Ryanair in a trench at EGPK

[Hueymeister]

Cannot post the piccy, but they plopped her in a well marked trench. Testing on her no2 engine! Whoops

[Arkroyal]

Originally Posted by Hueymeister

Cannot post the piccy, but they plopped her in a well marked trench. Testing on her no2 engine! Whoops

This one? Guess you meant ‘Resting’? Looks like Stbd main gear as collapsed in a forward direction. Pushing back?

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by Arkroyal

This one? Guess you meant ‘Resting’? Looks like Stbd main gear as collapsed in a forward direction. Pushing back?

Looks like it was inbound from STN, so presumably a training detail. The track on FR24 stops at the point where the parallel Twy R crosses the disused runway.

[FrontSeatPhil]

I've not done any tricky Photoshop stuff, but I've lightened the image quickly to get a better look as I couldn't see what was happening. It does rather look like the ground has given way...

Is there damage to the plane, or is that just a trick of the (lack of) light?

[Pilot DAR]

The "trench" does not appear "well marked" in the photo (unless they were not supposed to be on that whole apron at all). OTOH, I don't see a taxiway marking to be followed either. Was the plane where it was supposed to be? If so, the airport has some answering to do. If the crew were taxiing out of bounds, the crew (or marshaller/follow me) have some answering to do.

We had a DC-8-63 do exactly this decades back. The ground was too soft underneath the pavement, same result. It had been marshalled across an area of apron not approved for that weight. It was three days getting it dug out though....

[Airbubba]

Originally Posted by Pilot DAR

We had a DC-8-63 do exactly this decades back. The ground was too soft underneath the pavement, same result. It had been marshalled across an area of apron not approved for that weight. It was three days getting it dug out though....

I nearly set a DC-8-73 engine nacelle on the pavement years ago, during a line check no less. I was the FE and there was the lengthy James A. Michener preflight (in homage to an author of the last century who wrote prose by the pound) where you flipped every switch and tested every valve light. Somehow, I left the crossfeed valve open while doing the fuel panel preflight and by the time I went outside to walk around, the number 2 engine nacelle was within an inch of the ramp. I quickly abbreviated the remaining outside preflight and ran back inside, turned on some pumps and set up a crossfeed to the right tanks while the check airman chatted with the pilots. Whew.

[pattern_is_full]

Originally Posted by FrontSeatPhil

Is there damage to the plane, or is that just a trick of the (lack of) light?

The starboard bogey definitely looks out of place.

BUT, if the aircraft really is resting on that engine, the gear could just be hanging in freefall in the (deep) trench, with full strut extension, and thus not necessarily damaged significantly.

I wouldn't bet either way from just one picture, though.

[DaveReidUK]

The aircraft appears to be sitting on the eastern half of the old runway 08/26, used for parking (roughly where the USAF KC-135 is on the Google Earth view).

[Hueymeister]

That photo was taken later that day. She’s in a hole, dug in H at the southern end. By then then ac had been defuelled and the oleos pumped up. Originally shed’d been resting on the no 2 engine and the wheel oleo wasn’t supporting her full weight. The area had been marked with lighting and signage...

They were pretty lucky as the port undercarriage was a matter of feet from an even deeper hole.

[Blade Master]

Where is the left wing? Light pole to the right of the plane has a jog above the base and other things mostly on the right look faked. Is that an open door?

[treadigraph]

Is that an open door?

You mean the left winglet?

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by Blade Master

Where is the left wing? Light pole to the right of the plane has a jog above the base and other things mostly on the right look faked.

Fake or not, the aircraft in question has been grounded at PIK for 4 days now. I don't imagine Ryanair are keeping it there for fun.

[Hueymeister]

Oh dasss not fake. I got da pictures!

[iome]

Story goes, aircraft rolled out from hangar onto new tarmac and sunk into it.
Here's a picture shortly after.

[iome]

Originally Posted by DaveReidUK

Looks like it was inbound from STN, so presumably a training detail. The track on FR24 stops at the point where the parallel Twy R crosses the disused runway.

Positioning flight to maintenance. The track on FR24 stops in front of their hangar

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by iome

Positioning flight to maintenance.

That's handy, then.