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.

FMI: www.shandongair.com.cn