PCTraveler

Anyone know what happened tonight 24 March? I landed on a UA flight around 11pm and the pilot announced that the south runway was temporarily closed due to an aborted takeoff.

We taxied next to a Qantas plane that was surrounded by emergency vehicles with their siren lights on and the lights on the runway were blinking.

littl_flier

I'd say it was QF12 given that the QF website has QF12 rerouted via Los Angeles and the flight pushed back at 22:36.

abcedaria

http://www.examiner.com/a-1300052~Qa...AX_runway.html

" An official at Los Angeles International Airport says an Australia-bound jetliner carrying hundreds of passengers blew four tires while trying to take off and got stranded on the runway. "

littl_flier

Another article here:

http://origin.mercurynews.com/breaki...nclick_check=1

and http://www.skynews.com.au/news/article.aspx?id=224052

It's a fairly light load tonight fortunately.

driscj

Saw the pics on the news. Looks like it was the Wunala Dreaming 747. Or did they just have the cameras pointed at the wrong plane on the early a.m. news here?

NM

I would guess it more probable that the tyres blew when the take-off was aborted due to some other reason. The blown tyres are more likely a symptom than the cause of the aborted take-off.

Hvr

The Age also has an article on this incident.
How much noise would this make? Would the pax know something went wrong?

littl_flier

QF12 is now scheduled to leave at 12:45pm Tuesday.

justin_krusty

Agreed. This is usually by design when the brakes overheat after a rejected takeoff. I could be wrong of course, I am speculating. Surprised its made the news as much as it has.

Derrico

As a few others have said, odds are something else was wrong and when they aborted their takeoff it caused four tires to rupture.

Yes they would know something was wrong by the tremendous G-forces caused by attempting to rapidly stop a 362k Kilo plane that moments prior was attempting to reach 240kmh in less than 20 seconds.

It can be a little scary as you dont know at what point the pilot made the decision. There is a a point where a plane is commited to take off. In this case it must have been very close.

og

You are allowed to speculate here - especially before the report is published. This is not that other professional pilots board...

AndDee

Thank goodnees there are not so many "professional pilots" on this board, must be why it's so friendly over here ^

But that being said my favourite part of the www.news.com.au article is this. I am sure that most of us on here know that if a 747's nose is off the ground there is no chance it's going to be stopping on that runway! Not happy at just quoting a passenger saying that, news.com.au have also written that as part of their article

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...71-661,00.html

The nose of the plane had already lifted off the ground and passengers were heavily jostled as it hit the tarmac at full speed.

Passenger Samantha Thomas last night told The Daily Telegraph the screams of frightened passengers filled the aircraft while others were thrown forward into seats.

"It started to take off and everything was fine. The nose of the plane was actually lifted up and we were going at full speed when suddenly the pilot slammed on the brakes," she said.

"Everyone was flying forward as the top of the plane slammed back down on the runway. Everyone was thrown around and some people were screaming. It was just crazy."

"We're all in shock"

bravoecho

This is known as V1 - the point of no return. Once you pass V1 you are committed to takeoff.

notzac

quality reporting there.

here's a working link to the article: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...71-661,00.html

futaris

At least QF12 is on it's way now (according to flightstats)...