Cargolux in the grass Maastricht airport
 

Cargolux bound to LUX stuck in the grass at MAA airport...

Picture to be found here: nu.nl/algemeen | Jumbojet belandt naast baan in Maastricht

According to the article:
No one injured, Boeing 747-400, apparently happened during taxi, damage seems to be minor, runway is closed.

MAA - Chennai, fkna Madras airport - nope - MST more appropriate :E

MAA
 

Maastricht Aachen Airport a.k.a. MST. ;)

Cause of the incident was Body Gear Steering failure.

DUAL GROUND

I find it hard to believe body gear steering was the cause. The a/c will turn with or without the body gear steering , although it may be hard on the gear and tires.

Well them's the facts. Yes, the aircraft will turn without BGS, but not as quickly or sharply and in this case not quickly or sharply enough. Yesterday the BGS failed and the crew taken unawares (no EICAS messages) could not make the turn at the end of the runway. On departure the crew had to use differential braking and engine thrust to turn the aircraft, which apparently is not the norm at that airport (under Cargolux SOP's anyway).

Were the brakes working?

Should you not be able to see that yo are not going to make the turn and stop? Ok might leave you a bit red faced but not as bad as putting the nose in the grass.

Well, apparently it was not easy to keep the aircraft on the runway, otherwise they wouldn't have been in the grass! :ugh: It is something that simply can happen if you operate to airfields where you don't have taxiways at each threshold.

Very well said,
the one who didn't turn around a 747 on 'a' turn pad, not particually MST
should just try to do it himself before commenting, plus all this surprises!!!
It can easily happen!!!

So what are you saying? . . . That turning with inoperative body gear steering can easily cause an excursion into the grass...?

That's true only if all your brakes fail, or if you're not paying attention, or if you're turning too fast with too much differential thrust all at once.

Not an argument, just a statement of fact. :ooh:

Just wondering since I have no wide-body experience, but how do you make and/or initiate such a turn on a narrow surface as this? (45m)

Do you steer as much to one side as you dare and then just turn the nosewheelsteering as much as you can and just hope for the best? or are there references on where to start the turn to make sure you have adequate space for the turn?

There's a whole procedure laid down how turns should be done. All kinds of visual clues can be used to determine wing tip clearance, distance from main gear to the edge of a surface etc. It requires quite some concentration, and to be honest; cameras would be easier! I need to add as well that minimum turning radius in a 744 is 46.6 meters, so in for places with a runway width of less than that turning pads or intersections with taxiways will need to be used.

If there was no EICAS then the steering probably did not fail. If the surface was slick then the torque of the body gear can easily overcome nose wheel inputs causing the aircraft to rotate in the opposite direction to tiller input.

I was in the hangar when the a/c returned to LUX. I was not personally involved in the defect rectification but I know that the BGS failed. Also as far as I know the only EICAS message for BGS is for a switch disagree, which is an advisory. The BGS will still function with a lock/unlock switch snag.