Thai Airways Jet Blew Several Tyres

[chuchok]

Oh poo I'm scheduled on TG-981 in a few weeks, but was told the plane was an MD-11, a spare pair of undies in the carry on luggage perhaps

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I flew on one on the direct BKK - AKL flight.MD11 must be at least 20 years old at a guess.

[Anon999]

Hard landing in an A340! Wow that is or was a perfectly new aircraft.

AOG-24 hrs?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe longer if they have to do full inspection, maybe crack detection and retraction tests, plus fix the hydraulic leak. AOG a bit longer. It would be interesting to know how long it's out of service.

[Ajarn_Jonesy]

Crosswind = Wind blowing accross the runway and not down it. (very common)

Plane tires blowing out at international airports happen on a dialy basis, and is not as some of you discribe it as "a big severe problem".

Media hype at its best.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I work at one of the largest airports in the US and I am curious what airport this happens at?

[carlthailand]

must be using remoulds , all part of the costcutting.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nah, real copies. Come on TiT.

C

[cobra]

... maybe the pilot dropped it on the tarmac too hard.

Occman's Razor:

Most often, the simplest answer is correct,

[Old Croc]

... maybe the pilot dropped it on the tarmac too hard.

Occman's Razor:

Most often, the simplest answer is correct,

Thats Occams (or Ockhams) Razor. Named for William of Ockham a logician from the 14th century.

Occams Razor was quoted several times in the 1997 Jodie Foster movie, Contact.

[OZONE]

Any suggestion(s) to a safer airline from New York to BKK?.  Note: Thai airways on the A340 takes 17.5 hrs

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

NOT Northwest. Their mechanics went on strike, so they hired scabs, but the scabs were all qualified. Working on planes takes an FAA license. However, they replaced 4500 mechanics with 1200 or so. The FAA has stepped up their inspections of the planes, and the inspectors are finding many many problems with the maintenance work being done. Issues caused by overwork and lack of time. I would not recommend anyone fly Northwest for anything at this point.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Its funny you mentioned Northwest, Typcially we flied with them / KLM. We hated to fly with them since their services are terrible. This is the first time weve considered ThaiAirway , long and behold, the story broke about the crash. Just goes to show you my godawful luck

Any other suggestions would be great

[donbury]

Clearly Mr T needs to call for a crackdown on hard landings.

[califdann]

I believe that the same model Airbus was involved in an incident at LAX a couple of weeks ago. The front landing strut did not fully engage, and after a couple of hours (supposedly burning off fuel), it landed, and shredded the front tire, causing intermittent fire, but the strut held. No passengers or crew injured (except for some frayed nerves I imagine).

[Heng]

Oh poo I'm scheduled on TG-981 in a few weeks, but was told the plane was an MD-11, a spare pair of undies in the carry on luggage perhaps

I flew on one on the direct BKK - AKL flight.MD11 must be at least 20 years old at a guess.

Thought they would have been converted to freighters by now.

[thegrim]

Strong Crosswinds -- Absolutley I was working yesterday up a ladder and we had to abadon the job as the crosswinds were exceptionally high. EG when I got of the ladder (10ft) it was blown clear over due to the wind. Trust me they were exceptionally strong winds yesterday.

[WISteve]

"this is the 3rd very big and severe problem THAI AIR had within a few months "

Wasn't it a TG flight that lost a cowling off the engine a couple months back?

And let's not forget the "incident" a few months back when they were cowboying around on the tarmac and smacked a Sing Air plane?

-----------------------------

Northwest might be getting a bum rap on the mechanics strike I think. The replacement mechanics are being augmented by outside contractors doing a major part of the service right now, and I think that will be the wave of the future, whether we like it or not. The days where union labor can sit on their a**es and depend on the steward to protect their employment is coming to an end in many places IMO.

I used to use Northwest frequently out of the Midwest, but I quit using them because of the surly attendants and gate workers, primarily. Thai Air attendants are easier on the eyes, but I don't trust the rest of the organization. And I'm having some doubts about the Airbus 340 as well these days...... Don't they have landing gear that cants (turns) when they are landing in a crosswind, like a 747?

