SAA stuck in the sand at CPT Int.

[ddd]

Just heared that a SAA A340 is stuck in the sand at CPT Int. One passenger phoned in and said that they landed perfectly and taxied to the end of the runway, and then, instead of turning left, it turned right and got stuck in the sand!
He says the captain was a woman! Maybe that explains it? :)

Any news on this?

[Airbubba]

Cape Town international airport closed indefinitely

Fri 2 Nov 2007, 14:45 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Cape Town International Airport is closed indefinitely after an aircraft veered off the main runway on Friday, a South African airport official said.

No injuries were reported.

Bongani Maseko, director of airport operations at the Airports Company South Africa, told public broadcaster SABC officials were talking to South African Airways to establish what happened during the plane's landing.

"The entire airport is closed to all inbound or outbound traffic ... We do anticipate indefinite delays at this point," he said on SABC radio.

[ETOPS]

CAPE TOWN, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Cape Town International Airport was re-opened after the removal of an aircraft which had veered off the main runway after landing, a South African airport official told SABC radio on Friday.

"I can confirm... that the plane is now off the runway, the airport has been declared open and flights from outstations have been cleared to take off into Cape Town airport," Bongani Maseko, director of airport operations, said.



No big deal by the sounds of it.

[52049er]

Flew into CPT a few days ago and it has a series of taxyway closures which have changed the normal routeings. We managed to take an earlier exit than we usually would so didnt visit the end of the runway, but as the taxyways in use are not the standard ones it wouldnt surprise me if they were a bit narrower/sharper cornered than the others.

No major harm done anyway by the sounds of it. Except a bit of :\

[ddd]

So why did the pilot turn right in stead of left at the end of the runway? :confused:

[Captain_Trim]

Sounds similar to the Emirates (?) at GLA

[52049er]

Why did he not make a left turn? I despair - did you not read my post?

Possibly he made a right turn (or a 180 degree turn on the runway starting with a right turn) because a left turn was not possible BECAUSE THEY HAVE CLOSED THE TAXIWAY.

And its the pilot who gets the stick.........:rolleyes:

[sbh684b]

All u need to now on this subject
http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=26695&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight

[IFixPlanes]

All u need to now on this subject
http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB2/viewto...=asc&highlight
Would you PM me your Username and Password? :ugh:

[SMOC]

Found these pics, where on the airport is this area, a turn node at an end or a side node?

http://carstenbauer.net/saa/

[amos2]

So, some one tell me...how does one do this?

Taxi straight into the dirt, that is!

Do you practise it first, or what? :=

[LLuke]

What's the red tag on this image?
http://carstenbauer.net/saa/IMGA6080.JPG

[sidtheesexist]

There but for the grace of God go I.........................:(

[apaddyinuk]

Wow....Engines dropping off planes, others going into the sand....I reckon CPT is having its "everything happens in threes" month...what will be the third event can anyone speculate??? LOL

[operationsair]

180 backtrack to vacate.. miss judged the turn??

[tristar 500]

What's the red tag on this image?

I would suspect that somebody has fitted the nose gear down lock pin, just to prevent any further damage.

Tristar 500

[operationsair]

Yeah thats the gear pin.

[advisory]

:{ A346 drivers: Look up ECAM Wheel Nose wheel steering fault.
Can cause a loss of nosewheel steering or nose wheel hard over particularly whenn doing sharp turns. Also some newer Airbus BSCU's have exhibited erratic behaviour. I thought they had all been modified now tho.:sad:

[PAXboy]

The African Aviation forum has a thread with nearly 100 posts in it, with all possibilities discussed.
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=298735