Posts about stuff relating to airports
Runway Strip Excursion: Bad Luck or Unintended Consequence?
A little over a week ago, there was another spectacular runway excursion event caught on film and shared across social and traditional media. On the 7th April, 2021, a DHL 757-200 veered off the runway at Juan Santamaria airport in Costa Rica. The aircraft was returning to the airport after declaring an emergency due to a hydraulic issue. The aircraft appeared to have landed safely but towards the end of its roll-out, it veered to the right and came to rest in a low area with its nose high and tail broken. Luckily, this was a freighter flight and the crew evacuated safely.
Header image: Grabbed off Google
Is this Acceptable? When a runway strip isn't wide enough
This week, on Sunday, 14th January 2018, a Pegasus 737-800 veered off the runway at Trabzon, Turkey and came to rest on a steep slope quite close to the Black Sea. Obviously, it is way too early to speculate on the causes of the accident but as airport safety nerds, I think its okay for us to have a look at the role the runway strip played in this event. a few internet comments have questioned the compliance of the runway strip and it does look narrow. However, if Google Earth is to be believed, these comments and first thoughts might not be correct.
Wrong, but not as Wrong: Wellington RESA “Final” Decision
Earlier in 2017, the New Zealand Court of Appeal reversed an even earlier court decision and found that the NZ Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Director had made an error in assessing the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) length requirement contain in Civil Aviation Rule Part 139 - I blogged about that decision here.
This week, the NZ Supreme Court handed down its judgement on the appeal made by the NZ CAA and Wellington Airport. Not a bad turnaround considered the length legal battles usually take.
And I guess, technically, the NZ CAA and Wellington International Airport Ltd (WIAL) lost. The appeal was dismissed and costs were awarded but the reasoning included in the judgement does provide the NZ CAA with at least a partial win.
Making Decisions is Hard: How Long Must a RESA Be?
A couple of months ago, the New Zealand Court of Appeal handed down a judgement against the NZ Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) assessment of Runway End Safety Area (RESA) requirements stemming from their own rules. While not everyone is in to reading court decisions and pulling apart regulations, I obviously am. As such, I thought I would save you the trouble and write about it here.
Header image from Karelj.