28th January 2014, 07:13 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2008
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Toll of Australia Landing Incident - Honiara
Toll of Australia 737 jet cargo freighter crashed while attempting to land
Quote:
A jet cargo freighter operated by Toll of Australia has crashed while attempting to land at the Honiara international airport Sunday morning with no one being injured.
The Boeing 737-300F aircraft was on touch down at Henderson when its right side gave way. The incident occurred at about 10:30 am.
All flights in and out of Honiara international airport were cancelled as a result.
Air Niugini flight from Port Moresby into Honiara bound for Nadi, Fiji was cancelled.
While the Solomon Airlines service operated by its A320 airbus from Nadi to Honiara was also affected.
Report said the flight had to be diverted to Port Vila, Vanuatu with most passengers and crews being accommodated at a hotel there.
Reports by Fairfax NZ News said the Auckland based Airworks Group confirmed the aircraft had lost its right undercarriage during landing.
The New Zealand registered aircraft, flying from Brisbane to the Solomons, was in the livery of Toll Group, an Australian based freight company.
"Shortly after landing while the aircraft was on rollout the right hand main landing gear collapsed causing the aircraft to slide to a halt on the runway," an Airworks spokesman told Fairfax news yesterday.
"None of the three crew on board were injured in the incident. All required authorities have been informed and full investigations are in process. "
An eye witness Joseph Abana told the Solomon Star that he was at the eastern end of the airport when the incident occurred.
Abana claimed the aircraft was hit by a strong wind to its right side when it was about to land.
“When it landed its tyres appears to have collapsed so it slides on its right side till it stops near the domestic terminal.
“Its right wing also crashed to the ground and as a result damaged its turbine engine.”
He said it took some few minutes before the fire service responded and rushed to the scene.
“Fortunately the crash did not ignite fire and none of the three crews on board were injured.”
Mr Abana also called on the aviation fire service to pull up their socks and to be on alert every time.
Late yesterday aviation permanent secretary Francis Lomo said that work to remove the aircraft was in progress.
He said the removal of the aircraft will take time because of safety reasons.
“We must make sure the aircraft is safe and secure in terms of its cargo and fuel before any removal is done.
“Arrangement is made to move the aircraft to the Solomon Airlines hangar for fixing.”
He said about 13 tonnes of cargo was on-board so all precautionary measures needs to be taken when removing all cargoes.
“We must ensure that goods and flammable items are removed safely so that engineers can do their work,” said Lomo.
RAMSI personnel and fire service officers were at the scene yesterday to inspect the aircraft.
All international flights were cancelled until further notice.
A full scale investigation is also underway to find out the cause of the incident.
The disruption yesterday had affected passengers mostly students and working people bound for Nadi and Brisbane on services operated by Air Niugini and Solomon Airlines respectively.
Many passengers who turned up at the Honiara international terminal were turned back after learning about the crash and advice from their airlines’ agents.
Both airlines are believed to be working on ways to get most of the disrupted passengers in and out of Honiara and into their respective destination.
Services in and out of Honiara international airport will resume once the aircraft is cleared from the runaway.
Meanwhile the incident yesterday had prompted calls by member s of the public to the government to quickly work on the recently upgraded Munda airport and have it certified so that is can cater for international flights.
“When such incidents like the one today (yesterday) happened we can still have another airport on standby to allow international flights to land there,” one Honiara resident said.
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