Qantas Flight 1
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 23, 1999 |
| Type | Runway overrun |
| Site | Bangkok, Thailand |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 38 (minor) |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 747-438 |
| Operator | Qantas |
| Tail number | VH-OJH |
| Passengers | 391 |
| Crew | 19 |
| Survivors | 410 (all) |
Qantas Flight 1 (QF1, QFA1) is the flight number of the "flagship" Sydney to London route of Australia's Qantas Airways. On 23 September 1999 a Boeing 747-438 "jumbo jet" overran the runway while landing in heavy rain for a stop over in Bangkok, causing the most serious incident in the airline's history of jet operations.
Contents |
[edit] The incident
Qantas flights between London and Sydney, known as the "Kangaroo Route", make the journey in two "hops" with an intermediate landing at either Bangkok, Hong Kong or Singapore for refuelling. This flight began in Sydney earlier that day at 1645 local time, and after more than eight hours flying was approaching Bangkok International Airport at 2245 local time.
During the approach to Bangkok the weather conditions deteriorated significantly, from 8 km visibility half an hour before landing to 750 m at the time of landing. The flight crew observed a storm cloud over the airport and ground reports were that it was raining heavily. However these conditions were common at Bangkok. Seven minutes prior to landing a Thai Airways Airbus A330 landed normally, but three minutes before landing another Qantas Boeing 747 conducted a "go around" due to poor visibility during final approach. The crew of QF1 were unaware of this.
During final approach both the height and speed were high, though within company limits. The rain was now heavy enough that the runway lights were visible only intermittently after each windscreen wiper stroke. Just before touchdown the captain, concerned about the long touchdown point (over a kilometre past the runway threshold) and unable to see the end of the runway, ordered a "go-around". The first officer, flying the landing, moved the throttles forward but at that moment visibility increased markedly, the landing gear contacted the runway and the captain decided to cancel his order to abort the landing.
However, due to a combination of factors, the engine thrust was higher than it should have been for a landing, the autobrakes had not been engaged, reverse thrust was not selected and the amount of water over the runway caused the tyres to "hydroplane" or slide over the surface.
The aircraft in fact accelerated for a few seconds after touchdown, and then gradually decelerated, but far too slowly to save the aircraft, which proceeded past the runway end, over a stretch of boggy grassland, colliding with a ground radio antenna as it did so, and came to rest with its nose resting on the perimeter road.
[edit] Damage
The collision with the antenna caused the nose and right wing landing gear to collapse, the nose landing gear being forced back into the fuselage. The aircraft slid along in a nose-down, right wing low attitude, causing some further damage to the nose and damage to the two right engines and their mountings.
The intrusion of the nose landing gear also caused the failure of the cabin intercom and public address system.
There were no significant passenger injuries during an orderly evacuation of the aircraft 20 minutes after landing. Thirty-eight passengers reported minor injuries.
[edit] Investigation
This incident was Qantas' most significant incident in fifty years of jet aircraft operation. It was rumoured that the repair cost AUD $100 million, though this has never been confirmed. The aircraft was returned to service.
