Swiss Flight LX2142 Lowered Its Gear by Gravity at Valencia After a Hydraulic Warning, Then Blocked the Runway

Swiss flight LX2142 from Zurich to Valencia broke off its approach on September 25, 2026, after a warning on one of the Airbus A320’s three hydraulic systems. The jet, HB-IJQ with 173 passengers aboard, landed safely at 3:46 p.m. local time after the crew extended the landing gear mechanically.

It then could not steer off the runway, and because Valencia Airport has a single runway, some arriving flights had to be sent elsewhere while it was towed clear.

What happened on the approach

The flight left Zurich at 1:20 p.m., 80 minutes behind its noon schedule, 20 Minuten reported. Swiss spokesperson Nicole Meier said the affected hydraulic system is responsible for, among other things, the landing gear.

The crew set transponder code 7700, and the jet held near the airport for about an hour, Swiss told the news agency Keystone-SDA, according to SRF. A Valencia Airport spokesperson said it had gone around after a first landing attempt, the Corriere del Ticino reported.

Swiss stressed that a 7700 squawk does not mean immediate danger. It flags the aircraft so air traffic control can give it priority.

No low pass: Swiss corrected its first account

Early reports, including Swiss’s own first statement to 20 Minuten, said the A320 flew low over the airport so people on the ground could confirm the gear was down. Swiss later withdrew that: there was no such flyby.

Instead, the crew worked through a fixed troubleshooting checklist in the hold and extended the gear mechanically rather than through the affected hydraulic system. Swiss said that procedure is how pilots make sure the gear is fully down and locked.

How an A320 gets its wheels down without hydraulics

On the Airbus A320, the gear and gear-door actuators normally run on the green hydraulic system, one of three. The gear also has a backup that needs no hydraulic pressure at all, the kind of redundancy that runs through aircraft hydraulics.

That backup is a hand crank on the center pedestal. Three turns cut the gear off from hydraulic pressure, release the door and gear uplocks, and let the gear fall into place under its own weight, with springs on the main gear and the airflow on the nose gear helping it lock.

After a gravity extension the gear doors stay open, which matches The Aviation Herald’s report that HB-IJQ touched down on runway 12 with its gear doors open and stopped on the runway.

The stop on the runway followed from the same fault. On this generation of the A320, Swiss said, the nose wheel is steered by the same hydraulic system, so the jet could not taxi and had to wait for a tow vehicle.

The knock-on at Valencia

With the only runway blocked, some arriving flights were diverted, several of them to Alicante, Blick reported. Operations resumed about 40 minutes after the landing, according to SRF.

Swiss canceled the return flight to Zurich and is rebooking affected passengers. The airline said crew and passengers were never in danger, and HB-IJQ is being inspected by specialists in Valencia; no cause for the hydraulic warning had been published at the time of writing on September 26.