RatherBeOnATrain

The only information I have about this incident is the video below - does anyone know more?

TBD

Here's a 767 just cruising in to the dirt ....


Ah, I did a quick scan and didn't see any reference to Santiago or Chile. I figured something like this would be more popular than the zero replies on the other thread, though.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Oops. Somebody made a mistake.

pseudoswede

I think it's very fortunate that the tow bar never was able to embed itself into the soil.

DELee

Yup. That's a lot of momentum to bring to dead stop.

David

sfogate

The plane was being towed to a remote hard stand when the tow bar broke. Mechanics, in the cockpit, attempted to engage the brakes but were unsuccessful. The only damage to the plane was 4 tires needed to be changed. The return flight to the US was cancelled.

TBD

Is there no e-brake?

DELee

Naw - it's Chile there.

David

AndyPatterson

When I was last at SCL, and doing a mid-day roundtrip flight to/from Punta Arenas, it was interesting to see all the USA airplanes (1 DL, 3 AA, 1 UA) lined up on the far side of the airport (the AA 777, being biggest, was at the end of line), with all their doors open, airing out after the overnight flights to SCL! This was in the late summer (early March), as the planes did not fly back to the USA until the late afternoon or early evening.

In contrast, the European airplanes generally did the turn-around by late morning, so they did not tie up the gates or have to be moved away from the gates for the day.

In retrospect, completely airing out the USA planes was a great idea, other than any mishaps from towing them away from the gates.

eng3

How long was it rolling? If this were a movie or tv show, they'd try matching speeds and replace it in motion.

DELee

Hmm. Assuming max landing weight of a 767 at 350,000 lbs / ~160,000 kg, moving at just 1 meter/sec = 3.6 kph = 2.2 mph, instantaneous momentum is 160,000 kg-m/s (p = mv) and kinetic energy of this system is 80,000 J.(KE = 1/2 mv^2) or about 8% of the explosive power of a stick of dynamite.

Any screwup such as the broken tow bar embedding itself in the tarmac or dirt or vehicle/human would have a deleterious effect on the thing that stopped it.

Not a good idea.

David

TBD

With this, I guess that letting the plane run in to the grass was the best (and maybe only) way to actually stop it, no?

pseudoswede

Since it was between flights, I would guess it would be closer to operating minimum weight, so maybe around 240,000 lbs. with fuel and other stuff in the cabin/cargo hold. And it definitely looked like it was going faster than 2.2mph.

But yeah, letting it run out was probably the best course of action provided it wasn't going to interfere with any active taxi or runways. You also figure the mechanics would know how to operate the manual brakes on any airline they're certified to work on.

LarryJ

When towing with a towbar, a mechanic is in the pilot's seat with the hydraulics powered so that he can stop the airplane if the towbar breaks. I don't know why the mechanic was unable to stop this airplane, this time.

TomMM

Do the parking brakes require the hydraulic system to be powered?