B 747 incident Jo'burg

Given aviation is my other passion been watching quite closely since a friend posted about it on Facebook late last night...seems the pilot wasn't listening to his satnav :D pretty bad ding just glad that no one was hurt both on the aircraft and in the building
 
Local SA Media seem to be reporting it as pilot error (details seem sparse with the UK reports).

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) confirmed the incident and SACAA spokesperson, Phindiwe Gwebu said the preliminary report indicates the aircraft used the wrong taxiway.

"The BA 747-400 aircraft was cleared for takeoff on Runway 03L. The SACAA confirmed that the air crew got instructions from the Air Traffic Control to taxi using taxiway B," Gwebu said.

"The crew continued onto taxi way M which is narrower resulting in the aircraft impacting on an office building behind the SAA Technical hangers.
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http://www.news24.com/Travel/BA-plane-used-wrong-taxiway-CAA-20131223
 
Man that pilot was lucky, from what I remember, the tanks extend to within just a few feet of the wing tip on the 747, luckily Kero has such a high flash point as this could have been a lot worse. I've made several dodgy taxi runs in the past but nothing this bad!
It will most likely be a structural write off, the trouble is with a 747 that with the wingspan being as large as it is, it will result in structural warps along the root chord of the wing - most likely rupturing the central tank in the process, too much work and time to repair by the look of it!
 
Flightphoto said:
Man that pilot was lucky, from what I remember, the tanks extend to within just a few feet of the wing tip on the 747, luckily Kero has such a high flash point as this could have been a lot worse. I've made several dodgy taxi runs in the past but nothing this bad!
It will most likely be a structural write off, the trouble is with a 747 that with the wingspan being as large as it is, it will result in structural warps along the root chord of the wing - most likely rupturing the central tank in the process, too much work and time to repair by the look of it!
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I think it is one with a lot of flight hours which will probably put the tin lid on it.
 
That as well, you would be surprised how many aircraft are out there with airframe hours above the standard recommendations :D
 
:thinking:Reading on airliners.net it seems that 'LL' had a lot of life left in it. Other airframes are being disposed of as BA receives its' A380s and B77W aircraft but there may be a stay of execution for another airframe that was destined for Victorville - the first of BA's 747-400s is in the process of being dismantled....

March 2014 should see the A380 on the JHB-LHR route, I hope they will be more careful with that big bird.
 
Some images of the damage

Courtesy twitter

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@starflyergold

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@AirlineFlyer
 
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She'll be scrapped and sold to the highest bidder :(
BA will probably keep the engines though, we'll see her on ebay in around 4 months time.
 
Flightphoto said:
She'll be scrapped and sold to the highest bidder :(
BA will probably keep the engines though, we'll see her on ebay in around 4 months time.
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It doesn't seem clear cut yet, some of the posters who are in the industry at airliners.net seem to think its still 50/50 as the aircraft is newly refurbished and not on any of the lists for retirement in 2014.
 
PMN said:
Yeah, a couple of the other -400's have already been scrapped so I guess the end will come a little earlier than expected for Lima Lima!
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Nah! That'll buff out just fine.:whistle:
 
Dave1 said:
It doesn't seem clear cut yet, some of the posters who are in the industry at airliners.net seem to think its still 50/50 as the aircraft is newly refurbished and not on any of the lists for retirement in 2014.
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Exactly...though there are a lot of arm chair experts over on a.net myself included :D but it will be interesting to see what happens...it's thought that LL when through a C or D check only a short time ago so it maybe that given that expense it is worth the expenditure to put her back in service...

The reality is however it will all come down to numbers, if it cheaper to keep another frame a little longer then LL will go out to scrap :)
 
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