvenience caused.

The airport has also been contacted for a comment.