Virgin Atlantic VS98 damaged on landing by Christmas Eve flash flood in St Lucia?
Anyone who really knows and has all the pics won't be sharing on here....
Interesting to see that the Daily Mail and Daily Express - neither of which normally worry much about accuracy - both take care to point out that the LD3 story is an unconfirmed report (without identifying AvHerald as the source).
Virgin Atlantic passengers in narrow escape after plane hits debris washed onto runway during Caribbean storm | Mail Online
Terror as Virgin jet avoids disaster landing on FLOODED runway in dark, storm-hit St Lucia | World | News | Daily Express
davereid
i can assure you the airfield was dumped on by a massive flood on VS's touchdown with associated muck/mess/mire/mayhem - my pal was c/c o/b
it was a right mess
and that's all you are getting i'm afraid
i can assure you the airfield was dumped on by a massive flood on VS's touchdown with associated muck/mess/mire/mayhem - my pal was c/c o/b
it was a right mess
and that's all you are getting i'm afraid
There 'may' have been more than one LD3.
Got to love the express / daily heil whenever there is an incident the words 'terror, jet, plunge, horror, narrowly avoided, screaming' all seem to crop up. I'm sure there will be pics in the AAIB report when its released, maybe even some hard facts!
Got to love the express / daily heil whenever there is an incident the words 'terror, jet, plunge, horror, narrowly avoided, screaming' all seem to crop up. I'm sure there will be pics in the AAIB report when its released, maybe even some hard facts!
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St Lucia
Hello all,
I was in the terminal when this incident happened. I saw some of the damage firsthand the next day but we were shooed away when we got our cameras out.
The ground floor of the airport flooded almost the exact second the Virgin plane landed.
At daylight the next morning, there were LD3s all over one end of the runway, about 30 of them.
I "heard" that when the Virgin plane came in, that the tower could not see the runway visibility was so poor. Hard to believe, I know.
Here is a video I took from a helicopter flying into UVF a few days later:
https://vimeo.com/84353238
You can see the Virgin A330, LD3s and a lot of the dirt/silt that was all over the runway and taxiways.
I was in the terminal when this incident happened. I saw some of the damage firsthand the next day but we were shooed away when we got our cameras out.
The ground floor of the airport flooded almost the exact second the Virgin plane landed.
At daylight the next morning, there were LD3s all over one end of the runway, about 30 of them.
I "heard" that when the Virgin plane came in, that the tower could not see the runway visibility was so poor. Hard to believe, I know.
Here is a video I took from a helicopter flying into UVF a few days later:
https://vimeo.com/84353238
You can see the Virgin A330, LD3s and a lot of the dirt/silt that was all over the runway and taxiways.
Last edited by torsen; 17th Jan 2014 at 02:08.
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I don't think this was an isolated incident: I can remember having to abandon a Barbados - St Lucia sector just before descent when the airfield was closed due sudden massive flooding with "dead livestock (is that an oxymoron?) and debris all over the runway."
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I am in Saint Lucia now and the Virgin aircraft is still parked up at UVF. That would seem to contradict the idea of minimal damage as having the frame out of production must be costing a pretty penny.
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As seen on the picture , the honeycomb panels look in bad shape .
No airline has such spares .
Even Airbus may have only supplies to assemble the planes .
Has to be manufactured especially for this a/c
No airline has such spares .
Even Airbus may have only supplies to assemble the planes .
Has to be manufactured especially for this a/c
subcharters
nothing brought in afaik
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Nothing bought in to my knowledge, and a little dicky bird tells me the a/c is returning from UVF tomorrow!
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.....and a little dicky bird tells me the a/c is returning from UVF tomorrow!
Last edited by Machinbird; 19th Jan 2014 at 20:33. Reason: To fix a formating problem
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A ferry flight with temporary fairings/patches over the holes I presume?
I assume in practice it's a riveted plate with a bit of adhesive to seal it better. From what's been said, I assume it's not part of the pressurised structure and so they're not going to be sticking to FL100 or using oxygen?
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Duct tape is amazing stuff.
I believe totally repaired without tape ...
(removed ? as not really a question )
Last edited by glbtrtr; 26th Jan 2014 at 05:51.
