A380 U turn on runway causes excursion
 

Incident: Emirates A388 at Warsaw on May 20th 2015, runway excursion on backtrack


"By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, May 20th 2015 18:13Z, last updated Wednesday, May 20th 2015 18:13Z

An Emirates Airbus A380-800, registration A6-EET performing flight EK-222 (dep May 19th) from Dallas Ft. Worth,TX (USA) to Dubai (United Arab Emirates), was enroute at FL350 about 130nm northnortheast of Warsaw (Poland) when a male passenger (55) suffered a stroke prompting the crew to divert to Warsaw where the aircraft landed safely on runway 33 about 30 minutes later. Due to construction work the aircraft could not vacate on the next taxiway but needed to turn around on the runway and backtrack to taxi to the apron, while turning around to backtrack the nose gear struck runway edge lights causing damage to one of the nose wheels. The ill passenger was taken to a hospital, the aircraft was unable to continue the flight.

A replacement Boeing 777-300 registration A6-EGU was dispatched to Warsaw, continued the flight as EK-222D and is estimated to reach Dubai with a delay of 11.5 hours.

The airline reported the aircraft faced a technical issue on the ground, the passengers disembarked and were taken to Dubai on a replacement aircraft."

My hopes for a speedy recovery for the passenger...and the crew, they are some good guys.

Lets hope the company puts a "our passengers mean everything" spin on the incident.

Royston Vasey

Removed from roster is normal in an event like this when an aircraft leaves the paved surface or causes damage. It would be negligent on the Companies part not too until a full and objective investigation is undertaken.

As for the warnings however, that's where the Company often falls down. They can prove whether the 'Just' culture is reality or merely another bullet point for adorning the inside of EGHQ lifts.

Harry

I hope the crew concerned are treated fairly and within the bounds of the "just culture"
Then again......:hmm::rolleyes:
I wonder if little T or AAR will decide that doing this on the vunderbus has damaged the "brand"
I wish the ill pax a speedy recovery.

I don't think it really matters whether the just culture is a reality or not. The perception amongst pilots is that it there isn't one and that's what drives their actions when things start going wrong. Hence: poor culture because the company is happy for the pilots to be fearful of reprisals. You can talk the talk all you like at CRM training, but nobody believes it, not even the trainers.

As an amateur only, I ask this as a genuine question...

Would the crew have had information available to them on the construction work, and hence the likely need to turn and backtrack? I expect they would have had plates available for Warsaw, but could it be that they had an incomplete picture? Saying that, I'm assuming that runway width for any A380-ready airfield must be sufficient for such a turn?

A runway is meant to stay on and a edge light not to be run over, be that with a regional jet or a 'Super', on a regular destination or a suitable alternate.

That sounds like a quote from the OM-A intended to save the face of accountable post-holders in the office. I know you don't mean for it to come across that way but it certainly sounds like a naive statement.

Until we know the full story (which we never will, by the way) then we don't know what factors were involved in them making the error. There are those that have, and those that will. Anyone who doesn't believe that scares me.

Accepting we're human goes a long way to trapping the errors, no? :ok:

Cat

My comment was intended as a reply to NWSRG. If it sounds OM-A like or to save face of any faceless, i simply stated the obvious, i guess.

The prime task of a skipper is to get to destination safely. In this incident, they had to divert due to a sick passenger. Even under such circumstances the first priority was still to keep people and equipment safe, the second was to get the sick passenger to a hospital asap.
Now obviously they failed on both tasks, as most probably the incident delayed the transport to the hospital and the aircraft and some ground equipment were damaged.

As to how the 'just culture' will handle it, don't expect much of the faceless.

The damge was found after they parked the aircraft on the gate ..it was a cut on the side of the tyre ....so The pax was offloaded in time ..my guess they didn't fully review the 180 proc ..henc the A/C needed more than 60m to make 180 turn...

SP I don't know where you get your info from but they have both been moved from roster by fleet and they still are.
It appears though that it was the augmenting crew that did the landing.

tz

Don't get me wrong, i feel for the crew and fully understand the difficulty of diversions into unknown territory when exhausted. Been there, done that.
It is simply cute to see that this must suddenly be rocket science with a dugong involved and only its holy drivers can fully understand what heroic operation has been accomplished!

It's really a very small c@ck-up, but it is one.
So face it like men, or all the other less glorious airline bastards, and move on. :}

Having a bad day glofish?

It's no harder to turn around than a 773. And we have had a few of them in the grass too. Sh@t happens.

Come on Don, it's not the same thing as turning a 773 and above all we never get to practice it.
Have you ever had to turn one besides the sim?

tz

EWB do you fly dugongs? It takes 55 meters to do a 180° turn and the procedure is a page long. It requires full braking and power on the outboard engine and we never ever have the opportunity to practice if not in the sim.
I've been three years on the thing without ever having to do one.
It may fly like any other Airbus but on the ground it sucks.

tz

don

Sure, some T7's and others kissed some grass, but none of them tried to excuse the blunder by boasting how 'difficult' his bird was for such a manoeuvre (citing big Z) :

If you're not sure of mastering it, if it sucks on ground and you can't train a manoeuvre, why try it then?

TZ, yes! Done 2 plus a couple on nodes. I have no issue with the crew making a mistake, it is tight as it is on any other aircraft. On previous types I have also only done a couple. The 380 sucks particularly when wet but that wasn't the point of my post so I'll get rid of it!

Thanks Zohan. You are correct.

big G I'm just trying to cut the guys some slack, that's it.
obviously they screwed up, we wouldn't be here talking about it, but it's also obvious the 380 is not just like another jet and the lack of practice is an issue.

tz

Jet is a jet and turn is a turn !

I have seen don and whistle make a 180 on the thing while taking a selfie .



Take a moment to contemplate what you are saying!

The procedure is longer than a page in the FCOM and training is required to retain proficiency

Humble yourselves