Air France A332 at Nouakchott on Mar 9th 2015, aircraft disabled on runway after landing

Last Update: March 11, 2015 / 15:29:16 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Air France F-GZCN, Airbus A330-200 — Air France F-GZCN, Airbus A330-200 (Photo credit: airlines470 / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 9, 2015

Classification
Incident

Airline
Air France

Flight number
AF-724

Departure
Paris Charles de Gaulle, France

Destination
Nouakchott, Mauritania

Aircraft Registration
F-GZCN

Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-200

ICAO Type Designator
A332

An Air France Airbus A330-200, registration F-GZCN performing flight AF-724 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Nouakchott (Mauritania) with 214 passengers, landed on Nouakchott's runway 23 but went off the runway at about 15:33L (15:33Z) coming to a stop with the nose gear on soft ground (main wheels still on the runway) at the right runway edge. There were no injuries, the aircraft rceived no visible damage. The passengers disembarked via mobile stairs and were bussed to the terminal.

The airport was closed for a number of hours until the aircraft was moved off the runway.

The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Nouakchott until Mar 11th and returned to Paris about 37 hours after the occurrence.

The airline reported in an official press release that aircraft was already taxiing, at the end of the runway while turning around to backtrack the runway to the terminal the nose wheel sank into the bitumen of the runway edge disabling the aircraft. The aircraft was towed onto the runway and to the apron and is undergoing a thorough inspection before returning to service.

An airline's press officer told The Aviation Herald, that following landing and roll out the crew taxied towards the turn pad of the runway and prepared for turning around to backtrack. During the turn the crew developed the feeling that the turn radius was not right, stopped the aircraft and called for a maintenance engineer to assist the turn by providing information about the position of the nose gear and margin to the runway edges. Under surveillance by the engineer the aircraft continued the turn but the runway surface broke underneath the nose gear and reiterated: "The aircraft is still on the runway (on the runway edge but on the runway)." The passengers disembarked, then the aircraft was towed on the runway and subsequently taxied back to the apron on own power. Final sentence: "The incident is due to a pavement cracking."

Metars:
GQNN 091730Z 30007KT 260V350 6000 FEW013 20/12 Q1011 NOSIG
GQNN 091700Z 30008KT 270V340 6000 FEW013 BKN110 20/13 Q1011 NOSIG
GQNN 091630Z 31008KT 280V350 6000 FEW013 BKN110 20/13 Q1011 NOSIG
GQNN 091613Z 31008KT 280V340 6000 FEW013 BKN110 20/13 Q1010 NOSIG
GQNN 091600Z 30008KT 270V340 6000 BKN013 20/13 Q1010 NOSIG
GQNN 091530Z 31011KT 6000 BKN013 20/13 Q1010 NOSIG
GQNN 091500Z 31011KT 280V340 6000 BKN013 21/13 Q1011 NOSIG
GQNN 091430Z 32012KT 280V350 6000 BKN013 21/13 Q1011 NOSIG
GQNN 091400Z 31012KT 270V350 6000 BKN013 21/13 Q1011 NOSIG
GQNN 091330Z 32012KT 270V350 6000 BKN013 21/14 Q1011 NOSIG
GQNN 091305Z 30010KT 270V360 6000 BKN013 21/14 Q1012 NOSIG
GQNN 091300Z 31011KT 280V350 6000 SCT020 21/14 Q1012 NOSIG
GQNN 091230Z 30011KT 6000 NSC 21/14 Q1012 NOSIG
GQNN 091200Z 31010KT 280V340 6000 NSC 21/13 Q1012 NOSIG
GQNN 091130Z 30008KT 270V340 6000 NSC 20/14 Q1012 NOSIG