~WISteve

[kolohe]

i'll throw in my 2 cents.

for sure it wasnt due to a hard landing. a modern transport jet can handle quite a hard landing. if it was indeed a hard landing you can be sure there wouldnt have been comments like this in the paper:

"It was all pretty calm but fish-tailing gets a bit scary."

Mr O'Donohoe said no-one screamed in the plane but there were a few "oohs and ahs".

The Melbourne businessman said he'd flown hundreds of times but this was the worst landing he'd experienced.

"It was like a roller coaster," he said.

there is nothing calm or roller coaster like about a landing hard enough to blow tires (tyres for you weirdos... joking!)

aircraft tires can handle quite a bit of abuse on normal landings. the tires are much more limited on how much side loading they can take.

judging be these comments and the others about the aircraft being diagonal to the runway and being lurched from side to side, most likely the tire(s) blew due to excessive side loading.

landing in crosswinds is not difficult in itself, but requires technique to handle properly handle the situation. in gusty or strong crosswinds it can become quite tricky and unpredicatble even for people who do crosswind landings every day. that big tail that sticks up doesnt help. in crosswind conditions airplanes have a tendency to weathervane into the wind, this is where things get tricky.

its really hard to say from here if they used proper technique or not of if they just got hit at the wrong moment by a sudden gust of wind.

the hydraulic leak was most likely resulted from a hydraulic line being damaged by rubber fragments from the exploding tire. when those tires explode there is almost always collateral damage. usually there are a couple of small holes in the wing/flaps as a result of blowing tires.

WISteve,

to answer your question. 747's do not have gear that cants on landing either. there are no commerical transport aircraft that have main landing gear that turn for landings. the only aircraft to my knowledge that has turning main gear for landing in crosswinds is the B-52, and i doubt you were a passenger on one of those.

[Mighty Mouse]

It's the fault of that new dumbo blonde office girl they hired to work in the airport administration office.

She was sent out to buy two packets of thumb tacks. On the way back to the office, she took a shortcut across the tarmac, dropping one of the packets. The tacks spread all over the runway landing strip.

Unfortunately, the tacks are a lot sharper than she is.

[Old Croc]

It's being described as a crash landing in the Australian media today. Reportedly, authorities are obtaining information from the black box flight recorders.

It's a bit more than a simple blown tyre (tire).

[Seksy]

Here is the link to BoM Automatic Wether station at Melb airport

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDV65360/IDV65360.94866.shtml

on 26th at 12:30 wind was about 16 kt gust to 30

I also posted the data below as the observations are held for 3 days only

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IDV65360

Latest Weather Observations for Melbourne Airport

72 hours of data.

