SIA plane damaged tyres in emergency stop to avoid collision

SIA plane damaged tyres in emergency stop to avoid collision

A Singapore Airlines plane popped its tyres as it was making a frantic emergency stop during take-off at Incheon International Airport to avoid a Korean Air jet that had crossed the runway without approval last Thursday (May 5).

Airlive.net reported that several tyres of the SQ plane "exploded during braking".

Bounded for San Francisco, SQ16 flight, which was carrying 186 people on board, was running at 90-100 km/h as it accelerated so that it could lift off the ground at about 5.50pm.

The airport controller ordered both flights to stop immediately after noticing Korean Air flight KE929 was crossing the runway without permission.

Korean Air plane, which was heading for St. Petersburg with 188 on board, had taxied onto the same runway unexpectedly. Korea IT Times said the pilots of the Korean Air Airbus flight allegedly ignored controller instructions.

The Singapore Airlines plane managed to make an emergency stop, but shredded its tyres as they were deflated in the process. When both planes had come to a halt, they were 1.7km apart.

An SIA spokesman told the media that SQ16 aborted its take-off following instructions that were received from air traffic control.

"The aborted take-off resulted in the deflation of a number of tyres on the Boeing 777-300ER, requiring passengers to disembark from the aircraft on the taxiway," the spokesman said.

The SQ flight was delayed for 19 hours. After repairs, it took off on May 6 at 1pm, reported The Aviation Herald.

The Korean flight left for St. Petersburg about 1 hour 40 minutes after the incident.

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is investigating the incident and is expected to release its report in two to three weeks.

chenj@sph.com.sg

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