Flight TG669 skids off runway at Suvarnabhumi Airport

[johnklinrak]

Check the pilots log books and recent check flights, then see who signed them off. I have been led to believe it is like the Thai School system where nobody fails.

[geriatrickid]

That looks a bit more then just skidding a bit the runway, good luck no one's hurt badly. I said that before Thai Airways lost its credibility, they have major cash problems, bad management, that leads to endured use of old aircrafts, probably and no first class maintenance anymore to economise because being under pressure of business competition which often leads to bad service and personnel. Some more incidents they can also say good bye being a member of Star Alliance. An airplane crash in our days easily leads to a bankruptcy with almost no point of return even for a major carrier like TG, look at Lufthansa why do they spent thatkind of tremendous effort on safety because it would extrem to recoup from an aircraft loss, finacially and due to the damaged image. But have we not heard lately the problems of Thai Airways are due to the exchange rates! If not some many lives depends on every flight I would be laughing!

Your comments are not just ignorant, they are false. You don't have the slightest clue as to what your claiming.

The average age of equipment in the Thai fleet is 11.3 years. In comparison, American Airlines - 14.8. Delta - 17.1, ANA - 10.3, Swiss -10.9, Lufthansa- 12.4, British Airlines-13.2

TG does indeed maintain a "first class" maintenance facility, and it is a major service hub in the region, providing the major service for multiple airlines.

TG Technical services are certified by multiple foreign transport agencies including the US FAA and the EU JAA.

If TG was as bad as you state, then this wouldn't be the case would it?

As the main base operator at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, we provide 24-hour-a-day routine and non-routine services including AOG support for more than 64 customers’ airlines that call at Suvarnabhumi International Airport and more than 44 customers’ airlines from other line stations

Despite some past incidents which have impacted the airlines safety results (Singapore has a similar problem) TG has a similar safety rating to Scandanavian Airlines, and South African Airlines. It even has a significantly better score than Korean and Turkish Airlines. Would you make the same comments about the aforementioned airlines?

Here's the safety listing courtesy of

http://www.aerointernational.de/service/sicherheitsranking/Aero-0213-Sicherheitranking-2012.pdf

TG hasn't had a major hull loss with serious fatalities since 1992.

You have the option of flying on an alternative airline such as Thomas Cook or Air Berlin or Air Asia. Please do.

[ezzra]

Planes trains an automobiles, (Vans) not doing too well in Thailand lately,

What's is going on here?

[lomatopo]

About the painting over of the Logo, that is standard practice for evey airline I have worked for.

Somebody forgot to tell Asiana.

Suspect this varies by airline, incident location and other factors.

TG didn't do this when they lost a 737 at Don Muang...

Edited September 9, 2013 by lomatopo

[ginjag]

I have enjoyed reading all the comments, may I suggest we wait on the investigation results before deciding whether to fly Thai again.

I began my aircraft maintenance experience with the Georgia Air Guard in 1950 with C-47, P-47 and T-6's up to the B777 when I retired from United Air Lines in 1997. I have 32 years experience as Mechanic, Foreman, Manager and Regional Manager for various US airlines.

I also have 26 years USAF as Mechanic and then C-141 Flight/Examiner Engineer. I continue to do consulting as an Auditor/Inspector of aircraft for a major leasing company. I am a Gold Level Mileage Member with Thai and two other airlines. I find Thai aircraft to be clean and well maintained, by the way I like the service too !!

What a fantastic record of knowing your stuff. I can see your an expert in your field of work BUT also an expert in CRAWLING -trying to get free extra air miles from Thai. Only a gold member-thought it would be platinum at least.

How do you know if they are well maintained ??? and most aircraft are clean for flights, their record at the minute shows the service is not so good nor are the average age of their fleet is 18 years.

Wish they could be better, I am a member but rarely use them, only(budget) Thai Smile now.

[geriatrickid]

Thai Airways should really be put out of it's misery.

Incompetent management, declining service & outrageous prices are just the tip of the iceberg.

In the words of Gordon Ramsay, "Shut it down!"

You have the option of flying on Air Asia or Jet Star. TG's service is superior and that costs money.

If you believe that airlines should give 4* service at 2* costs, then I suggest you go and start your own airline and subsidize all the pax with a sense of self entitlement. TG's pricing is that it reflects the market. It's hard for some people to grasp the concept.

