Report: EL AL Flight off rwy (?)

[readywhenreaching]

have read it quite few times but still i´m confused weather this was a ramp, or a runway incident...


http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/630880.html
also

http://www.jacdec.de/news/news.htm


Last update - 14:40 29/09/2005


El Al plane veers off runway before takeoff from Ben Gurion airport

By Zohar Blumenkrantz, Haaretz Correspondent

An El Al plane veered off the runway at Ben Gurion Airport before dawn Thursday due to a malfunction in the tow truck that was pulling it. The plane's gas tanks were full in preparation for a flight to New York, and all 400 passengers on board were evacuated.

This is the third incident this week involving technical hitches in El Al planes that caused disruptions in flight schedule and inconvenienced hundreds of passengers.

El Al responded that the malfunctioning tow truck was "a rare incident" and that the passengers were put up in hotels. Company spokesmen expressed hope that the flight would be able to take off sometime Thursday afternoon, after the plane's gas tanks were emptied and the plane was moved from the runway's shoulder.

"We are distressed by this incident, but there were no malfunctions in the plane itself," the company reported. "This is a rare event in the world of flight that only occurs once per period of dozens of years."

A Boeing 767 bound for Toronto experienced technical mishaps Tuesday when it was supposed to take off at midnight. Because of this malfunction and because the airport was closed for takeoffs at night, the flight was delayed until morning. Passengers complained about the "inappropriate attitude" the company displayed during the wait.

[G-CPTN]

I guess the removed fuel had to be dumped - what a waste (or can it be re-used for other purposes - such as filling Zippos?)?

[Daysleeper]

I guess the removed fuel had to be dumped

Not at all, it can be put back into the same aircraft without further checks or put into other aircraft once its past a strict quality control check (although its rarely worth it) most commonly it ends up in the airports GPUs, Stanby Gennys and boiler room fuel tanks.:O

[Farrell]

Did the tow truck do something to damage the plane?

Or did the tow truck become involved in a taxyway / runway incursion (loss of brakes under power maybe)?

[G-CPTN]

>Did the tow truck do something to damage the plane?

*********************************

PURE guesswork - that the a/c was run off the hard-standing and the wheels dug-in to the grass. Probably no damage to the 'plane, but required unloading for recovery.
No evidence BTW . . .

[TimmyD]

I think the third incident was the El Al flight on Sunday night to Joburg. I believe the flight also left late at night. Shortly after take off there appeared to be a problem retracting the 767's flaps. After 5 hours or so of holding over Israel the flight returned to Ben Gurion. A colleague of mine was on the flight although he didnt say why they had to wait for landing for so long. I fly to TLV regularly and I wasnt aware that the airport shut at night - there seem to be a lot of late night/early morning arrivals and departures.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

I quite regularly arrive on the KLM flight at 0130 local so I agree.