Description

On 23 September 1999, a Boeing 747-400 being operated by Qantas on a scheduled passenger service from Sydney Australia to Bangkok overran Runway 21L during an attempted night landing in normal visibility and came to a halt substantially intact 320 metres beyond the runway end. There was no fire and a precautionary evacuation of the aircraft was not begun until 20 minutes after it came to rest. Only minor injuries were sustained by 38 of the 410 occupants, some during the initial runway excursion, others as a consequence of the evacuation. The aircraft remained substantially intact during the overrun although the nose landing gear and one main landing gear separated. The picture below, taken from the Official Accident Report, shows the aircraft in its final stopping position.

Investigation

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee of Thailand would normally have investigated the event but on 18 November, this Committee delegated the investigation to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

The ATSB Investigation established that the approach had been flown with the First Officer as PF and with flaps 25 selected and that the flight crew had intended to select idle reverse thrust after touchdown. It was noted that an on-duty Second Officer had been occupying the principal supernumerary seat in the flight deck and that the aircraft commander was a management pilot with relatively little experience on the aircraft type compared to both the other pilots.