World's biggest passenger plane in Singapore ground mishap

[Kevin Teh 0]

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssI...til...015251320080110

 

World's biggest plane in Singapore ground mishap

Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:10am EST

 

SINGAPORE, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Passengers on the world's biggest plane had to switch aircraft in Singapore after the first commercial superjumbo accidentally touched the grass on the side of the tarmac as it left the departure terminal.

 

Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) said no one was hurt in the incident involving the A380 aircraft bound from Singapore to Sydney. This is the first known mishap involving the Airbus (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) aircraft since it entered commercial service last October.

 

"The aircraft -- an Airbus A380 -- came into contact with the grass verge off the airport tarmac," Singapore Airlines said in a statement. It said the plane was not using its own power at the time, but was being led by a tow truck. A fault with the truck's hydraulics had led to the incident, it said.

 

Passengers were being put on a Boeing 747 (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) bound for Sydney, the airline said. The A380 will be inspected for damage before returning to service, the company said.

 

People paid up to $100,000 for the inaugural Singapore Airlines A380 flight last year, in which first class suites with real beds were modelled on luxury yachts, after wiring glitches caused the plane's delivery to be delayed by two years, causing EADS billions of dollars in losses. (Reporting by Singapore Newsroom)

 

 

[tsentsan 0]

Didnt realise the AN225 was in town....

[Mohd Idham 0]

very sad pax....maybe some of them or most of them are first timer onboard A380....

[Jonathan Kong 0]

Title amended.

here is the news from Channel News Asia

 

SINGAPORE : A Singapore Airline s A380 plane accidentally ended on the grass verge off the tarmac at Changi Airport's new Terminal 3 on Thursday.

 

Flight SQ221 involved in the incident was scheduled to depart Singapore for Sydney at 8.30pm.

 

SIA says a tow truck used to push back the aircraft experienced some hydraulic failure. The truck disconnected from the plane.

 

The plane then rolled off the tarmac, onto a grass verge.

 

The airline says the plane was not under its own power at the time.

 

The aircraft's 446 passengers disembarked so the plane can be positioned back onto the tarmac.

 

SIA says three-quarters of the passengers have been put on a replacement flight to Sydney on a Boeing 747 aircraft, which took off slightly past midnight.

 

The rest were put on flights to other destinations in Australia.

 

Some passengers stayed overnight in Singapore and took the first flight out to Sydney the next day.

 

No one was injured in the incident and SIA says there was no major impact on the aircraft as well.

 

However, it will investigate the incident and is filing reports with the relevant Singapore authorities.

 

Mr Steve Forshaw, SIA Spokesperson, said: "It would appear that the impact is quite small. We'll need now to conduct a thorough investigation on the aircraft to make sure all the aircraft components at the landing gear level that have come into contact with the grass are okay. If we need to replace them, we will before the aircraft comes into service." - CNA/vm/de

[jeff 0]

bad luck for that flight passengers...

[Izanee 0]

oh dear. that is not what u want happening when you are the only a380 operator in the world.

[Ignatius 4]

Did the pushback happened at F31? How did it end up on the grass??? Lucky enough it was the grass rather than the aircraft behind it!!!!!!!

[BC Tam 2]

bad luck for that flight passengers...

On the contrary, I feel all should be grateful there were no injuries, however minor the incident may be made out to be

[Terence Ong 0]

Did the pushback happened at F31? How did it end up on the grass??? Lucky enough it was the grass rather than the aircraft behind it!!!!!!!

 

It is now at T3, and it was at gate A4. It ended up on the grass as the tow truck had faulty hydraulics. So, the plane got disconnected from the tow truck and ended up on the grass. It was not on her own power after all.

 

It went on a test flight today and should be back into service today or tomorrow.

[Seth K 3]

Pix pix pix.........

[Kevin Teh 0]

some pictures here.

 

http://www.crash-aerien.com/forum/viewtopi...p?p=29342#29342

[Ignatius 4]

I guess the captain and F/O also didn't realised that the've been pushed way too back either??? If they've noticed that something was wrong... can brake right??? Or isit they are busy checking out the checklist??

[Samuel Chy 0]

some pictures here.

 

http://www.crash-aerien.com/forum/viewtopi...p?p=29342#29342

 

good one....

[FK Wong 0]

I guess the captain and F/O also didn't realised that the've been pushed way too back either??? If they've noticed that something was wrong... can brake right??? Or isit they are busy checking out the checklist??

that would kill the nose wheel.the capt and f/o would be blamed then

[Ignatius 4]

I mean the pilots would have known that the tow truck had detached from the aircraft rite? Why can't they just hit the brakes to stop the aircraft from rolling to the grass??

[Kevin Teh 0]

I believe SKA flew again yesterday on its usual route which basically means nothing major happened. In the mean time SKB has arrived this morning, check out "Spotting in Changi" for pics from Benny

[adrianqcs 0]

I mean the pilots would have known that the tow truck had detached from the aircraft rite? Why can't they just hit the brakes to stop the aircraft from rolling to the grass??

 

if the plane is not powered by its own. Meaning the engines are not turned on, then there's no hydraulics to power the brakes on bored.

When the aircraft is static with engines off. Normally the parking brakes will not work without the hydraulics, so you would see wooden stoppers in

between the wheels.

[Ignatius 4]

Wow, didn't know that, now I would considered that as somekind of design fault, it should have some mechanism to brake without hydraulics... though talking about that gigantous size seems unlikely though. So no park brake??? Why Flight Sim has it???

[Yusoff 1]

some pictures here.

 

http://www.crash-aerien.com/forum/viewtopi...p?p=29342#29342

My heart stopped for a brief .05sec... XD ... then it was QF

Pics below that are good enough..... thnks..

Edited January 12, 2008 by Yusoff

[Kee Hooi Yen 0]

Wow, didn't know that, now I would considered that as somekind of design fault, it should have some mechanism to brake without hydraulics... though talking about that gigantous size seems unlikely though. So no park brake??? Why Flight Sim has it???

 

 

Maybe it should have something simple like bicycle brake system, just wire & brake pads, no hydraulics

[Radzi 2]

So no park brake??? Why Flight Sim has it???

 

Flight Sim can add anything it wants irrespective of the actual aircraft.

 

Anyway an aircraft under tow is totally under control of the ground personnel. The pilots will not do anything regarding aircraft movement unless instructed by the cround crew. So the pilots will only put on the brake only if told by the ground crew.

 

[Ignatius 4]

Woooooo........ understood now Captain... i wonder why ground controller didn't instruct the pilot to hit the brakes.. it seems to roll very far off already... maybe they were panicked???

[LeeCH 0]

Woooooo........ understood now Captain... i wonder why ground controller didn't instruct the pilot to hit the brakes.. it seems to roll very far off already... maybe they were panicked???

 

Ground controller has to monitor a lot of aircraft movements from the tower. As such cannot dedicate attention only to one aircraft pushing back. But the funny thing is, the moment you push back in wrong direction, they will tell you off immediately.

 

[Simon 3]

I think majority of the passengers are first timer to the A380, sure very disappointed to be transfered.....

[dsim 0]

I think majority of the passengers are first timer to the A380, sure very disappointed to be transfered.....

 

probably some may had intentionally booked on that flight.. i would have done that if i were to fly sin to syd.