I guess this is what test flights are for, right? After spending more than a month in maintenance, a Dominican Republic-based SKYhigh Dominicana Embrear E190 suffered a nose gear failure during a test flight, resulting in the pilots having to perform a landing without the nose gear.

The aircraft registered HI1074, took to the skies on September 30, 2025 from Las Americas International Airport (SDQ), with seven crew on board. What was supposed to be a simple spin around the Dominican Republic, turned into a headache when the pilots realized the nose gear could not be extended.

sky high hi1074 replay nose gear incident

They spent about 30 minutes in various holds trying to troubleshoot the matter, but were unsuccessful, and landed at 5:20 p.m. (local time) on runway, gently scraping the front section of the aircraft. From the videos, the pilots did an excellent bringing the nose down. Hopefully they managed to keep damage to the fuselage at a minimum.

Emergency services quickly attended to the damaged aircraft, with no injuries being reported.

Avión de Sky High realiza aterrizaje de emergencia en el AILA
skyhigh dominican e190 hi1074 nose gear failure 01

Stories like this remind me how desensitized we’ve become to aviation incidents. More than 20 years ago, JetBlue 292 made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) after its nose gear was stuck almost 90 degrees perpendicular to the direction of the aircraft frame.

I distinctly remember being in a Chinese restaurant waiting for my order to be prepared, and seeing the event being televised, not just across the United States, but internationally. It’s such a notable event that still gets press coverage more than 20 years later. Fast forward two decades, and even very serious incursions do not get that much attention from the regular onlooker.

The rate of aviation related incidents has not necessarily been on the rise, with major accidents actually being on a steady decline. However, a combination of better reporting and increased media coverage (this article adding to that) does make it seem like things are much worse than they really are.  

There has also been a rise in relatively minor occurrences such as apron and taxiway collisions, bird strikes, and runway incursion and excursion events (among others) relative to increased air traffic. Again, much of this comes down to heightened media attention, leading to the general public becoming more desensitized to these types of situations.