Yes, TG's service and product has become tarnished, but it is still way better than what is on offer in the EU and North America, and the prices are certainly better. Round trip in J class on TG is still often less than 10,000 baht, Try and book an RT between LHR and CDG in J for that.

The TG J class fare at approx. 21,000 baht Bkk-HKG still beats the completion.

[IMA_FARANG]

There are a number of reasons that can cause a failure in the landing wheel assembly that if such a failure occurred on might cause a the landing aircraft to veer off a runway into the grass verge.

There's no way to say without a careful investigation of what was recorded from the plane landing data, pilot and crew cockpit voice recordings, and such.

All that will be checked and investigated.

Until accident investigators look that data any attempt to determine a "reason" for such an accident is no better than an uniformed guess ..... and any such guesses are meaningless without some data to base them on.

[zakk9]

"All 298 persons on board Thai Airways International's flight TG669 are safe despite the accident during the landing. Departing Guangzhou, China, the flight landed safely at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 11.30pm on Sunday. One of the engines of the Airbus A330 aircraft caught fire. The plane skidded off the runway, causing minor injuries to 12 persons. Some suffered from smoke."

Let's see: Landed safely, one engine caught fire, skidded off the runway, suffered from smoke. Pick the contradicting statement

[yourauntbob]

Said it before and I will say it again, I am scared to travel in Thailand anymore no matter the method of transport.

[Xonax]

18 years old aircraft ....... thats quite a lot ....

18 years is nothing for a plane, it's practically brand new!

Yeah right - In the Third World!!!

[pilm]

They're covering up the flag so that no one knows its a Thai plane!

I don't think I will EVER understand why Thais CARE SO MUCH about how other people view them, and what other people think of them. Face. I just don't get it.

Deep insecurity combined with nationalistic conditioning since birth and more than a dash of egotistical delicacy.

[pilm]

Said it before and I will say it again, I am scared to travel in Thailand anymore no matter the method of transport.

Must be what is keeping you here.

[TackyToo]

That looks a bit more then just skidding a bit the runway, good luck no one's hurt badly. I said that before Thai Airways lost its credibility, they have major cash problems, bad management, that leads to endured use of old aircrafts, probably and no first class maintenance anymore to economise because being under pressure of business competition which often leads to bad service and personnel. Some more incidents they can also say good bye being a member of Star Alliance. An airplane crash in our days easily leads to a bankruptcy with almost no point of return even for a major carrier like TG, look at Lufthansa why do they spent thatkind of tremendous effort on safety because it would extrem to recoup from an aircraft loss, finacially and due to the damaged image. But have we not heard lately the problems of Thai Airways are due to the exchange rates! If not some many lives depends on every flight I would be laughing!

Hey, at least they reacted swiftly to the situation, on the other paper there's a photo of Thai Airways maintenance crews covering the logo on the tail with black paint.

and today's daily hub report says: Thailand- the hub of Potemkins!

[zakk9]

Thai Airways should really be put out of it's misery.

Incompetent management, declining service & outrageous prices are just the tip of the iceberg.

In the words of Gordon Ramsay, "Shut it down!"

You have the option of flying on Air Asia or Jet Star. TG's service is superior and that costs money.

If you believe that airlines should give 4* service at 2* costs, then I suggest you go and start your own airline and subsidize all the pax with a sense of self entitlement. TG's pricing is that it reflects the market. It's hard for some people to grasp the concept.

Yes, TG's service and product has become tarnished, but it is still way better than what is on offer in the EU and North America, and the prices are certainly better. Round trip in J class on TG is still often less than 10,000 baht, Try and book an RT between LHR and CDG in J for that.

The TG J class fare at approx. 21,000 baht Bkk-HKG still beats the completion.

TG service is inconsistent, and I often prefer what I get at Air Asia. They're also 50-70% cheaper on DMK-HKG (THB 6,586 return on randomly chosen dates in October on my monitor right now). Pay a few hundred baht extra, and I get priority seats in front.

Edited September 9, 2013 by zakk9

[geriatrickid]

18 years old aircraft ....... thats quite a lot ....

18 years is nothing for a plane, it's practically brand new!

Yeah right - In the Third World!!!

Then the USA must be the 3rd world as the average age of fleets in the USA is higher than that of TG's.

