China Airlines taxi-way take-off!
 

From the KINY website.. .Wrong way takeoff made at Anchorage's airport

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an incident this morning in which a China Airlines plane took off in the wrong direction and on a taxi-way instead of a runway.

Jim LaBelle, who heads the agency's Alaska office, says the China Airlines Airbus A-343 had about 250 passengers and crewmembers on board when the incident occurred shortly before 3 a-m at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

The plane was directed to take off on the north-bound runway. Instead it took off on a west-bound taxiway over.

The plane departed safely, but LaBelle says the landing gear grazed a snow berm at the end of the taxiway as it lifted off.

LaBelle says investigators will listen to tapes of the radio transmissions between the China Airlines cockpit and the control tower to determine what went wrong.

They must've been in a hurry . . . <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

And they've been so good lately. <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

Dear God ..... please tell me this is a joke ..... it's impossible that ATC could allow this to happen?

Jet narrowly escapes disaster. .WRONG WAY: China Airlines passenger jet clips snow berm after misguided takeoff.

. .By Zaz Hollander . .Anchorage Daily News

(Published: January 26, 2002) . .A China Airlines air bus carrying 254 passengers and crew members narrowly avoided catastrophe early Friday when pilots took off in the wrong direction and on a taxiway instead of a runway at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

In its takeoff just before 3 a.m., the plane came so close to running out of taxiway that its landing gear clipped a snow berm at the pavement's end before it gained altitude over Cook Inlet and flew on to Taipei, according to federal investigators.

"I think it's safe to say disaster was averted by inches," said Jim LaBelle, Alaska's top official with the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency that mounted an investigation Friday.

Controllers instructed the China Airlines pilots to take off from a north-south runway but instead they used an east-west taxiway. Investigators and a China Airlines official say they still don't know why.

China Airlines is mounting an investigation of its own, said Hamilton Liu, the company's station manager at Anchorage. NTSB officials had already visited the company's head offices in Taipei by Friday afternoon.

Liu said it was too early to jump to conclusions.

"We don't know what actually happened yet," he said. "I'm waiting for their report, too."

The federal investigation will center on transcripts of air traffic control tower tapes, flight data recorder information and testimony from pilots. That information was unavailable Friday.

But air traffic controllers and Federal Aviation Administration officials provided enough information Friday for LaBelle to piece together a preliminary sketch of what happened:

At 2:43 a.m., controllers in the Anchorage tower cleared China Airlines flight O11 to taxi toward the airport's north-south runway, Runway 32. The big plane was preparing for China Airlines' daily 11-hour nonstop run from Anchorage to Taipei.

The three-man flight crew turned west onto a taxiway that connects to the runway. Then air traffic controllers cleared the plane for departure on Runway 32.

But instead of turning north onto the runway, the pilots accelerated west down the taxiway toward Cook Inlet.

They had a strip of pavement only about 6,000 feet long in which to gain the speed and lift necessary for takeoff, airport officials said. The taxiway also narrows significantly before it ends, LaBelle said.

The runway gives pilots nearly 11,000 feet of asphalt, officials said.

Taxiways and runways at the airport have different lights, striping and signs to help pilots distinguish between the two. Runways have white edge lights and center line lights, along with painted white edge lines and white dashes down the center. Taxiways have blue edge lights, painted yellow edge lines and green center line lights.

LaBelle said the NTSB investigation will look at the experience and training of the three-man flight crew, condition of airport equipment, the crew's duty time or problems communicating because of a language barrier.

"It would not be unusual if there was a language issue," he said.

English is the international language of aviation. Under an agreement with the International Civil Aviation Organization, pilots must demonstrate enough English to communicate with controllers, according to Joette Storm, the FAA's spokeswoman in Anchorage.

Taiwan government officials are responsible for making sure the China Airlines pilots can communicate, Storm said. Any airline approved to fly in the United States must also meet FAA requirements.

Airport officials -- notified of the incident just after it occurred -- said they didn't know of any mechanical problems with the taxiway or runway.

"All lights were working, everything was functioning," said airport manager Corky Caldwell. "Weather conditions were good. It was clear and the runways were clear of ice and snow."

