We all knew that Affir. action. /prev disad / BEE etc. will have a price

Goldfish Jack, looks like your statement made the news in the newspapers.

5 November 2007: Cape Argus


Pilots blame Acsa for Cape Town runway mixup

The Airports Company of South Africa will not launch an investigation into the incident that grounded all flight operations in Cape Town for hours on Friday, despite assertions by pilots that the state-owned parastatal was to blame.

A South African Airways flight lodged its front wheels in soft sand while taxiing off the runaway, at Cape Town International on Friday. This caused Acsa to shut down the busy airport to incoming and outgoing flights for close to three hours.

The Cape Argus's sister newspaper, the Weekend Argus, reported on Sunday that a number of pilots had blamed Acsa for the incident.

Commenting on a website for professional pilots, they said there should have been painted lines on the runway to assist the pilot of flight SA333 from Johannesburg with her turn.

One pilot wrote on the website: "I sympathise with the crew. Had Acsa painted the lines at the runway intersection, this would not have happened. The real cause of the incident is Acsa not doing their job properly."

He added: "Irrespective of what happened there needs to be a serious investigation."

Deidre Hendricks, Acsa spokesperson, on Sunday said the airport management company would not be launching an investigation.

"Such occurrences do happen from time to time. Our focus on Friday was to ensure the resumption of airport operations. If you want details around the incident that happened you need to speak to SAA," Hendricks said.

Despite persistent questions from the Cape Argus around why Acsa did not see fit to launch an investigation into an incident that crippled South Africa's second major international airport, Hendricks refused to answer.

Robyn Chalmers, the SAA group head of corporate affairs, confirmed the airline would launch an investigation into Friday's incident.

"The safety of our passengers is paramount, so it is normal practice for SAA to investigate any incidents that may occur. SAA will investigate the cause of the incident the aircraft has also undergone a thorough inspection and no damage was found as a result of the incident," she said

The holes in the cheese are are lining up.....

Pics can be found here, http://www.2oceansvibe.com/

Looking at the pictures, it was clearly an A346. Which means it has taxi cameras. TACS. Surely they would have used these or were they stolen?:}

Would have given them a clear view of where the nose wheel actually was, so I am not sure one could blame anybody other than the crew. If you see you cant make it stop and get a tow.

however having said that, if the airport was serviceable, it wouldnt have happened.

I remember once when a Sun Air DC9 went off the taxiway in FACT, the airways boys all got stuck in, turns out the DC9 pilot was ex SAA too. Time for taxy practise boys. (and girls!!:ok:)

If you look at the pics, it is obvious that this was purely pilot error! To immediately start blaming ACSA sounds like the first reaction of SAAPA.

We have to remember that we are constantly reminded on these forums that SAA drivers are superior to the rest of us and that is why they are paid so much more. The nosewheel of this aircraft did not just "slip" off the surface, it is miles into the grass!

Affirmative action, BEE, fast tracking, accelerated command - we are constantly reminded that a slip every now and then, whether it is an A346 of the runway or the Bokke losing a couple of games, is acceptable in the bigger scheme of things in SA. This is one of those slips - lets move on.

The captain of the A346, "Sandy T", lost her cool a while back when a ground engineer made a comment about woman drivers! Should have accepted it graciously!:=

I'm not sure who is at fault here - like most accidents/incidents no one person or organisation is completely to blame.

What I will say is that taxiing an A346 is more difficult than you think. Taxiing an A346 around 120 degree turns without markings will not be much fun.

I have taxied the A346 around places like JFK and it doesn't matter how many cameras you have - it is very very easy to get it wrong.

I am curios though as to why they are so far off the pavement.

W2

An incident was predicted, and an incident has occurred. The few calls made by the upper echelons to keep it all together really have to be taken to heart by all....

Check out the skid marks going off the runway....

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...i/20071102.jpg

There are a few remarks about the qualifications and or sex of the crew.Anybody have the *alls to give out names or is that a career limiting move:cool::cool::cool:.

CJ750,
I think it would be unprofessional and unethical to name the crew involved in this incident. Why do you want to know? So you can roast them like everyone else when it comes to SAA pilots!
It ain't balls ...as you so call it...it would be down right stupidity!

Beechbum
 

Why is it ok to refer to the crew by nickname or PDI or whatever is the flavour of the day but not by name. Is that not hypocritical.

I am not picking a fight and also i do not want to bash the crew concerned. I assume by the reply that you are a sensitive SAA driver.

There's enough SAA bashing on these forums to last a life time so quite honestly until we know the facts lets leave the guilty party/ies out of the equation. Yes the Captain was a woman but so be it, it could have happened to any one.
And yes I'm SAA...sensitive....no...just ethical!
Sorry CJ750...it's just the way it is and should be left that way!
Ta!

Well put Beechbum.
Who cares what their name was or whether it was a male/female and also which company it was.
The crew have their hands full trying to figure out what went wrong, whether it was them or the runway....so why publicly bash.
Remember, it can also happen to you and then you certainly dont want your name plastered around.

Goffel.

I heard SAA Technical removed the "Cockpit Voice Recorder" and the last words on it "........if she wants to drive....let her drive.............." :p

E

Those were not the last words on the cvr - sounds more like (in afrikaans) "O Bok!" or something

What about the Co Pilot was he sitting with his finger up his :eek:

Shame. Bit embarrassing for the co-pilot's dad, who is quite prominent in the airshow scene.

I think the lesson to be learnt here is that A346's can't do 150 degree turns easily. The capt. flies quite well (for the woman bashers), but was fairly new on the A346. Heard from the grapefine that they (CAA/SAA?)want to have her licence stripped, which is a bit harsh I think...

my question..does the A340 not have nose-wheel steering on the F/O side as well and if the "lady" was on the R/T then I would presume that she was PNF, thus the F/O was taxi-ing and it would also make sense for him/her to attempt the turn see-ing as the turn was on his/her/F/O's side...and thats were the "error" took place...although the "lady" still takes the ultimate resposibility as P1 be it PF or PNF.....any takers...if so then this should also silence all those "BEE" critics here.

A search on the R+N forum will show a very similar incident to Emirates about 6 weeks ago. Glasgow, UK.

They'll probably tell you SAA folks about it at the recruitment roadshow:ooh:;)

Rob