Issued at 9:12 am EST Thursday 27 October 2005

Notes about the data in this table. | About Latest Weather Observations

Date/ Time Temp Dew Point Rel Hum Delta-T Wind Press Rain since 9 am

Dir Speed Gust Speed Gust

EST °C °C % °C km/h knots hPa mm

27/09:00 15.9 5.3 49 5.1 NNW 30 43 16 23 1013.9 1.0

27/08:30 14.2 5.1 54 4.3 NNW 30 43 16 23 1013.3 1.0

27/08:00 13.8 5.4 57 4.0 NNW 26 41 14 22 1013.3 1.0

27/07:30 13.2 6.1 62 3.4 N 26 37 14 20 1013.1 1.0

27/07:00 12.3 6.2 66 2.9 N 30 35 16 19 1012.8 1.0

27/06:30 11.0 5.9 71 2.4 N 26 32 14 17 1012.3 1.0

27/06:00 9.8 6.1 78 1.7 N 24 30 13 16 1011.8 1.0

27/05:30 9.2 5.7 79 1.6 N 24 30 13 16 1011.4 1.0

27/05:00 9.6 5.5 75 1.9 N 22 26 12 14 1010.9 1.0

27/04:30 10.2 5.3 71 2.2 N 24 26 13 14 1010.7 1.0

27/04:00 9.5 5.3 75 1.9 N 20 24 11 13 1010.4 1.0

27/03:30 9.8 5.0 72 2.2 N 19 22 10 12 1010.0 1.0

27/03:00 9.0 5.3 77 1.7 N 22 26 12 14 1009.6 1.0

27/02:30 9.8 5.2 73 2.1 N 19 24 10 13 1009.4 1.0

27/02:00 9.4 5.8 78 1.7 NNE 20 26 11 14 1009.0 1.0

27/01:30 8.5 5.6 82 1.3 NNE 17 19 9 10 1008.9 1.0

27/01:00 10.2 5.6 73 2.1 N 17 19 9 10 1009.0 1.0

27/00:30 11.5 5.5 66 2.8 N 19 22 10 12 1009.0 1.0

27/00:00 12.2 5.9 65 3.0 N 15 20 8 11 1009.0 1.0

26/23:30 13.0 5.6 61 3.5 N 19 26 10 14 1008.9 1.0

26/23:00 13.1 6.0 62 3.4 N 20 26 11 14 1009.0 1.0

26/22:30 13.5 5.8 59 3.7 N 19 26 10 14 1008.8 1.0

26/22:00 13.5 5.5 58 3.8 N 17 24 9 13 1008.5 1.0

26/21:30 14.3 4.9 53 4.4 N 15 19 8 10 1008.4 1.0

26/21:00 14.7 5.0 52 4.6 N 13 17 7 9 1008.1 1.0

26/20:30 15.1 4.7 50 4.9 NNW 19 30 10 16 1007.8 1.0

26/20:00 15.3 5.0 50 4.9 NW 22 35 12 19 1007.3 1.0

26/19:30 15.4 7.2 58 4.1 W 9 13 5 7 1006.9 1.0

26/19:00 15.9 8.1 60 4.0 WNW 9 13 5 7 1006.3 1.0

26/18:30 16.3 7.6 56 4.4 W 9 19 5 10 1005.6 1.0

26/18:00 16.1 8.5 60 3.9 WSW 13 17 7 9 1005.1 1.0

26/17:30 17.0 6.8 51 5.1 WNW 22 35 12 19 1004.6 1.0

26/17:00 17.2 8.1 55 4.7 WNW 15 22 8 12 1004.0 1.0

26/16:30 16.8 7.3 53 4.8 W 9 15 5 8 1003.7 1.0

26/16:18 15.2 8.8 65 3.3 WSW 26 52 14 28 1003.9 0.8

26/16:16 15.2 7.7 61 3.8 WNW 50 78 27 42 1004.3 0.2

26/16:12 17.5 6.2 47 5.6 WNW 26 37 14 20 1003.6 0.0

26/16:00 18.5 3.6 37 7.0 W 26 33 14 18 1003.3 0.0

26/15:30 19.3 1.7 31 8.1 W 30 43 16 23 1003.0 0.0

26/15:00 19.6 2.8 32 7.9 W 30 39 16 21 1002.7 0.0

26/14:30 19.9 2.4 31 8.2 W 39 57 21 31 1002.5 0.0

26/14:00 20.3 3.2 32 8.1 W 43 56 23 30 1002.2 0.0

26/13:30 19.3 5.1 39 7.0 W 37 50 20 27 1001.7 0.0

26/13:00 17.6 6.7 48 5.4 W 39 48 21 26 1001.4 0.0

