Another runway excursion
 

Air Europa flight to Mallorca damaged after crashing into light beacon in strong winds

Air Europa flight from Valencia to Mallorca damaged after crashing into a light beacon in strong winds. Significant fuselage damage.
(I have a photo of the damage but not allowed to upload it. Pprune convert it to a URL that I can't show until I have ten posts)

Thank you, that was the image and source that I have too!

to be fair, its a Swiftair aircraft operated in Air Europa colours...

Would be interesting to see what is meant by "light beacon" and where it was/is located.

ATR 42. Damage to main gear fairing when it hit a runway edge light before returning to the runway according to Aviation Herald.

Runway 24L wind 320/20G34, effectively all cross wind.

The wind would be blowing over the mountains to the North of the airfield.

Incident: Europa AT72 at Palma Mallorca on Jan 28th 2019, temporary runway excursion on landing

Just out of interest, what sort of temporary repair can be made to that gaping hole to get the aircraft airworthy to an accredited repair facility?

Right next to the Lavatory Service Hatch - could have been very nasty.

I'd guess it wasn't just the aeroplane that nearly shat it's pants!

As an ex composites guy I find it a bit scary to see the delamination of the outer skin from the honeycomb structure...

I really feel for the pilot. Strong crosswinds would make for an interesting landing and then, possibly as he was thinking "well done, me" a gust does this. These are the times I am glad that I have generally been SLF with a boring career in IT.

The landing isn't over till you are at taxi speed, than you have the next challenge of getting to the gate without hitting anything.

I still break out in a sweat when I remember the time when I was taxiing out to do my first solo and came within inches of becoming a "wingtip warrior". Hence I still think "there but for the grace of God go I" when I see reports like this.

34 knots, downwind of a mountain. There always seems to be someone wanting to be able to say how they landed in these sort of conditions when talking at the bar. I remember diverting once in a case like that. Anybody interested in hearing about it over a few drinks?

On aircraft like the ATR where the main gear is stowed outside the contour of the pressure vessel, the fairing is typically not classed as primary structure. So a temporary repair doesn't need to contribute much in the way of strength, it just needs to minimise the drag from the hole. I would expect speed tape to figure prominently in any temporary repair scheme. :O

That said, judging from the NACA inlet visible in the photo, the items visible inside the cavity may well be air con/ECS components. The repair crew will want to check whether any damage has been sustained to those before any ferry flight takes place.

But I would fully expect the aircraft (which, incidentally, was the first production ATR-72-500) to position back to its birthplace in the next few days - it's only a short hop from Palma to Toulouse.

ATRs are notoriously difficult to keep straight on the runway owing partially to the narrow MLG track. Additionally on high wing turboprops if you bring the power levers back into the disc position quickly (easily done with a bit of adrenaline in the system after a challenging approach) you can rapidly lose rudder authority as you disrupt the airflow over the vertical stabiliser and rudder, allowing the aircraft to weathercock and take a beeline toward the upwind side of the runway. It will be interesting to see which side of the runway the excursion was on.

Looks like that the side that was hit on the aircraft, is the Right Side. The Landing Light is just ahead of the "hole" in the landing gear bay fairing. The Air Intake is a bit further up on the picture.

Wouldn't be surprised if the Right Gear also hit the airport structure that caused the damage ...

Affirm !!! ... ATRs are a very good challenge in X-wind conditions.

The photo shows damage to the starboard gear fairing, if that helps.

Runway 24, right x-wind (320°), damage on right side - tends to indicate (Occam's Razor) excursion towards the wind (weathervaning). I guess it's theoretically possible the aircraft blew all the way past the runway lights to the left, such that they hit the right side while "in the grass" or when regaining the runway.

Thanks David, so just a few strips of duct tape and nothing "Toulouse".
The next question, who pays for the damage, Air Europa or Swiftair?