Three Planes Involved In Ground Incidents

So far, the month of November hasn't been very kind to the Airbus A340-600.

A loaded Iberia A340-600 departed a runway while landing in Ecuador last Friday. At least one tire burst as Flight 6463, inbound from Madrid with 330 passengers onboard, landed at Quito's Mariscal Sucre Airport November 9, reports The Associated Press.

The aircraft skidded off the runway, and came to rest tipped on its left wing with the number 1 and 2 engine nacelles bent inboard on their pylons.

"Just by looking at the jet, you could tell there was major damage," said airport director Diego Pachel. Local media reports say it was raining at the airport at the time of the accident.

An ANN News-Spy reports the plane was still off the runway this week, as crews prepared to paint over the "Iberia" logo -- a common airline practice with aircraft still visible following an accident.

The A340-600 is the largest aircraft approved to land at Mariscal Sucre, which is in the heart of Quito and sits at 9,200 feet MSL.

The incident is the second in three months involving an Iberia A340-600 landing in Quito. A second aircraft also burst its tires following a hard landing at the airport August 31.

More recently, on November 1 a South African Airways A340-600 departed the runway after landing at Cape Town International Airport. That aircraft was "taxiing at a very low speed" when the plane's nosegear slipped off the runway, according to the airline. 

As ANN reported, 10 persons were injured when an A340-600 slammed into a retaining wall at the Toulouse Airport on Thursday, during a full-power engine run-up.

Photos from the scene show substantial damage to that aircraft, with the forward portion of the aircraft's fuselage tilted on top of the wall. The forward section, including the flight deck, appears to have been sheared almost completely off from the impact.

FMI: www.airbus.com