26/12:30 17.0 8.5 57 4.4 W 35 50 19 27 1001.1 0.0

26/12:00 17.9 8.7 55 4.8 W 43 54 23 29 1000.1 0.0 26/11:32 18.1 9.0 55 4.8 W 32 56 17 30 999.7 0.0

26/11:30 18.8 9.0 53 5.2 W 26 56 14 30 999.7 0.0

26/11:00 20.4 7.9 44 6.5 NNW 26 39 14 21 999.0 0.0

26/10:30 19.2 9.3 52 5.3 NW 17 28 9 15 999.0 0.0

26/10:00 19.3 10.3 56 4.9 NW 32 43 17 23 998.8 0.0

26/09:30 18.5 9.8 57 4.6 NNW 33 50 18 27 998.5 0.0

26/09:00 19.3 10.1 55 5.0 N 35 48 19 26 997.8 6.0

26/08:30 18.5 10.4 59 4.4 N 57 83 31 45 996.4 6.0

26/08:00 18.4 10.1 58 4.5 N 69 95 37 51 995.5 6.0

26/07:30 17.9 9.6 58 4.4 N 65 83 35 45 995.1 6.0

26/07:19 17.7 9.6 59 4.3 N 69 89 37 48 995.1 6.0

26/07:09 17.1 10.1 63 3.7 N 43 61 23 33 995.3 6.0

26/07:00 16.6 10.0 65 3.5 N 41 56 22 30 995.4 6.0

26/06:30 16.2 9.6 65 3.5 N 52 67 28 36 995.3 6.0

26/06:00 14.6 10.5 76 2.2 N 37 54 20 29 996.0 6.0

26/05:30 14.6 10.3 75 2.3 N 52 70 28 38 996.4 6.0

26/05:00 14.6 10.4 76 2.2 N 56 72 30 39 996.5 6.0

26/04:33 14.6 10.5 76 2.2 N 56 76 30 41 996.4 6.0

26/04:30 14.6 10.5 76 2.2 N 54 70 29 38 996.5 6.0

26/04:14 14.7 10.2 74 2.4 N 46 65 25 35 996.8 6.0

26/04:02 14.5 10.1 75 2.3 N 50 72 27 39 997.2 6.0

26/03:30 14.9 9.6 70 2.8 N 48 61 26 33 997.6 6.0

26/03:00 14.5 9.8 73 2.4 N 41 54 22 29 998.3 6.0

26/02:30 14.4 9.5 72 2.5 N 41 52 22 28 998.5 6.0

26/02:00 14.0 9.6 75 2.3 N 33 46 18 25 999.0 6.0

26/01:30 14.1 9.5 74 2.4 N 33 41 18 22 999.6 6.0

26/01:00 13.6 10.0 79 1.9 N 30 46 16 25 1000.1 6.0

26/00:42 13.9 9.7 76 2.2 N 37 59 20 32 1000.2 6.0

26/00:30 14.0 9.8 76 2.2 N 35 46 19 25 1000.4 6.0

26/00:00 14.6 9.7 72 2.5 N 26 35 14 19 1001.6 6.0

25/23:30 14.0 9.4 74 2.4 N 26 32 14 17 1002.2 6.0

25/23:00 13.2 9.4 78 1.9 N 19 22 10 12 1002.8 6.0

25/22:30 13.2 8.9 75 2.2 N 17 20 9 11 1003.5 6.0

25/22:00 13.2 8.9 75 2.2 N 19 20 10 11 1003.8 6.0

25/21:30 13.9 8.8 71 2.6 N 19 20 10 11 1003.9 6.0

25/21:00 14.6 8.8 68 3.0 N 22 30 12 16 1003.8 6.0

25/20:30 14.8 8.7 67 3.1 N 17 19 9 10 1003.5 6.0

25/20:00 15.0 9.3 68 2.9 N 17 19 9 10 1003.3 6.0

25/19:30 16.2 9.8 66 3.4 N 17 20 9 11 1003.0 6.0

25/19:00 17.4 9.0 58 4.4 N 17 20 9 11 1002.9 6.0

25/18:30 18.2 7.9 51 5.3 N 17 22 9 12 1002.6 6.0

25/18:00 18.1 8.8 54 4.9 N 15 20 8 11 1002.3 6.0

25/17:30 18.3 9.4 56 4.7 CALM 7 4 1002.1 6.0

25/17:00 18.1 8.5 53 5.0 WSW 11 13 6 7 1002.1 6.0

25/16:30 18.3 9.1 55 4.8 W 15 20 8 11 1002.0 6.0

25/16:00 19.2 8.3 49 5.7 WNW 19 28 10 15 1002.0 6.0