By your logic, major EU airlines must be situated in the 3rd world too as some of the big carrier fleets have an average older greater than TG's.

Is Australia the 3rd world? The average age of the Qantas workhorse B767 is 20+ years.

Seriously, I don't know why some many TVFers turn into hysterical menopausal/andropausal people whenever there is a small incident.

Edited September 9, 2013 by geriatrickid

[Scott]

Troll posts, off-topic posts, inflammatory posts and replies have been deleted.

[ozzibitch]

I wonder how many of the injured were not buckled in ?

[geriatrickid]

Thai Airways should really be put out of it's misery.

Incompetent management, declining service & outrageous prices are just the tip of the iceberg.

In the words of Gordon Ramsay, "Shut it down!"

You have the option of flying on Air Asia or Jet Star. TG's service is superior and that costs money.

If you believe that airlines should give 4* service at 2* costs, then I suggest you go and start your own airline and subsidize all the pax with a sense of self entitlement. TG's pricing is that it reflects the market. It's hard for some people to grasp the concept.

Yes, TG's service and product has become tarnished, but it is still way better than what is on offer in the EU and North America, and the prices are certainly better. Round trip in J class on TG is still often less than 10,000 baht, Try and book an RT between LHR and CDG in J for that.

The TG J class fare at approx. 21,000 baht Bkk-HKG still beats the completion.

TG service is inconsistent, and I often prefer what I get at Air Asia. They're also 50-70% cheaper on DMK-HKG (THB 6,586 return on randomly chosen dates in October on my monitor right now). Pay a few hundred baht extra, and I get priority seats in front.

Fair enough. Your choice as a consumer. I also use Air Asia on short hops when my schedule is guaranteed and I am not in a hurry.I get what I pay for - a seat on a bus that flies.

However, I am willing to pay extra to have the benefit of a ticket than can be modified easily, a responsive call center, a decent meal, priority assistance,a no hassle baggage policy, a comfortable seat and some distance from some of the pax. Air Asia is even a "safer" airline, but when something goes wrong such as a delay or cancellation, I prefer having TG's assistance as opposed to having to call the Malaysia call center and wait for an hour.

[normac44]

I was on a Thai Flight from BK that had a bad landing at Melbourne a few years back. Blew out a tyre on landing and shattered a wheel. Melbourne Airport was closed to all traffic for a couple of hours whilst safety checks were carried out on the runway. Does anyone know if BK was closed after the event or still open to all operations?

Edited September 9, 2013 by normac44

[LennyW]

18 years old aircraft ....... thats quite a lot ....

18 years is nothing for a plane, it's practically brand new!

Yeah right - In the Third World!!!

I guess the UK is third world then, a lot of their 747's are over 20 years old! http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/British-Airways

[GreenSnapper]

That looks a bit more then just skidding a bit the runway, good luck no one's hurt badly. I said that before Thai Airways lost its credibility, they have major cash problems, bad management, that leads to endured use of old aircrafts, probably and no first class maintenance anymore to economise because being under pressure of business competition which often leads to bad service and personnel. Some more incidents they can also say good bye being a member of Star Alliance. An airplane crash in our days easily leads to a bankruptcy with almost no point of return even for a major carrier like TG, look at Lufthansa why do they spent thatkind of tremendous effort on safety because it would extrem to recoup from an aircraft loss, finacially and due to the damaged image. But have we not heard lately the problems of Thai Airways are due to the exchange rates! If not some many lives depends on every flight I would be laughing!

Your comments are not just ignorant, they are false. You don't have the slightest clue as to what your claiming.

The average age of equipment in the Thai fleet is 11.3 years. In comparison, American Airlines - 14.8. Delta - 17.1, ANA - 10.3, Swiss -10.9, Lufthansa- 12.4, British Airlines-13.2

TG does indeed maintain a "first class" maintenance facility, and it is a major service hub in the region, providing the major service for multiple airlines.

TG Technical services are certified by multiple foreign transport agencies including the US FAA and the EU JAA.

If TG was as bad as you state, then this wouldn't be the case would it?

As the main base operator at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, we provide 24-hour-a-day routine and non-routine services including AOG support for more than 64 customers airlines that call at Suvarnabhumi International Airport and more than 44 customers airlines from other line stations

Despite some past incidents which have impacted the airlines safety results (Singapore has a similar problem) TG has a similar safety rating to Scandanavian Airlines, and South African Airlines. It even has a significantly better score than Korean and Turkish Airlines. Would you make the same comments about the aforementioned airlines?

