Description

On 27 November 2010, an Airbus A340-300B being operated by Finnair on a scheduled passenger flight from Hong Kong to Helsinki with a relief pilot occupying the supernumerary crew seat began its take off roll at night in normal visibility from a taxiway parallel to the runway from which take off clearance had been given by ATC. The ground movement controller noticed the error on his Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System screen and alerted the TWR controller who ordered the crew to stop. The aircraft came to a stop after travelling 1400 metres with no injury to the occupants or damage to the aircraft or ground facilities. After the overheated brakes had cooled, the same three man flight crew operated the aircraft to the planned destination.

Investigation

An Investigation into this Serious Incident was carried out by the Accident Investigation Division of the Hong Kong SAR Civil Aviation Department. DFDR data was available for the use in the Investigation but Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) data had been overwritten because it was not downloaded after the event and the aircraft had subsequently departed again for the planned destination. It was noted that due to runway maintenance taking place on runway 25L/07R at a relatively quiet time, single runway operation prevailed. It was also confirmed that the runway and taxiway lighting, marking and signage system was fully compliant with current ICAO SARPs