Thai Airways skids off runway; 14 passengers hurt

[charlesh]

What wallies - covering up just reaffirms the idea of a "cover up".

[PeteC]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/3 ... t-response

Hurt passengers blast airline, ground staff

Published: 10 Sep 2013 at 00.23
Online news: Local News

About 40 passengers injured in Sunday night's ThaiAirways International(THAI) landing accident have complained of poor treatment by ground staff.......

[Nereus]

There is much speculation on another (international) website about what caused the aircraft to veer off the runway, the treatment of the passengers and the painting out of the markings.

At least some of the injured passengers resulted from the evacuation, and questions are being asked about whether or not the evacuation was the best way.

It is now obvious that the right side main landing gear was the cause, not the nosewheel. What actualy happened with the gear is yet to be determined.

It will take some time to determine the cause, and I doubt very much if the results will ever be made public.

[oakdale160]

Please understand--- IF we at THAI had provided assistance to passengers it would mean that we were acknowledging that a problem had occurred. Much better, ignore it, go about our business and hope that it will all go away.
AND, please NO post-event analysis, that would be acknowledging that a problem had occurred and that THAI had not responded well. No time for that I have to go and check how I look in the mirror, Appearance is not the main thing, it is the only thing. You farang are so annoying with all your cause and effect thinking, and your belief that any of our drills have anything to do with real life. We are a good airline and fourteen of my family are working here so none of this bitching please. It is not as if we are going to change to make farang happy.

[Ralfredo]

It's common practice in the airline business

Yeap, fairly common I think. Below is a picture of an SAS plane that crashed in 1991 close to "Gottröra" in Sweden. All 129 in the plane survived by the way, believe it or not. SAS are like Thai Airways a member of Star Alliance.

[STEVE G]

What is a bit silly about Thai Airways rapid paint job is that their aircraft looks to be quite easily recoverable and now as well as an expensive repair, they'll have to do a paint job as well. It's normally done on aircraft like the one above which is clearly going to be scrapped.

[Big Boy]

I must say, I was thinking it didn't look that badly damaged either. The new livery is total overkill.

[Nereus]

I must say, I was thinking it didn't look that badly damaged either. The new livery is total overkill.

It is not possible to judge the damage looking at the overall exterior. Severe impact structual damage to the actual airframe is highly likely. I beleive that the aircraft is 18 years old, and depending on how it is insured, may well be a write off.

As mentioned by Steve G, although it may be common proceedure to paint out the markings, there was no sensible reason to do so urgently.

[PeteC]

More followup: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/3 ... nding-gear

[Dr Mike]

It is interesting, Thai Airlines efforts to cover up the problem has received so much attention that there is MORE awareness that a Thai plane skidded of the runway not less.
Cover-ups are more damaging than the events they are trying to cover up==Ask Richard Nixon!

[Nereus]

From another source it now appears that Thai have grabbed onto the broken bogie theory as being the cause.
I would just like to know how, if reported correctly, the aircraft ran 1,000 metres after touchdown before veering off the runway? It should have been well and truely slowed down sufficiently by then to keep it straight. Running off to the soft verge has caused a lot more damage and made the recovery a lot more difficult.

[hhfarang]

From another source it now appears that Thai have grabbed onto the broken bogie theory as being the cause.
I would just like to know how, if reported correctly, the aircraft ran 1,000 metres after touchdown before veering off the runway? It should have been well and truely slowed down sufficiently by then to keep it straight. Running off to the soft verge has caused a lot more damage and made the recovery a lot more difficult.

At least that photo explains the photo a few posts before that shows the damage to the runway.

[Frank Hovis]

http://airnation.net/2013/05/26/faa-ad- ... a330-a340/

A possibility?

[Nereus]

http://airnation.net/2013/05/26/faa-ad- ... a330-a340/

A possibility?

AD`s (Airworthiness Directives) are issued regularly by the FAA for many reasons, and there are many different instructions. The photo of the bogie was of this incident:

"In 2007 an A330 bogie beam broke up during taxiing in Munich caused by internal corrosion".

Some AD`s only require a once off inspection, some require a regular inspection, some require the replacemnet of components, sometimes immediately and sometimes withing a given time / hours in operation. The AD`s are not policed by the FAA, the regulatory authority of the owners country is reponsible for enforcment.

There is a whole list of AD`s current for Airbus aircraft, amongst other manufactures:

http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies ... irectives/

It is also possble that this particular aircraft suffered a "heavy landing", either in this incident, or sometime previously. That would aggravate any other problem with the landing gear.
But do not expect Thai to annouce anything like that anytime soon!

[STEVE G]

http://airnation.net/2013/05/26/faa-ad- ... a330-a340/

A possibility?

It certainly looks possible, if you look at that photo from Munich, the pintle mounts from the brake torque rods would explain those two deep grooves in the runway at Bangkok.