Description

On 12 June 2010, a requested 22R runway inspection at Helsinki in normal daylight visibility carried out after a severe engine failure during the take off roll had led an Avro RJ85 being operated by Finnish Airline Blue1 on a scheduled passenger flight to Copenhagen to reject that take off at high speed. This inspection had not detected significant debris deposited on the runway during the sudden and severe engine failure. Two passenger aircraft, one being operated by Finnair to Dubrovnik, Croatia and the other being operated by Swedish airline TUIfly Nordic to Rhodes, Greece then departed the same runway before a re-inspection disclosed the debris and it was removed. Neither of the aircraft which used the runway prior to debris removal were subsequently found to have suffered any damage but both were advised of the situation en route.

Investigation

An Investigation into the consequences of the failure to detect and remove the debris before further use of the runway was permitted was carried out by the Finnish AIB.

It was noted that the symptoms of an engine failure had not been apparent until after 80 knots and that the rejected take off had been commenced at a speed of 100 knots - below the applicable V1 - and had been completed uneventfully. No definite cause of the engine failure was isolated and the main focus of the Investigation was on the runway inspection process at Helsinki.