In 1983, a Korean Air Lines cargo jet beginning its takeoff in the wrong direction on the wrong runway smashed into a Kenai-bound commuter plane in heavy fog at Anchorage. No one was killed. Investigators mainly faulted the Korean Airlines pilot for failing to follow procedures.

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Here is a link for an airport diagram (expandable-right click, "zoom out" in I.E.). . . . . <a href="http://www.anctaxiway.com" target="_blank">http://www.anctaxiway.com</a>

It sounds like they took off westbound on taxiway "K" at the intersection of taxiway "R".

Scary stuff.

Whoops - meant to say "zoom in" in last post

quote

"In 1983, a Korean Air Lines cargo jet beginning its takeoff in the wrong direction on the wrong runway smashed into a Kenai-bound commuter plane in heavy fog at Anchorage. No one was killed. Investigators mainly faulted the Korean Airlines pilot for failing to follow procedures."

.... can this really happen at a major International airport?

With my first training on jet aircraft (B707) at PanAmerican, a configuration check was the last item on the before takeoff check list...flaps (correct setting), speedbrake, stab trim....and compass heading (agree with the runway assigned)...maybe those in CI don't bother to look at the HSI. . .An urgent call to the training department should be in order.

Hobie...

Yes ATC really has no say in it after Wong Way let his 5 APU´s rip it, unless he deems it suitable to stop at the risk of losing face and admitting a mistake.

Also Yes a ground collision between 2 aircarf can happen at a major International Airport... Remeber PanAm and KLM B747´s in Tenerife in the -70´s.

The lessons of Tenerife STILL seem to have not been taken onboard by some cultures, and their trainers. Who trains these guys anyway?

The travelling public deserve better than this nonsense.

or LIN...

&gt;&gt;It sounds like they took off westbound on taxiway "K" at the intersection of taxiway "R".

Yep, the normal takeoff clearance is for "Runway 32 at Kilo", they were very lucky to get it airborne...

Justin Abeaver,

Initial training is done by British Aerospace.

Most of the young guys learn to drive a jet before they can drive a car, the first machine a lot of them operate is an aircraft.

The language issue is the problem, the experienced captains are being promoted from internal routes onthe the new equipment on the international routes using the english speaking chinese first and second officers.

It requires very good CRM for things to work.

Z

What about all those blue lights along the side of the "runway", there may have even been green ones along the centerline, were they even looking outside? Scary really.

Now that gives a new meaning to their callsign Dynasty.... DIE NASTY.

PK-KAR

Seems as if somebody needs to check their vision... Shouldn`t an experienced flight crew know the difference in airport markings?Or is this a case of an aircrew being in a hurry and losing track of things?

As a former flight instructor flying out of neighboring Merrill Field I can say that there is a major problem with regards to language at PANC.. .Anchorage ATC do deserve some respect because dechifering some of the Asian carriers` radio calls is not that easy.

Let`s just consider it lucky that the crew did not take off eastbound.2 major highways and a lot of houses lie just off the end of runways 6R and 6L.

Just a reminder:

Do not EVER (NEVER EVER) say: It couldn´t happen to me!!

Besides that, there´s some explanation in store here, it seems, just to prevent this from happening again to anyone else.. .(And, no, you WILL NOT LOSE YOUR FACE, guys.)

hmmmmmmmm reminds of a story i once heard about a british island a/c and gatwick <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> who trained them?

It's really a shame. The company has spended a great deal of money in training devices, but not in the Human field. After forty something years of flying they have not found the right way to teach their pilots the basics. With all the automation and screens the first advise from de IPs is "don't look outside" so this has made a Visual Approach the most dangerous maneuver (believe it or not); this, followed by the Company's policy of PUNISHMENT, can, easily, keep the pilots mind "out of the loop". . .It can not be denied that a lot of good changes have been done by the Vice president of operations (not a local guy) and his team, unfortunately his contract is about to expire and, guess what, a bunch of local guys are circling around his chair, like vultures, to take back their power. And run the company with wise advices like "don't look outside".. .So if this happens don't be sorprised to hear of more CAL daredevils.