Thai Air plane botches U-turn at Kohn Kaen Airport

[spacebass]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/thai-a330-stuck-in-soft-ground-after-botched-u-turn-405580/

[slipperylobster]

That is the first time I have ever heard of that kind of problem...

Good thing he was doing it on the ground, not in the air.

Edited November 5, 2014 by slipperylobster

[canopus1969]

Don't think it would get its nose wheel stuck if flying ?

[KhunBENQ]

Made a lot news (thread in the news section).

Yesterday the airport was closed.

Following the news the plane has been moved and airport reopened today.

Quite likely it was the pilots fault when doing the 180 degrees turn for the start.

First incident that I got aware of in Khon Kaen in almost 20 years.

Far from the first incident of this kind in the world

Edited November 5, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[tullynagardy]

It`s a pretty big plane to try to U turn to be fair. Do Thai usually fly wide bodied aircraft for this route!?

[Jay Sata]

Quite a bit of misinformed conjecture here.

The pilot was not trying to do a U turn. At Khon Kaen just like many airports it is normal to backtrack and turn around on a large designated area before lining up for take off.

In this case it appears that on spooling up the engines and releasing the brakes the pilot flying,most likely a young first officer, suffered either an asymmetric problem where one engine produced more thrust than the other or failed to keep the rudder pedals aligned with the runway.

Whatever the issue the captain did a pretty good job of rapidly closing the throttles or there would have been no nose leg left.

The turning area is the big space at the end of the runway which you can see from this picture of the approach over the road. The incident happened at the other end near the golf club.

As for wide bodied jets using Khon Kaen that has been the norm for years and pose no risk for passengers.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Jay Sata

[tullynagardy]

The pilot was not trying to do a U turn. At Khon Kaen just like many airports it is normal to backtrack and turn around on a large designated area before lining up for take off.

"He wasn`t doing a u turn, he was just turning around" ... Glad we have aviation experts around who can actually change the deifinition of English words such is their knowledge

[Jay Sata]

If you want to be pedantic the air traffic controller would cleared the pilot to enter ,back track and line up.

A further clearance is then issued to take off. It was at this stage of the operation the aircraft left the runway most probably due to asymmetric thrust.

The engines are spooled up to the power required for take off. This is not maximum power but a setting based on load,temperature and other calculations.

The brakes are released and the aircraft is controlled down the centreline by the rudder pedals while the pilot keeps one hand on the throttles and the other on the sidestick.

I hope that helps you understand the sequence of events.

The mishap occurred during the early stages of acceleration in a straight line and not during a turn.

I do not profess to be an aviation expert. However I do hold UK,US and Australian fixed wing and helicopter licences. I also spent some time as a news editor for an international aviation magazine.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Jay Sata

[metisdead]

Please continue in the topics running here:

THAI flight skids off runway at Khon Kaen airport

TG aircraft recovered from Khon Kaen runway

Closed