Iceland B752 at Keflavik on Oct 28th 2019, landed on closed and occupied runway in fuel emergency

Last Update: December 27, 2023 / 20:06:17 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Icelandair TF-ISF, Boeing 757-200 — Icelandair TF-ISF, Boeing 757-200 (Photo credit: Alec@B92 / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Oct 28, 2019

Classification
Report

Airline
Icelandair

Flight number
FI-680

Departure
Seattle, United States

Destination
Keflavik, Iceland

Aircraft Registration
TF-ISF

Aircraft Type
Boeing 757-200

ICAO Type Designator
B752

An Icelandair Boeing 757-200, registration TF-ISF performing flight FI-680 (dep Oct 27th) from Seattle,WA (USA) to Keflavik (Iceland) with 178 passengers and 6 crew, was on approach to Keflavik, only runway 01 was available with runway 10/28 closed due to usable runway conditions not being maintained throughout the night, when another aircraft suffered a runway excursion at Keflavik and became stuck within the runway area near the end of the runway. The 757 entered a hold, while in the hold the crew told ATC they would not be able to hold even 30 minutes and queried ATC whether their alternate Reykjavik Airport would be available with runway braking coefficients. ATC responded that runway braking coefficients weren't yet known and would take about 30 minutes to be done (unknown to ATC Reykjavik Airport had already done the braking coefficient measurements - however, the coefficients would not permit landing of the B752). The crew therefore declared emergency due to being low on fuel and to be able to land on closed runway 01. About 21 minutes after the crew was told about the runway excursion of the other aircraft the aircraft landed safely on Keflavik's runway 01, that was closed and still occupied at that time, with autobrakes set to 4. The crew turned the landing lights off during roll out in order to not disturb the team working at the runway end, vacated the runway and taxied to the apron.

The other aircraft began to move off the runway about 20 minutes after the landing of the B752.

Iceland's RNSA released their final report (editorial note: which includes an Icelandic Abstract but is mainly English) concluding the probable causes of the serious incident were:

- Runway excursion at RWY 01 at 06:04 by aircraft N812AM, which closed RWY 01

- Insufficient alternate fuel, taking into account the time it takes to make BIRK operational during its closing hours

- The runway conditions at BIRK

- RWY 10 at Keflavik Airport had not been maintained overnight

- Lack of communications between Keflavik Approach and Reykjavik Airport

- Keflavik Approach was unaware of Reykjavik Airport opening early this
morning

- Keflavik Approach was unaware of the braking action measurements taken at 05:49 and 06:03 at Reykjavik Airport

Contributing factors

- Keflavik Approach statement to flight ICEAIR 680, that they would not have the braking action numbers for Reykjavik Airport for half an hour

- Unclear information in the Iceland AIP as to how long it took to make BIRK available for landing

The RNSA reported that although the runway braking coefficients were already available when the B752 inquired about them but Keflavik ATC didn't know about them, the braking action available would not have permitted landing at Reykjavik. Had landing been possible, the aircraft would have landed at Reykjavik above final fuel reserve. A number of other Icelandic Airports could have been able to receive the aircraft with a notice time of about 10 minutes.

Nonetheless, the aircraft landed on Keflavik's closed runway 01 with about 2.6 tons of fuel, about 1000kg above required minimum fuel. Had the B752 waited until removal of the other aircraft, they would have landed with about 400kg of fuel remaining, well below the minimum fuel of 1666kg.