Almasria A321 at Cairo on Jan 23rd 2013, military exercise results in fuel emergency

Last Update: January 24, 2013 / 14:49:17 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 23, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
Almasria Universal

Flight number
UJ-107

Departure
Yanbu, Saudi Arabia

Destination
Cairo, Egypt

Aircraft Registration
SU-TCC

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

An Almasria Universal Airbus A321-200, registration SU-TCC performing flight UJ-107 from Yanbu (Saudi Arabia) to Cairo (Egypt), was on approach to Cairo at about 12:15L (10:15Z), when a scheduled and NOTAMed military exercise shut down Cairo Airport for an estimated 15 minutes until 10:30Z. The aircraft, amongst others, entered a hold at FL210 and was provided with an estimated approach time of 10:37Z. The aircraft however was still in the hold at 10:37Z with the airport remaining closed, the crew inquired about an estimated approach time and was told 10:53Z. Other crews already began to prepare diversions, the Almasria crew also considered their options for a diversion and indicated they would need to divert at the latest at 10:44Z. ATC assured they would commence their approach before that and the crew decided to remain in the hold. At 10:44Z, the airport was just about to resume operations taking aircraft one by one, UJ-107 was still in the hold at FL210, the crew complained they had now exceeded their diversion time, now needed to land in Cairo and declared emergency. At 10:48Z, 21 minutes after joining the hold, the aircraft was instructed to leave the hold and was vectored for a safe landing on Cairo's runway 05R about 14 minutes after leaving FL210 and about 4 minutes after scheduled arrival at the gate.

A number of aircraft had already diverted to Alexandria (Egypt) at that time. The crew of another aircraft, having their estimate just pushed from 11:01Z to 11:11Z, complained "at 11:01Z our fuel was already critical and now you delay us again by 10 minutes? Come on, this is aviation, guys!" The aircraft eventually touched down in Cairo at 11:11Z. Yet another aircraft requested diversion to Alexandria after hearing UJ-107 had declared emergency, the request to divert went without reply, the crew repeated their request, no reply, after a third request to divert ATC acknowledged and provided vectors to Alexandria where the aircraft landed safely. That aircraft finally reached Cairo with a delay of 2:45 hours.

Relevant NOTAM:
W0015/13 - MIL EXER WI A CIRCLE CENTERED AT PSN 300500N0312106E RADIUS 25NM, TFC TO/FM HECA AP AFFECTED. GND - 1500FT, 23 JAN 10:15 2013 UNTIL 23 JAN 10:30 2013. CREATED: 22 JAN 17:37 2013
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 23, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
Almasria Universal

Flight number
UJ-107

Departure
Yanbu, Saudi Arabia

Destination
Cairo, Egypt

Aircraft Registration
SU-TCC

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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