China Eastern A340 in YVR
 

Taxied past a China Eastern A340 who was stopped on taxiway H in YVR this afternoon. Swarmed by fire trucks. On passing abeam his left side, he was way off the taxiway centerline & the left main gear looked to be on the grass edge of H with both of his outboard tyres deflated. Couldn't tell in the short time if there were any more defalted tyres. Anybody with info?

No deflated tires. Was finally moved at 2200 after sitting in the grass since 1600. I don't know what happened but it looks like someone needs a lesson in taxiing on the centerline. :D

i stand corrected then. from where i passed by, it certainly did look like deflations. maybe the left main gear truck got bogged down in the grass n gave the apearance of deflations when viewed from a distance.

i dont know what kind of taxiing he was doing, if indeed that was all there was to it

A possible loss of the nose wheel steering which is very common on the Airbus FBW. Needs a very quick reaction on the brake pedal to stop the a/c.
Just my 2 cents
Cheers

Hybrid
"A possible loss of the nose wheel steering which is very common on the Airbus FBW"

I've been flying the A320/330 and 340 since 1988... not had a NWS failure yet........ must be very common

Been on the 'bus for nearly four years and never had one, so not that common!

Watched this progress from 18:00 hrs. so this is what i heard and know. China Eastren flight taxing onto hotel (H) took the turn a little to sharp and got its main wheels stuck in the grass. It was soon determined that the plane was too heavy to tow out loaded so the passengers,Cargo,and luggage were unloaded. from that time YVRAA (i think) was fortifying the ground to pull the plane and at about 22:00 the plane was moved to the south Air Canada hanger.

They also de-fueled it

Oh right so it wasn't anything to do with the NWS then:)

What do I know guys. It only happenned to me twice...
Complete loss of NWS & had to be towed back to the gate.
Bad luck I guess.
Happy landings

Captain Hybrid, I'll back you up. I'd been on the bus less than a year when I had a nose wheel steering failure which happened on final approach. Not common then, but it does happen.

Nose wheel steering should not be used on final approach!

(PS. 10 years for me on Airbus and no NWS failures).

Date: 2007/08/27
Further Action Required: No
O.P.I.: International Aviation
Narrative: China Eastern Airlines Flight CES582, an Airbus A343 IFR Vancouver to Shanghai, advised they were encountering steering problems. The nose gear was unstable. The aircraft was observed left of the taxi-line at the edge of the grass. Passengers had to be off-loaded prior to the aircraft being towed.