25/15:30 19.4 9.3 52 5.4 WNW 22 32 12 17 1002.2 6.0

25/15:00 17.7 11.2 65 3.6 NNW 11 17 6 9 1002.5 6.0

25/14:27 16.6 12.1 75 2.5 NW 11 20 6 11 1002.9 6.0

25/14:00 15.1 11.4 78 2.0 NNW 17 26 9 14 1003.2 5.6

25/13:30 15.5 12.3 81 1.8 NW 13 20 7 11 1003.2 5.0

25/12:56 15.7 12.1 79 2.0 WNW 19 26 10 14 1003.1 3.4

25/12:30 15.0 11.1 77 2.1 W 13 17 7 9 1003.1 3.4

25/12:08 14.8 11.1 78 2.0 WSW 13 19 7 10 1003.5 1.0

25/12:00 15.3 10.4 72 2.6 WSW 13 15 7 8 1003.4 0.2

25/11:30 16.4 10.5 68 3.2 WSW 15 20 8 11 1003.6 0.2

25/11:00 17.5 11.1 66 3.5 NNW 17 32 9 17 1003.9 0.0

25/10:30 17.3 9.7 61 4.0 N 26 33 14 18 1004.0 0.0

25/10:00 16.7 10.8 68 3.2 N 20 30 11 16 1004.3 0.0

25/09:30 15.6 10.8 73 2.6 N 22 32 12 17 1004.6 0.0

25/09:00 15.6 11.0 74 2.5 N 30 37 16 20 1004.8 1.8

25/08:30 16.4 11.2 71 2.8 N 30 37 16 20 1004.7 1.8

25/08:00 14.7 11.6 82 1.7 N 26 43 14 23 1004.6 1.8

25/07:30 13.3 11.2 87 1.1 N 24 32 13 17 1004.8 1.8

25/07:00 13.2 11.4 89 1.0 N 17 22 9 12 1004.8 1.8

25/06:27 12.9 11.2 89 0.9 N 17 20 9 11 1004.5 1.8

25/06:00 13.0 10.6 85 1.3 N 20 26 11 14 1004.3 1.8

25/05:30 12.7 10.7 88 1.0 N 22 28 12 15 1003.9 1.8

25/05:00 12.7 10.8 88 1.0 N 22 28 12 15 1003.7 1.8

25/04:30 12.8 10.8 88 1.1 N 26 32 14 17 1003.5 1.8

25/04:00 12.7 10.8 88 1.0 N 17 20 9 11 1003.6 1.8

25/03:30 12.8 11.0 89 1.0 N 19 22 10 12 1003.6 1.8

25/03:00 12.8 11.1 89 0.9 N 20 30 11 16 1003.6 1.8

25/02:30 13.0 11.1 88 1.0 N 24 32 13 17 1003.7 1.8

25/02:00 12.9 11.0 88 1.0 N 26 32 14 17 1003.5 1.8

25/01:30 12.8 10.8 88 1.1 N 30 33 16 18 1003.6 1.8

25/01:00 12.6 10.3 86 1.2 N 24 30 13 16 1004.0 1.8

25/00:30 12.2 10.5 89 0.9 N 28 33 15 18 1004.1 1.8

25/00:00 12.3 10.8 90 0.8 N 22 28 12 15 1004.4 1.8

24/23:30 12.2 10.6 90 0.8 N 20 32 11 17 1003.9 1.8

24/23:00 12.7 11.2 91 0.8 N 24 28 13 15 1004.2 1.8

24/22:30 13.4 11.7 89 0.9 NNE 17 22 9 12 1004.2 1.8

24/22:00 13.8 12.0 89 1.0 NNE 13 15 7 8 1004.5 1.8

24/21:30 13.9 12.1 89 1.0 N 15 22 8 12 1004.8 1.6

24/21:00 14.3 12.1 87 1.2 N 20 28 11 15 1004.8 1.6

24/20:30 14.5 12.7 89 1.0 N 22 30 12 16 1004.7 0.8

24/20:09 15.5 12.0 79 1.9 N 20 32 11 17 1004.4 0.0

24/20:00 16.4 10.5 68 3.2 N 15 19 8 10 1004.3 0.0

24/19:30 16.8 10.3 65 3.5 NNE 11 13 6 7 1003.8 0.0

24/19:00 17.2 9.5 60 4.1 NNW 13 15 7 8 1003.3 0.0

24/18:30 17.7 9.3 58 4.4 NNW 13 17 7 9 1003.1 0.0

24/18:00 19.2 8.3 49 5.7 N 26 33 14 18 1002.6 0.0

24/17:30 19.6 7.7 46 6.1 N 24 37 13 20 1002.5 0.0

24/17:00 20.4 6.2 39 7.2 N 30 39 16 21 1002.3 0.0

