Incident caught on camera: Passengers had not yet boarded the one-year-old Dreamliner waiting at the gate in Frankfurt airport; Expert: 'very unusual' for a nose landing gear to collapse while an aircraft is at a standstill Related TopicsSeveral staff members were injured when the nose gear ​of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner unexpectedly collapsed ‌at a gate at Frankfurt airport on Thursday, its operator Lufthansa said."Passengers had not yet boarded," a company spokesperson ​said in an emailed statement, adding that ​crew members and ground staff were on board ⁠the aircraft at the time of the incident, ​which was first reported by Bloomberg News."Several staff ​members were injured and are currently receiving medical treatment," the company added.The aircraft is just over a year old and was delivered to Lufthansa in January, one of the newest additions to the airline’s wide-body fleet, according to Flightradar24. Since entering service in February, the plane has operated 137 flights, the flight-tracking website said.The moment the nose fell off the plane:Video footage from the scene appeared to show the front wheels of the aircraft sliding forward and the plane’s nose falling several meters (yards) as a ground crew member standing nearby quickly backed away. The doors to the nose gear bay broke off upon impact.A Boeing spokesperson said the company was aware of ​the incident and was supporting its customer but ​offered no further detail.A Reuters photographer saw multiple emergency vehicles ‌parked ⁠around the two-engine widebody aircraft, which partly lay on its belly.The incident occurred Thursday at 12:45 p.m. and the jet was scheduled to depart for ​Los Angeles ​as flight ⁠LH450, Lufthansa said.1 View gallery The plane on its belly after the incident (Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)"We are currently investigating the exact circumstances with the relevant authorities," ​the company added.The 787, of which Lufthansa ​operates ⁠the 787-9 variant, is a relatively new addition for the group, which is planning to gradually phase ⁠out ​less efficient jets and simplify ​its fleet.Jeff Guzzetti, a former U.S. federal aviation crash investigator, said it is “very unusual” for a nose landing gear to collapse while an aircraft is at a standstill. He cautioned it is too early to speculate on the cause of the incident, but he said potential factors could include prior damage to the landing gear, a mechanical failure or issues related to maintenance work.In recent years, the 787 program had been plagued by production flaws and quality-control issues, with shipments of the large plane temporarily halted on multiple occasions.Issues with the 787 started in 2020 when small gaps were found between panels of the fuselage that are made of carbon composite material. That prompted inspections that turned up problems with a pressurization bulkhead at the front of the plane.Comments