Passenger plane 'BOUNCED twice' during a hard landing that left debris scattered on the runway and forced the airport to close

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Lisbon Airport was forced to close for several hours after a passenger plane made a hard landing that 'crushed' its landing gear and left debris scattered across the runway.

The incident, on October 22, reportedly saw the TAP operated aircraft bouncing twice on the runway before finally coming to a stop.

There were 20 passengers and four crew on board at the time and all were said to have disembarked the flight without injury.

Photographs from the Portuguese GPIAA showed the plane on the tarmac with its front landing gear touching the ground

A close up of the nose landing gear shows that the wheels are no longer attached (above)

According to the Aviation Herald, flight TP1971 was travelling from Porto to Lisbon at the time.

The plane, an Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, bounced after the first touchdown according to the report, which caused the wheels on the nose landing gears to burst.

It then reportedly bounced again before finally landing on the third touchdown.

Air traffic control announced that the runway would be closed due to debris as the plane had 'crushed' its nose gear according to the Aviation Herald report.

Portugal's Publico paper revealed that the incident took place at 10.35pm local time.

Both runways at Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport were shut down.

One of the runways was cleared by 12.15am on October 23 while the second was also made available from 5.19am according to Publico. 

However, five flights had to be diverted to Porto and Faro while two other flights were rescheduled. 

Portuguese website Observador reported that the Portugal's Aviation Accidents Prevention and Investigation Department (GPIAA) was investigating the incident.

Although no preliminary findings have been released, an investigator at the airport said the landing gear on the nose and left hand side of the plane had collapsed, according to the report.

Lisbon Airport's air traffic control announced that the runway would be closed due to debris as the plane had 'crushed' its nose gear

According to a statement issued to Portuguese press, the airline has confirmed that the passengers and crew on board the flight were unharmed and were able to disembark the flight and continue with their journeys.

Alvaro Neves, director at GPIAA, confirmed with MailOnline Travel that a full investigation was taking place.

Neves said that the cause of the incident is likely to have been adverse weather during the final approach according to the preliminary investigation by the GPIAA.

He explained that, at about 50ft from the touchdown, the aircraft suffered from the effects of a down draft and was ‘thrown against the runway’, which then led to the two bounces.

On the second bounce, the tyres of the nose gear loosened before the aircraft finally landed on the third touchdown.

He added: ‘The aircraft rolled on the main landing gear and on the front leg of the nose gear, opening a trench on the runway surface.’ 

Lisbon Airport was forced to close for several hours after a TAP Portugal plane made a hard landing that 'crushed' its landing gear and left debris across the runway (file photo)

He added that all 20 passengers and four crew disembarked without injury.

A spokesman for TAP Portugal confirmed the incident.

In a statement issued to MailOnline Travel, the airline said: 'TAP confirms the incident involving a TAP Express flight, on Oct 22, at 22:35 in Lisbon (LIS time).

'Flight TP 1971, Porto/Lisbon, operated with an ATR 72 aircraft, had (on landing at LIS Airport) a hard landing with tyre burst and landing gear damaged. 

'All due safety measures and actions were immediately put in place.

'All passengers (20) and crew members (four) on board disembarked safely and no personal injuries were reported. 

'The main runway at the airport was temporarily closed and a secondary runway was used in the meantime. 

'Lisbon Airport re-opened later and operations were completely reinstated to normal.'

MailOnline Travel has contacted Lisbon Airport for additional comment.