24/16:30 20.8 7.0 40 7.1 N 32 41 17 22 1002.2 0.0

24/16:00 21.1 8.2 43 6.8 N 37 46 20 25 1001.9 0.0

24/15:30 20.4 7.2 42 6.8 N 39 54 21 29 1001.9 0.0

24/15:10 20.9 8.5 45 6.6 N 39 59 21 32 1002.0 0.0

24/15:00 20.8 8.1 44 6.7 N 43 56 23 30 1001.9 0.0

24/14:30 20.6 8.2 45 6.5 N 41 56 22 30 1002.1 0.0

24/14:00 20.8 7.9 43 6.7 N 46 59 25 32 1002.3 0.0

24/13:30 20.7 8.2 44 6.6 N 43 56 23 30 1002.4 0.0

24/13:00 20.4 8.9 47 6.1 N 50 63 27 34 1002.3 0.0

24/12:30 20.1 8.8 48 6.0 N 46 61 25 33 1002.6 0.0

24/12:00 19.7 9.5 51 5.5 N 48 63 26 34 1002.5 0.0

24/11:30 20.6 9.5 49 6.0 N 50 67 27 36 1002.6 0.0

24/11:00 20.2 9.0 48 6.0 NNE 48 61 26 33 1002.9 0.0

24/10:50 19.6 8.9 50 5.7 N 44 65 24 35 1003.0 0.0

24/10:30 19.5 9.4 52 5.4 N 44 54 24 29 1003.3 0.0

24/10:00 18.6 8.9 53 5.1 N 39 50 21 27 1003.3 0.0

24/09:30 17.9 9.8 59 4.3 N 32 46 17 25 1003.1 0.0

These observations have not been quality controlled.

Wind observations are a 10-minute average from the standard height of 10 metres.

'Dir' is Wind Direction. Direction from which the wind is blowing, reported to 16 points of the compass.

The wind gust is measured over 3 seconds.

'Tce' is a trace (< 0.1mm) of rainfall.

'Press' is Mean Sea Level Pressure. The correction from station level pressure to mean sea level pressure may sometimes use the conditions specified by the International Standard Atmosphere in the conversion process, rather than the conditions at the station at the time of the observation.

Delta-T is Wet Bulb Depression (Air Temperature - Wet Bulb Temperature). About Delta-T

'-' indicates that no data is available.

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[huahin]

I fly in and out of Phitsanulok every week or two with Thai to/from Bangkok, and the landings are always hard at Phitsanulok airport. I also notice looking round the cabin that I am not the only one to breath a sign of relief when we have landed and are rolling up the runway, so I figure its a regular occurrance? It must be a matter of time before they burst a tyre there? Just an observation.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree, My wife and I flew from BKK to Suratthani several years ago and the plane took off from Don Muang as though it was a rocket to the moon and when it landed at Surat, it landed so hard it bounced several times and everybody on board nearly had heart failure. IMHO some of the thai pilots seem to "jet jockeys" with no regards to the paying customers.

