Sydney Airport Message Board - Who left the stairs out???

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- - Who left the stairs out??? (http://www.yssyforum.net/board/showthread.php?t=5368)

Who left the stairs out???

Quote:

Aussie asylum take-off aborted after plane's stairs left hanging

A CHARTERED Airbus with a full load of 120 asylum-seekers and Australian officials had to abort its take-off from the Cocos Islands on Sunday night because its rear stairs were trailing along the tarmac.

The Australian said customs officials and customers at the nearby Cocos Island Club had to rush to the airfield apron, climb over the perimeter fence and run towards the plane waving their arms to alert the pilot to the problem.

When the plane stopped, an airfield manager used a radio to contact the pilot.

Australian electronics businessman Jack O'Donnell, who was at the Cocos Club, said people were shocked to see the plane trailing the rear stairs as it taxied on to the tarmac.

The trailing stairs caused a shower of sparks as the plane picked up speed.

O'Donnell said the "trailing stairs caused a hell of a racket and were sending out sparks".

When the pilot was informed, the rear door was opened and the stairs withdrawn into their separate hatch.

The pilot then recommenced the take-off.

A spokesman for the Air Transport Safety Bureau there had been no report received of the incident but it did expect one within the 72-hour reporting period.

What Airbus has rear retractable stairs? Never heard of that!

I like how the aircraft 'picked up speed' on the tarmac. By the looks of it the airport doesn't look big enough to swing a cat!

Also like how quickly the Custom's Officials were at the club (Assuming they were the ones after processing all the refugees and rushed to the club for a few cold ones) very much by the time the aircraft was taxiing for departure.

I don't know about the rest of you, I sense a few media creativity has made it into the article. None the less, it was an entertaining read :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maikha Ly (Post 46489)

I sense a few media creativity has made it into the article.

Just slightly. The imagery of a bunch of customs officials and other "customers" of the club having sufficient time to leave the club, jump the fence and go running down the taxiways after an A320 could only come from the mind of a fiction writer. Entertaining, certainly.

Someone at the pub obviously had one too many......

Was it the Skytraders 319?

Not many Airbus's in Australia would have the airstairs installed & operational.

"A CHARTERED Airbus with a full load of 120 asylum-seekers and Australian officials"

If 120 pax was a full load maybe it was an A319 ?

Makes sense that it is the Skytraders A319 and airstairs are installed on it - this is the aircraft that flies down to Casey Base in the Antarctic and I can't imagine a set of stairs being kept beside the blue ice runway down there - it would be a case of "anything you need, bring it with you" ...

...or in this case - "Don't forget it when you leave!" :D

Some clarity and accuracy: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/wi...-deployed.html

Quote:

Skytraders Chief Pilot and Director of Operations Terry Vickers confirms his company's A319 (above) was the aircraft involved in the Sunday incident at Cocos Islands off the northwestern coast of Australia. "There was a human error at the issue in closing the door which was combined with an erroenous cockpit indicator. The indicator in the cockpit said the stairs were retracted and the doors were closed," Vickers says.

During the cabin door closing procedure the stairs at the front left-hand side of the aircraft were left deployed and a cockpit warning indicator failed to alert the crew to the problem. Vickers explains that in normal operation, "You get an error in the cockpit if you start the engines with the stairs not retracted."

Vickers says the crew taxied at Cocos Islands airport for 50-100 metres before a flight attendant, "who could hear the the noise of the stairs scraping along," alerted the pilots to the problem. Vickers says that despite media reports he is not aware of ground personnel or onlookers rushing to the aircraft to alert the crew to the problem. Nor did the aircraft attempt to take off with the stairs deployed, Vickers adds.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/wi...-deployed.html

To quote your Flightglobal blog post Will, I think all the answers are contained right here - "Skytraders has instructed the non-flying pilot to retract the stairs and close the cabin door, a duty previously assigned to flight attendants." ;)

Perhaps, but to my understanding there have been incidents where cockpit indicators have gone off mid-flight indicating the stairs were deployed. :D

(Presumably for ash cloud to board?)