Abort?

[stickyb]

There was a thread running a while agin entitled "Delta 777 gash or what", and I was going to post this on the end of it, but can't seem to open the original thread.

Seems like this was a good call.

http://news.scmp.com/ZZZL6N7W5NC.html

[Wino]

cut and paste the article please, as I am not a member and can't read it.

Thaks
Wino

[stickyb]

Here it is

There is also a little diagram showing the relative positions, etc. Don't know how accurate it is

http://news.scmp.com/ZZZL6N7W5NC_artpic.html

"A passenger plane was forced to slam on its brakes and abort take-off from Chek Lap Kok because a jumbo jet had taken a wrong turn and almost strayed on to the runway.
Aviation officials have asked China Airlines to explain how its Boeing 747 carrying 202 passengers ended up with its nose overhanging the runway on Wednesday last week.

China Eastern flight MU512, an MD-90 jet, had gone 600m down the runway and was about to take off for Ningbo in Zhejiang province when air traffic controllers warned it to stop. Passengers were thrown forward in their seats as it braked and pulled on to an exit.

An American passenger on the China Eastern flight told the South China Morning Post there was fear and confusion in the cabin. "As our plane was thundering down the runway, we felt a forward jolt and the deadening of the engines," he said.

"The plane slowly got off the runway and was soon surrounded by fire trucks."

The passenger said panic broke out, with the crew unable to tell passengers what was going on.

"A long time elapsed before a shaky voice came on the PA to say that the plane had been instructed by the control tower to cancel take-off due to another aircraft on the runway.

"I broke into a cold sweat and shuddered to think that we might just have narrowly escaped."

A Civil Aviation Department (CAD) spokeswoman confirmed that air-traffic controllers instructed a pilot to abort a take-off at about noon last Wednesday.

"Aerodrome control noticed that a Boeing 747 aircraft taxiing for departure took a wrong turn at the far end and proceeded beyond the runway holding point," she told the Post.

"The aircraft stopped on the runway exit but was not actually on the runway. The nose was beyond the runway holding point. CAD has written to the airline concerned regarding the incident and requested it to provide reasons for the wrong turn." She said no response had yet been received. The holding point marks where an exit meets a runway.

The Post has learned the flight in question was China Airlines flight CI641 to Bangkok, with 202 passengers. China Airlines' Hong Kong spokesman, Andy Law Kam-mun, said the airline had no record of anything unusual happening to the flight.

China Eastern's Hong Kong office refused to comment or say how many passengers were on its plane. MD-90s can carry up to 175 passengers."


[This message has been edited by stickyb (edited 31 May 2001).]