[frankthetank]

Thai Landing

Vision of the landing can be seen here. (I hope)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

for all those out there comenting on how the pilot must have banged the plane down, how bad thai air is(although this may be true, in this case it is not), how a crosswind can/cannot cause this to happen, whether or not there was a thunderstom in canada, have you looked at the video of the landing, on ninemsn? have a look, (see above)

i think the pilot should be praised for saving that aircraft and the people on board! so a tyre blew, so what? they lived, due to the pilots expertise and skill.

[phibunmike]

THAI Clarifies Tyre Burst in Melbourne 

Mr. Somchainuk Engtrakul, Board Member Acting as President of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, announced a clarification regarding an incident involving its Airbus A340-600, flight TG981, on the route Bangkok - Melbourne.

THAI's flight TG981, utilizing Airbus A340-600 aircraft, on the route Bangkok - Melbourne, departed from Bangkok at 00.15 hours on 26 October 2005 and arrived in Melbourne, Australia, at 11.59 hours (local time). While approaching Melbourne International Airport, the main wheel no.1 burst and resulted in a hydraulic blue system leak. The tower control observed the incident and sent the airport safety fire crews to extinguish sparks in the undercarriage, resulting in smoke.  At the time, the aircraft was on the runway in the process of taxiing as it had entered the taxiway.  The tower control required the aircraft to be parked and sent a microbus to transport the 260 passengers and crew, who were transported to the terminal with no injuries.  The aircraft concerned was not much affected, the tyre was replaced, and the aircraft was towed to the hangar. THAI's Technical Department is currently investigating the aircraft concerned.

Flight TG982, on the route Melbourne - Bangkok, was cancelled as a result of the incident, as the flight was to be operated with the aircraft concerned with departure originally set for 16.20 hours (local time) and arrive in Bangkok at 22.40 hours, today (26 October 2005).  The company will send the aircraft operating flight TG980, on the route Sydney - Melbourne - Phuket - Bangkok to transport passengers of flight TG982, with departure from Melbourne at 00.15 hours on 27 October (local time) and arrival in Bangkok at 08.30 hours on 27 October 2005.

Source:

http://www.thaiair.com/About_Thai/Newsroom...s1005-wu367.htm

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The thing that confuses me most of all is this "clarification"...

"While approaching Melbourne International Airport, the main wheel no.1 burst ..."

(not during the landing ???)

"... sent a microbus to transport the 260 passengers and crew ..."

(minor detail, but not a very well considered clarification).

[mr hippo]

Heavy landing + hot wheels incident is a very minor occurance and does not merit all this media hype. Yes, it can be scary, very scary. I landed at JFK in May 1980 after a 14 hour flight in a Pan-Am 747SP from Dhahran when we popped 5 tyres.

Edited October 27, 2005 by mr hippo

[Martin]

Come on, you lot. Calm down.

It is a minor incident, reported on a slow newsday by pressmen desperate to fill the slot.

You should have flown around the Canadian Arctic with Wheeler Airlines (motto: "Any of our landings that you walked away from was a good one").

Landing in thirty-year-old DC3s, in crosswinds gusting up to fifty knots, did give strong men cause to pray.

I once landed at Cape Dyer in a DC4 that landed heavily, within the definition.

(Definition of a heavy landing then was: "One that fractures the main spar".)

[kolohe]

yea..the oz media calling it a crash landing is a bit over the top. pulling the FDR (flight data recorder, or "black box") is quite normal in situations like this.

blowing a tire(s) is not a big deal. there are quite often other things that break or go wrong and the pax are never the wiser. with good reason too, seeing how the media runs with this stuff.

[Darknight]

Discussion on airliners.net

Quoting NAV20 (Reply 11):

Met people say the wind was apparently westerly, gusting up to around 25 knots at the time.

Not a problem, the crosswind limit for the A346 is 37 including gust

Quoting NAV20 (Reply 16):

My guess is that Rwy. 16/34 was in use, the other runway is too short to be completely 'comfortable' for large aeroplanes.

