A British Airways plane with 87 passengers on board had a narrow escape after taking off from a runway that was too short for that type of aircraft, an air accident report said today. The investigation dealth with a narrow escape on September 26 of last year.
In what was described as a 'serious incident', the BA crew mistook one plane taxiway for another and ended up at an intersection on the runway which was not an authorised point for Boeing 777s to take off.
The plane, leaving St Kitts airport in the Caribbean, was left with about 1,220 yards of take-off room, 695 yards less than if it had departed from the correct intersection.
BA's airport duty manager and station engineer, who were both travelling in row 10 of the plane in question, agreed that the aircraft was 'going to take off from the wrong intersection', the report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.
The station engineer left his seat, saying he needed to contact the flight crew immediately as 'we are in the wrong takeoff position'. Realising the take-off run was already starting, he was forced to sit down again in row 4.
The plane took off safely on its flight to the Caribbean island of Antigua on the afternoon of September 26 last year.
The report said the 39-year-old co-pilot explained that, just after the aircraft became airborne, he saw the grass at the end of the runway under the plane's nose.
'At this time he realised that something was not right and realised that, although the aircraft was airborne, the end of the runway was closer than normal,' the AAIB said.
The co-pilot said the shortest runway from which he had operated a Boeing 777 was approximately 2,000 yards. The report said the 44-year-old captain had said it was normal practice to discuss the expected taxi route at large, busy and complex airports. However, as St Kitts is a small airport, he would have considered it 'odd' if the co-pilot had made specific reference on how to taxi to the holding point.
The report said:
Airport authorities had not installed any taxiway or holding point signs on the airfield at St Kitts
This was the first time the captain and co-pilot had operated to/or from St Kitts
The crew did not discuss beforehand their aircraft taxi routing
The crew misidentified taxiway Bravo for taxiway Alpha and departed from intersection Bravo rather than the planned departure from intersection Alpha
The trainee air traffic control officer did not inform the flight crew they were at intersection Bravo
BA had not conducted a physical survey of the airfield.
The AAIB recommended BA review the process by which all new destination airfields are inspected to identify any operational issues.
It also recommended a tightening up of standards and practices at St Kitts
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...escape-taking-short-runway.html#ixzz0yPv24VOY
In what was described as a 'serious incident', the BA crew mistook one plane taxiway for another and ended up at an intersection on the runway which was not an authorised point for Boeing 777s to take off.
The plane, leaving St Kitts airport in the Caribbean, was left with about 1,220 yards of take-off room, 695 yards less than if it had departed from the correct intersection.
BA's airport duty manager and station engineer, who were both travelling in row 10 of the plane in question, agreed that the aircraft was 'going to take off from the wrong intersection', the report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.
The station engineer left his seat, saying he needed to contact the flight crew immediately as 'we are in the wrong takeoff position'. Realising the take-off run was already starting, he was forced to sit down again in row 4.
The plane took off safely on its flight to the Caribbean island of Antigua on the afternoon of September 26 last year.
The report said the 39-year-old co-pilot explained that, just after the aircraft became airborne, he saw the grass at the end of the runway under the plane's nose.
'At this time he realised that something was not right and realised that, although the aircraft was airborne, the end of the runway was closer than normal,' the AAIB said.
The co-pilot said the shortest runway from which he had operated a Boeing 777 was approximately 2,000 yards. The report said the 44-year-old captain had said it was normal practice to discuss the expected taxi route at large, busy and complex airports. However, as St Kitts is a small airport, he would have considered it 'odd' if the co-pilot had made specific reference on how to taxi to the holding point.
The report said:
Airport authorities had not installed any taxiway or holding point signs on the airfield at St Kitts
This was the first time the captain and co-pilot had operated to/or from St Kitts
The crew did not discuss beforehand their aircraft taxi routing
The crew misidentified taxiway Bravo for taxiway Alpha and departed from intersection Bravo rather than the planned departure from intersection Alpha
The trainee air traffic control officer did not inform the flight crew they were at intersection Bravo
BA had not conducted a physical survey of the airfield.
The AAIB recommended BA review the process by which all new destination airfields are inspected to identify any operational issues.
It also recommended a tightening up of standards and practices at St Kitts
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...escape-taking-short-runway.html#ixzz0yPv24VOY
