SINGAPORE, May 9 — A Singapore Airlines (SIA) plane that was about to take off from Seoul last Thursday was forced to make an emergency stop after another plane unexpectedly crossed into the runway.
None of 186 passengers and 18 crew on flight SQ16 were injured, though the incident damaged the tyres of the Boeing 777-300ER jet.
“The aborted takeoff resulted in the deflation of a number of tyres on the Boeing 777-300ER, requiring passengers to disembark from the aircraft on the taxiway,” SIA said in a statement in response to queries from TODAY.
SQ16 was bound for San Francisco from Seoul’s Incheon Airport on May 5 2016.
According to The Aviation Herald, the flight was cleared for takeoff around 6.07 pm local time.
The plane was reportedly travelling around 193kmh when air traffic control suddenly cancelled the takeoff clearance due to a Korean Air aircraft taxiing onto the runway.
The Korean aircraft, flight KE-929, was bound for Saint Petersburg.
The SQ pilot aborted the takeoff on instructions from South Korean air traffic control officers. “A number of main tyres deflated about 270m from the runway threshold and disabled the (SIA) aircraft,” the Aviation Herald reported.
According to the Korea IT Times, both planes were just 1.7km apart before they came to a complete stop.
The website also reported that the pilots of the Korean Air Airbus flight had ignored air traffic controllers’ instructions.
Passengers on the SQ flight had to disembark from the aircraft onto the taxiway.
SIA said they were given hotel accommodation before their flight departed for San Francisco after a 19-hour delay.
The Korean Airlines flight which sparked the scare, flight KE-929, departed Incheon about 100 minutes after the incident on May 5.
The Korean Ministry of Transportation has launched an investigation to determine the exact circumstances behind the incident, according to AirLive, an aviation news website.
This report is expected in two to three weeks, reported the Korean Times. — TODAY
