Emirates 777 at GLA
I have to agree that if you're not familiar with GLA you might jump to the wrong conclusion about this week's incident with EK26's 777. Maybe I can help to clarify things a little - I was on board the aircraft and I also trained for my PPL at Glasgow and flew out of there a lot in the 90's.
So - the 777 taxied normally all the way to the last taxiway (can't recall the designation) and turned left onto the undershoot of 23, typical for heavies to get another 200m or so of TOD. But instead of throttling up and taking off, the aircraft rolled slowly forward to the 23 threshold and then turned left off the runway at the first exit, abeam the threshold. I looked left as it turned and saw a landing aircraft on short finals carry out a go-around.
The 777 taxied forward a little and stopped (I assume at the hold line) and then moved forward again and turned left, attempting to regain the original taxiway leading to the undershoot. During this turn the left gear rolled on to the grass (only about 2 metres) and despite throttling up, the crew could not shift the aircraft. The rest is known.
I have photos taken at the time from outside when we deplaned and I'll try to post them when I can get them off my phone which won't talk to my laptop right now.
So I have two observations / comments: why did the crew abort the take off and exit the runway (any 777 drivers offer a clue here?) and it looks as if the captain or FO didn't appreciate how tight the final left turn is for a large aircraft. I'm not sure if you can follow the taxi centreline in such a case (777 drivers again?).