Blocked runways
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Blocked runways
What has to be done by the appropriate authorities when investigating a disabled aircraft on the runway? Specifically when an aircraft becomes disabled on the runway following a landing and becoming hazardous to subsequent users. Would it be common practice for the authorities to make best speed to clear the runway in all cases, or does importance or economic factors govern the time it takes? Example the Air China heavy in Sydney not long ago blocking the main runway versus the King Air incident in Coffs Harbour. How long did it take until these runways were fit to resume operation?
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Not quite the scale of China Airlines - but some years ago in Darwin a Cessna 402 had a flat tyre and was disabled on the main runway. The aircraft operator was procrastiating about how to move it. The military moved a very large forlift to the side of the runway with the comment 'move it in 10 minutes, or we will.'
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Each case is different. Firstly, there is the safety of the passengers and crew to be taken care of. Any fire or leakage of fluids must be dealt with. NOTAM action closing the runway and any other necessary parts of the aerodrome will be taken. In the case of larger airports with the benefit of more than one runway, an assessment will be made of the possibility of continuig to use the other runway(s), but this is NOT automatic. If there is any hint that the disablement might have been the result of a criminal act, then ALL ops will cease until the Police, Emergency Services and the aerodrome licencee agree on what facilities can re-open. If a criminal act is suspected then the area becomes a crime scene until the Police are satisfied that all evidence is gathered. This isn't just about terrorism; it could be sabotage or criminal negligence.
OK, phase one out of the way. It is the aircraft operator's responsibility to deal with the resulting wreckage but of course most operators don't have facilities except at their base fields. The major operators have cross-agreements and some major carriers offer 3rd-party facilities.
The hard part is getting the operator to agree to a course of action. Their insurers are going to do everything they can to minimise further damage to their asset.
In the case of the 402 with a burst tyre, we have equipment of our own which can remove this size of aircraft without further damage, although we insist on a waiver IN WRITING before starting. In this case, it's usually the hapless commander of the aircraft who is encouraged to sign. We had just such a case a while back; a 404 landed at about 0400 on our main runway and burst the port main. Even with our equipment, it took an hour to re-open the runway, having first lightened the aircraft by removing the freight. This was a bit tight, with the first wave of transatlantic inbounds due in at 0500. This is absolutely the minimum you can expect for this sort of event. The other end of the scale is represented by the A340 on 27L at Heathrow. They did all the good things in para 1; it took I believe the best part of 24 hours subsequently to move the aircraft. It's a fascinating story - someone at Heathrow should write it up for public consumption.
To mitigate against this sort of runway blockage at LGW a parallel taxiway was upgraded to Cat 4 visual runway standards some years back. The rationale at the time was that any runway blockage taking days to sort out would trap dozens of aircraft on the ground. This so-called 'Emergency' runway is fully capable of allowing 747s to depart to an alternate operating base for the duration of the main runway closure. In practice, over the years, it has been used as an alternate at night to allow us to remain operational whilst carrying out maintenance on the main runway. One of the difficulties with using it, depending on the location of the stricken a/c, is the intrusion of the wreck into the side surfaces of the runway - principally the 1-in-7 slope from the edge of the strip.
So, why not continue to operate on the main runway if there's space? Well, of course, you can. There's a whole subject here of how to re-open a reduced-length runway; whether to land towards or over the top of the obstruction, whether to take-off away from or over the top of it.; how to mark it out and notify the new distances; what to do with the lighting...I've only tried this twice in my time; mostly there's simply not enough room left for any meaningful operation. It's often quicker in the long run to concentrate on removing the opstruction and re-opening full-length.
Lastly, a tricky question. What if an operator won't play ball and we're desperate to open? Would we scrape the wreckage off the side and get going again? The loss to our customers of even one day's closure will run into millions and the direct affect on our business will also be very large. You might argue that we could set all this against the cost of the extra damage done to the a/c by dragging it out of the way and you might well be right! Hopefully someone higher up the food chain than me will make that decision!!!
The Odd One
Addendum...
Of course there\'s lots more to phase one, but I should have mentioned the Air Accident Investigation Branch! They are always consulted and asked for permission to move any damaged aircraft that is the subject of a reportable accident.
The Odd One.
OK, phase one out of the way. It is the aircraft operator's responsibility to deal with the resulting wreckage but of course most operators don't have facilities except at their base fields. The major operators have cross-agreements and some major carriers offer 3rd-party facilities.
The hard part is getting the operator to agree to a course of action. Their insurers are going to do everything they can to minimise further damage to their asset.
In the case of the 402 with a burst tyre, we have equipment of our own which can remove this size of aircraft without further damage, although we insist on a waiver IN WRITING before starting. In this case, it's usually the hapless commander of the aircraft who is encouraged to sign. We had just such a case a while back; a 404 landed at about 0400 on our main runway and burst the port main. Even with our equipment, it took an hour to re-open the runway, having first lightened the aircraft by removing the freight. This was a bit tight, with the first wave of transatlantic inbounds due in at 0500. This is absolutely the minimum you can expect for this sort of event. The other end of the scale is represented by the A340 on 27L at Heathrow. They did all the good things in para 1; it took I believe the best part of 24 hours subsequently to move the aircraft. It's a fascinating story - someone at Heathrow should write it up for public consumption.
To mitigate against this sort of runway blockage at LGW a parallel taxiway was upgraded to Cat 4 visual runway standards some years back. The rationale at the time was that any runway blockage taking days to sort out would trap dozens of aircraft on the ground. This so-called 'Emergency' runway is fully capable of allowing 747s to depart to an alternate operating base for the duration of the main runway closure. In practice, over the years, it has been used as an alternate at night to allow us to remain operational whilst carrying out maintenance on the main runway. One of the difficulties with using it, depending on the location of the stricken a/c, is the intrusion of the wreck into the side surfaces of the runway - principally the 1-in-7 slope from the edge of the strip.
So, why not continue to operate on the main runway if there's space? Well, of course, you can. There's a whole subject here of how to re-open a reduced-length runway; whether to land towards or over the top of the obstruction, whether to take-off away from or over the top of it.; how to mark it out and notify the new distances; what to do with the lighting...I've only tried this twice in my time; mostly there's simply not enough room left for any meaningful operation. It's often quicker in the long run to concentrate on removing the opstruction and re-opening full-length.
Lastly, a tricky question. What if an operator won't play ball and we're desperate to open? Would we scrape the wreckage off the side and get going again? The loss to our customers of even one day's closure will run into millions and the direct affect on our business will also be very large. You might argue that we could set all this against the cost of the extra damage done to the a/c by dragging it out of the way and you might well be right! Hopefully someone higher up the food chain than me will make that decision!!!
The Odd One
Addendum...
Of course there\'s lots more to phase one, but I should have mentioned the Air Accident Investigation Branch! They are always consulted and asked for permission to move any damaged aircraft that is the subject of a reportable accident.
The Odd One.
