Here's how it was done after the recent accident at Khon Kaen airport.
Last Monday evening at about 8pm THAI Airways Flight TG047 was preparing for takeoff at Khon Kaen airport for a trip to Bangkok.
Since there are no taxiways at the airport, the Airbus A330 was driven to the end of the runway where it began a routine U-turn.
For reasons still unclear, the turn was not completed successfully and the nose wheel and landing gear on one side of the aircraft ended up stuck in the soft ground next to the runway.
It is not a simple job to get such a huge aircraft back on the runway, especially with a damaged front landing gear whose tire had to be changed.
Officials immediately closed the airport and a team of technicians from Thai Airways International and soldiers from Nam Phong Air Squadron 237 went to work.
To reduce the weight of the plane, its fuel was removed.
Soil was also removed from around the landing gear and the aircraft was lifted using two sets of inflated air cushions, allowing the tire change to take place.
The job was finished at about 2:50am Wednesday morning.
The airport closure affected 11 flights and about 3,500 passengers who were forced to use the Udon Thani airport instead.
Story contains information from the Bangkok Post and the Thailand National News Bureau.
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| With no taxiways at Khon Kaen airport, aircraft returning to Bangkok needed to make a U-turn at the end of the runway. This one was not successful. Photos by Pattanapong Hirunard. ~ |
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| Stuck! The tire of the front landing gear had to be replaced before the plane was moved back on the runway. But how? ~ |
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| Fuel was removed from the aircraft to make it lighter. ~ |
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| Air Force personnel remove soil from around the landing gear. ~ |
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| Air cushions were inflated at the back and front to lift the aircraft. |
Thai Airways' Flight TG47, scheduled to fly from Khon Kaen to Bangkok, skidded off the runway before it took off shortly after 8 pm Monday.
No injuries were reported.
The accident prompted Nok Air's flight from Bangkok to Khon Kaen to be unable to land and it had to land at the Udon Thani airport instead.
Nok Air's passengers, who were scheduled to leave Khon Kane for Bangkok at 8:50 pm, were transferred to Udon Thani to catch their flight there.
Thai Airways offered its passengers, who did not want to return to Bangkok right away, to stay at the Pullman Khon Kaen Hotel pending the clearing of the runway and fixing of the plane.
- Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com
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