A SIA 777-300ER arriving from Manchester slid off the southern RWY at EDDM this noontime. No one hurt and no external a/c damage. a/c still on the grass. Munich ops limited to northern RWY til further notice.
I was expecting only one bogie or perhaps the nose wheels in the grass, but not the complete aircraft standing in the grass meters away from the nearest piece of concrete.
On the face of it, the wind is not significant, although a lowish cloudbase and a little bit of mist if noon local (1100Z), but nothing serious. Seems like an odd one.
I flew in and out of MUC this morning, and it was CAT II for the approach, CAT I when we took off about 50 mins later. Hardly any wind and the surface was close to dry, no frozen patches anywhere. They must have arrived about an hour after we departed. I wonder what happened...
Some posters on airliners.net are reporting that their relatives were aboard the flight to Munich. The common remark being used is that the landing was on the hard side - whatever that may mean. Read for yourselves, I guess.
The 777 was towed off the runway about 45 minutes ago. Rwy expected to have been reopened about 15 minutes ago (18:30).
One poster on another forum looked at the flight tracks. He said it looks like they veered left off the runway, then right and then went off on the grass on the right side. Quite strange...
At the time of landing there was CAT II/III. Fog was lifting at the time.
I recall some years ago following an autoland in very low visibility the aircraft veering quite sharply from left to right. I was quite alarmed at the time and only when the aircraft slowed to taxi speed did I realize what had happened once I heard the autopilot disconnect cavalry charge. The PF was trying to steer the aircraft forgetting that the autopilot was still engaged I wonder whether this could of happened here...
One poster on another forum looked at the flight tracks. He said it looks like they veered left off the runway, then right and then went off on the grass on the right side. Quite strange...
That would be the same as reported in the German news on the Mercur article linked above. They report that the aircraft got out of control level with the cargo terminal, went left then back across the runway and 10m into the grass.
The PF was trying to steer the aircraft forgetting that the autopilot was still engaged. I wonder whether this could of happened here...
Hmm, I've had that happen but it will try to put you back on the LOC, not the grass (unless you've already vacated and let go of the tiller...).
The photos *are* rather surreal: 200T+ of aircraft sitting on the grass like it was helicoptered in there... Normally, you'd expect the wheels to have disappeared into the ground and see dirty great ploughed tracks leading off the runway. Doesn't seem to be anything like that here; maybe German spec. verges are stronger than they look?
@ FullWings: as the river Isar is less than 2km to the west, the airport was built on alluvial land. There is some grass for the looks, but underneath it's pretty much all gravel. That does take a lot of weight...
Strange thing all together, though. It will be interesting to read the report.
Anyone knows if LVP were (still) in force? Automatic rollout around Cat I can be tricky when LOC signals aren't protected (and everybody is doing autolands "to be on the safe side").
SIA 777 off the rwy at EDDM
