A343, Tabriz Iran, 2013

A343, Tabriz Iran, 2013

Summary

On 18 April 2013, an Airbus A340-300 was unintentionally taxied off the side of the runway during a 180° turn after backtracking the departure runway at Tabriz at night. The Investigation found that the prevailing wet runway conditions meant that the runway width alone was insufficient for the turn and full advantage had not been taken of a wide taxiway at the runway displaced threshold. It was also found that the technique used to turn had not been optimum and that the runway involved was for daylight use only and had a strength rating not compatible with A340 use.

Description

On 18 April 2013, an Airbus A340-300 (9M-XAC) being operated by Air Asia on an international passenger flight from Tabriz to Medina for Saudi Arabian Airlines as SVA 2869 failed to complete an attempted 180° turn to align with the cleared take off direction in normal night visibility after backtracking the full length of the runway and the nose gear departed the side of the paved surface into soft ground and became stuck. The 295 passengers were disembarked and the aircraft subsequently recovered using ground equipment. On subsequent inspection by the Air Asia engineer accompanying the aircraft, it was found to be undamaged.

The nose gear stuck into soft ground outside the paved surface. [Reproduced from the Official Report]

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Department of the Iran Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO). CVR and QAR flight data, the latter with equivalent parameter recording to the FDR, were successfully downloaded and used to assist the Investigation. It was specifically noted that the downloaded data was consistent with the accounts given by the pilots.

The full content of this page is available to registered users only.
Please Log in or Register

SKYbrary Partners:

Safety knowledge contributed by: