Swissair Flight 142

Swissair Flight 142 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Geneva – Cointrin Airport, Geneva, Switzerland, to Paris, France, operated by Swissair. On 25 April 1962, the "Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III" aircraft operating the flight suffered a malfunction after take-off from Geneva, after the nose landing gear leg jammed when it was almost fully retracted. The pilot reported the problem and his intention to return, but Swissair operations control instructed the crew to continue to Zurich, where it could make an emergency landing. At that moment there were 66 passengers and 6 crew members on board the machine.

After the aircraft arrived in Zurich, several unsuccessful attempts were made to fix the problem in the air, after which a runway was prepared, sprayed with foam to prevent sparks and possible ignition of the fuselage as it rubbed along the runway. The machine touched down about 500 m from the start of the runway at a speed slightly lower than 200 km/h, with its parachute deployed. The nose touched the runway surface about a kilometre after that and came to a stop on the "foam carpet" almost 2 km from the end of the runway. During the landing a fire broke out in the compartment below the cockpit. All the people on board survived.

According to the investigation, a maintenance employee at Geneva airport inadvertently performed an action that left the nose landing gear door open even before take-off, and this probably led to the jamming of the landing gear in an almost retracted position after take-off. The aircraft was later sold to China Airlines, and in 1971 it was completely destroyed by a bomb while serving the route of China Airlines Flight 825.