Still possible depending on the weight and autobrake setting used, anything up to around 300t.

Quoting NAV20 (Reply 16):

That raises the questions of whether ATC or the pilot considered diverting the flight due to the adverse conditions; and whether the landing was carried out manually or using the auto systems.

Nothing was out of limits, cannot autoland in Australia in anger, no CAT 2 or CAT 3 runways.

Quoting NAV20 (Reply 18):

"In the last few hundred feet, the plane lurched over and, based on what I was looking at on the camera, the runway was over there,'' he said, indicating the plane was diagonal to the runway.

"We hit the tarmac too hard.

"It was all pretty calm but fish-tailing gets a bit scary.''

"plane was diagonal" is normal, nose into wind, it sounds to me like low level mechanical windshear

Quoting NAV20 (Reply 18):

In crosswind conditions a human pilot is superior to a mechanical one. An autopilot can only counter a crosswind by 'crabbing' - that is, pointing the nose upwind of the runway to compensate for the drift. In a 25-knot crosswind the required crab angle would be ridiculous - maybe twenty degrees or more off the runway line. Landing in that attitude would be very dangerous, because the tyres would hit the runway at the same angle (i.e. sideways).

No, this is not a jet technique, you do that on just about any jet you will have a pod strike.

"twenty degrees or more off the runway line" dont think so, that would be around a 57 kt crosswind, I would suggest more like 8-9 degrees assuming all crosswind.

Crabbing all the way down to the runway is the only correct technique for a jet.

Quoting NAV20 (Reply 18):

Human pilots are trained to counter crosswinds by 'crossing the controls' - dropping a wing into the wind, and countering the turning tendency induced by the bank with opposite rudder. Effectively, the aeroplane approaches in line with the runway in a controlled sideslip. At the last moment you level the wings as much as possible, and control direction with rudder only.

Light aircraft stuff, not valid for the A346.

[ilyushin]

Oh poo I'm scheduled on TG-981 in a few weeks, but was told the plane was an MD-11, a spare pair of undies in the carry on luggage perhaps

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I flew on one on the direct BKK - AKL flight.MD11 must be at least 20 years old at a guess.

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Thought they would have been converted to freighters by now.

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TG's MD-11 are 1991 models and have less than 60,000 Total flight hrs. The aircraft are schediuled to be sold early next year and will probably be converted to freighters. The aircraft specs and operating data sheets I have show a healthy MD11.

[Maestro]

Thai Landing

Vision of the landing can be seen here. (I hope)

From the sound track of that video:

“The plane landed so heavily it left gouge marks at the intersection between the two main runways.”

Of course, the intersection between runways is probably not the point where planes normally touch down but the constructors should nevertheless have allowed for that possibility. With a sudden crosswind, the pilot cannot touch down exactly where he aims to do so.

If a plane touching down, even heavily, creates a dent or hole in the tarmac, then the problem is with the tarmac, I should think.

[silk123]

I think it maybe is time for a crackdown on thai planes accidents.

All the plane accidents will affect one of the hubs.

[silk123]

Wow the A340 burns about 7000Kg of fuel an hour. that's 70,000kg in a 10 hour flight. the weight of a thousand people.

it burns and extra 50-100 kg for every 1000kg of fuel it takes on board.

fuel is something like 25baht a litre but likely a lot less for buying so much.

Anyway nobody died, relax, take it easy like that guy in southpark says.

[jef]

now this is the 3rd very big and severe problem THAI AIR had within a few months (after the Zürich incident and the emergency landing of the Munich flight in Sharjah lately). THAI AIR can definitely not be considered a safe airline these days.... its just a question of time when a real crash will happen....

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Nah, not adressed particuarly to you AsiaWolfie, but lots of experts on thai visas who know little about airlines

[jef]

Clearly Mr T needs to call for a crackdown on hard landings.

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LOL, allmost pissed in my frock reading your comment

[arthsch]

i flew several times with the 737 in domestic flights. i had to assess, that the pilot breaked the airplane very quickly. could this happened?