Interesting Aeroflot incident

[Splitpin]

Just read this on the Airliners.net forum......quite a debate going on about it.

An Aeroflot Airbus 320 mistakingly used a taxiway as runway and took off at Oslo Gardermoen Airport in Oslo, Norway today.

Luckily no other aircraft or material was involved.

Apparently it's the first time this has happend at OSL. It is unknown if the ATC saw what was happening. An accident report is currently being filed.http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article3537831.ece

I find the part about ATC maybe not seeing it , a bit strange.....once a take off clearence is given, isnt someone in the tower watching?

[h290master]

I've heard of a a340 taking off and landing on a taxiway in Abu Dabi in the Emirates so this must be a pretty common occurance

[Splitpin]

Just makes me wonder whats going on in the tower.....surely they must be able to see whats going on....amazing
And you would think, the pilot would be able to tell the taxiway from the runway.....

[towerguy]

Just makes me wonder whats going on in the tower.....surely they must be able to see whats going on....amazing
And you would think, the pilot would be able to tell the taxiway from the runway.....

normal human vision covers about 160 degrees - that leaves about 200 degrees not being viewed at any one time - also it would be unusual - or very quiet - to have only 1 thing moving at a time - so if someone is given a valid takeoff clearance and correctly reads it back etc then it would be quite normal for the tower controller to be concentrating on the gazillion other jobs/aircraft/vehicles/personnel etc that they also must look after. We realize that pilots can at times be like spoilt children -" but I could be number one really I could please please ...why am I not number one , my plane is bigger than their planes , I don't care if there are 6 of them ahead of me!" - but we don't (yet) have eyes in the back of the head! and by the time someone is flying something like an A320 you would expect them to at least find the runway! - thats if the taxiway has not been painted up to look like a runway and called something like ... oh ... 23R/05L.

[Splitpin]

Towerguy, well said....i understand. I wasnt being negative, just wondering.
Thanks for the information.

Cheers

[deeknow]

This happens more often than you think, only a couple of weeks ago a similar thing happened in with a (correction) KLM aircraft in Amsterdam. Towerguy, isnt it true that there are some airfields where the Tower cant actually see all departure points at the end of runways. ie they are relying on the PIC to know how to find his way via the assigned taxiways?

I was in Oslo a couple of weeks ago at a conference, and at the time the entire aerodrome was covered in snow, so in the wrong light I can see easily how one might mistake a taxiway for a runway if you happened to be not paying attention to marker boards. Here's a shot I took of the Lufthansa 737 we had just arrived in Oslo on...



When we went to fly out of Frankfurt the snow was so heavy there were tractors with blades pushing the snow back behind the aircraft before pushback, and a huge lineup of runway clearing vehicles constantly clearing the RWYs. More pics of the trip, inc some aircraft/airport shots here...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deeknow/sets/72157623347584876/

[Splitpin]

deeknow, great pics....what a trip.
My grandparents came from Trondheim.
Despite this being a 'common" thing (taxiway takeoff etc) , and having read about busy towers, pushy pilots,etc, it still amazes me that it happens. IF an accident happened resulting from this type of thing, whose head would roll first?....has to be the PIC as you said, but the buck cant stop there......and other aircraft in the area must be able to see whats going on...........I'll shut up i think.......please dont think Im getting at anybody , but i just cant get my head around how 2 of the most highly trained occupations in the world , can combine , to allow some thing like that to happen on the ground!
Maybe Im a victim of Airforce over training, over checking.

I think i will shut up now, i was just reminded about turning into a oneway street recently (the wrong way!) despite the signage

Thanks again deeknow.....hope you had a good time despite all the drama

Cheers

[Ian Warren]

Oh those Russians ! you gotta see some off the tricks they get up to ...... put tape on to sensors .. this is real ! scary aye ......

[dbcunnz]

PIC to CP hey look the taxiway is clear and plenty of length to get her off lets just boot her up and save a bit of fuel and time we can be home a bit earlier for dinner tonight

[nzav8tor]

Technology has come to the party here with RAAS - Runway Awareness and Advisory System.

This is standard kit on our machine and offers helpful advice while taxiing and approaching, crossing and lining up on a runway and also on approach for landing.

A nice lady states loudly "Approaching runway 05" and then "On runway 05" (or the whatever the runway is.)
She also pops up at other convenient times on landing with things like "1000 remaining" referring to the feet of runway left.

It even associates your position with your heading so she gets the actual runway right and doesn't confuse it with the reciprocal runway. Quite nifty and most importantly helps to avoid runway incursions but also helps to avoid incidents like this or landing on the wrong runway.

At big airports with multiple runways and big parallel taxiways its not as easy as you'd think, especially in bad weather. Night landings are easier in the respect that the lights are so distinctive between runways and taxiways.

[Splitpin]

QUOTE (nzav8tor @ Feb 27 2010, 10:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Technology has come to the party here with RAAS - Runway Awareness and Advisory System.

This is standard kit on our machine and offers helpful advice while taxiing and approaching, crossing and lining up on a runway and also on approach for landing.

A nice lady states loudly "Approaching runway 05" and then "On runway 05" (or the whatever the runway is.)
She also pops up at other convenient times on landing with things like "1000 remaining" referring to the feet of runway left.

It even associates your position with your heading so she gets the actual runway right and doesn't confuse it with the reciprocal runway. Quite nifty and most importantly helps to avoid runway incursions but also helps to avoid incidents like this or landing on the wrong runway.

At big airports with multiple runways and big parallel taxiways its not as easy as you'd think, especially in bad weather. Night landings are easier in the respect that the lights are so distinctive between runways and taxiways.

Thanks for that NZ......I wasnt meaning to get at anyone, its been a long time since i was involved .....Im sure things have changed a lot. RAAS sounds like the ideal 3rd "person" up front...amazing.
Thankyou for the heads up, fly safe......any plans to come home?

Cheers

[nzav8tor]

Might have a quiet plan cooking at the moment...

[Splitpin]

QUOTE (nzav8tor @ Mar 1 2010, 12:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Might have a quiet plan cooking at the moment...

good to hear....fly safe.