Sun, Sep 28, 2008
The Term "Ground Handling" Becomes Literal
A hands-on approach was used to move
a disabled Bombardier CRJ700 from a runway at a Chinese airport on
Tuesday, due to a hydraulic failure affecting the nose gear
steering.
With 69 passengers and a crew of seven aboard, Shandong Airlines
flight SC4752 was enroute from Guilin to Zhengzhou airport last
Tuesday when the crew became aware of a failure in the plane's
hydraulic system. Fortunately, the landing at Zhengzhou was
uneventful.
"Luckily the airplane was able to brake... and all the
passengers are safe," said a spokesman to Henan Business Daily. But
since steering control of the nosewheel had been lost, the airliner
was unable to exit the runway.
Apparently the problem also prevented a tow truck from attaching
to the nose gear to move the crippled plane. Instead, airport
workers were enlisted to push the airliner off the runway and onto
a taxiway, a distance of almost a half-mile.
The passengers and crew watched in amazement as 30 people,
arriving in several vehicles with their sirens blaring, jumped off
the trucks and began pushing the plane by hand. The feat took
nearly two hours to accomplish.
"Thank God, it was only a 20 ton medium-sized airplane. If it
had been a big plane, it would have knocked us out," one worker
said, adding that in his 10 years at the airport he'd never
experienced anything like it.
Some reports indicate the plane's passengers were also told to
assist ground crews in moving the aircraft, though that has not
been confirmed.
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