Here's the safety listing courtesy of

http://www.aerointernational.de/service/sicherheitsranking/Aero-0213-Sicherheitranking-2012.pdf

TG hasn't had a major hull loss with serious fatalities since 1992.

You have the option of flying on an alternative airline such as Thomas Cook or Air Berlin or Air Asia. Please do.

TG is slightly above Air India - not very convincing.

[rodroy]

How many of those injured were unbelted and moving around the cabin?

[yourauntbob]

More pics...

I like your second pic because the Thai airways plane is taking off in the background! Way to get the logo back in the picture!

[bra]

I agree with the posters who advise waiting for the investigation team report before jumping to conclusions (some quite absurd in the posts here). I have been an aviation professional all my working life (including work in Air Safety Investigation). Runway excursions to the side or past the end are reasonably common and in nearly all cases the results are some injuries (normally caused using the slides) but very few events result in fatalities.

I fly mostly with SQ but often with TG and have no problem at all with their fares, service and reliability and I would fly with them again. I have been impressed with the professionalism shown in the Thai aviation industry.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Seriously, I don't know why some many TVFers turn into hysterical menopausal/andropausal people whenever there is a small incident.

Perhaps because -- when you consider the recurring almost daily news headlines of crashed vans, buses, trains and now airplanes lately with the TG and Nok Air incidents -- there are SO MANY!!! And a lot of them aren't "small."

I'm not saying THAI Air is as bad as the country's ground transport system in terms of safety. But when you start getting these kinds of aircraft mishaps added to the already sorry Thai transport safety mix, it just makes a bad situation even worse.

I agree with one of the prior posters.... It's getting increasingly difficult to find a means of public mass transport within Thailand that has a reasonable expectation of safety -- apart from the BTS and MRT systems in Bangkok.

[Briggsy]

I wonder how many of the injured were not buckled in ?

Considering where the plane had come from and the aversion people of that nation have to waiting more than one second over the absolute minimum and also the aversion they have to being overtaken, I would consider the chance of your statement being relevant, quite high.

There may also be injuries from being shoved aside by elbows and oversized hand luggage that "can't" be left behind.

[Cuban]

Again a lot of the early reports are hindered by Thai -> English translations but also by Aviation Technical to News Media non-technical translations.

From the images shown and my own speculation has the nose-wheel jammed in a particular direction on landing causing the plane to taxi off the runway into the rough, this has caused the nose-wheel assembly to fail, the front of the plane drops to the ground, debris from the ground/nose-wheel thrown up enter the engine causing compressor failure and smoke/fire.

I guess this is akin to the failure of the the nose-wheel on the A320 flight in the video below.

There are a LOT of A300 series planes in service - some will fail.

Be distrustful of media reports for they know not what they say.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Cuban

[Somchai Mao]

Just been reported on Sky News. Showed some darkened pictures and not much else. Nose wheel collapsed so they claim. Airbus A330 Guangzhou to Bangkok.

[louthlincs]

I heard on the news this morning passengers on the flight reported that as soon as the doors opened the cabin crew jumped out and away down the slides leaving the children and elderly to find their own way out - disgraceful

[Ian Curtis]

Obviosly speculating but, as a private pilot of single engined planes since the age of 17 (too long in the tooth now) and having been an aircraft stress engineer way back in the days of yore (Glo'sters, Dehavillands, Blackburn) I would offer the following as a possible scenario. The nosewheel of any aeroplane ( a taildragger does'nt have one of course!) has never been designed to withstand an initial impact on landing. If that were to happen then the nosewheel would fail. For this reason, pilots 'flare' the aeroplane just before touchdown so that it land on its main wheels i.e. to keep the nosewheel out of it thereby allowing it to sink naturally with diminishing speed.

So, my conjecture is that the pilot made pigs-ear at touchdown by failing to flare early enough thereby causing the nosewheel to collapse.

Pilots are of course only human and errors do happen (I've made loads of bad landings!) but these commercial boys have two pilots at the controls while landing so, maybe my conjecture is a little off because one of the pilots ought to have reacted?

Who knows; we'll have to wait for 'Airbus' engineers to make their assessment?

Here endeth my two penneth