Hello guys, I'm back! It has been such a long time since I wrote in The Journals. Phew~ Somehow or rather, I found out it is kinda hard to start a piece of writing, what to say to come out with something lengthy as before? Hmm, is that a sign of language rusty of me? To blast off, that's why I opt for something I am more familiar with, comfortable with ... My field of study, yeah. Aviation.
If you have been watching TV or read newspapers 2 days back, I bet you wont miss out this. Everyone is talking about it from mouth to mouth, even in Facebook; it has been a hot-cake discussion. Haha. On the 10th of January 2011, just days into the New Year 2011, the whole Malaysians were shocked to learn that an aircraft had crashed landed on the runway threshold prior to landing at Kuching International Airport. It was Flight AK 5218, which bear a tail mark registration of 9M-AHH from Air Asia.
The incident occurred at night, in the midst of heavy rain and ferocious wind at the airport. Flight AK 5218, an Airbus 320 was believed to have crash-landed and skidded off runway to the right before coming to halt on the pavement beside runway. As a result, the airport's operation was closed for 1 day, causing up to 80 flights to be disrupted especially departing and arrival B737-400 flights by MAS. A comparatively smaller aircrafts, ATR-72 operated by MASWings were more and less affected. It was not until 2000 hours the next day, the airport's operation resumed back to normal.
It was indeed something unusual for Malaysians, considering the numbers of serious incident involving civil aircraft is so much lower in our country. Yeah, thumb up to all the Engineers and Pilots who take so much care of the aircraft and its passengers! The main cause of the mishap is however still unclear, but, according to early reports, it may be due to bad weather conditions at the time of landing. A sudden and strong cross-wind may blow the aircraft to the right, plus, wet and watery runway contribute to a phenomenon called "aqua-planing"; thus the aircraft skidded off the runway. The actual cause of the incident will be revealed only after completion of thorough investigation. For more information, click here.
A friend of mine sent me some real-time photos taken from actual scene of Kuching International Airport. Here a glimpse of what had happened! From my point of view, as a person who works in the aviation industry, I definitely do not hope such incident will repeat itself again. Imagine if this aircraft skidded off runway, suffered severe damage and caught fire. What would happen to the passengers on-board? You wont want to know ... Thanks God, all the 129 people on board escaped safely without any critical injury. Four were admitted to medical assistance, but later were released after check-up. Hope it will not occur again, otherwise people will have trauma boarding on a flight! Haha :)
If you have been watching TV or read newspapers 2 days back, I bet you wont miss out this. Everyone is talking about it from mouth to mouth, even in Facebook; it has been a hot-cake discussion. Haha. On the 10th of January 2011, just days into the New Year 2011, the whole Malaysians were shocked to learn that an aircraft had crashed landed on the runway threshold prior to landing at Kuching International Airport. It was Flight AK 5218, which bear a tail mark registration of 9M-AHH from Air Asia.
The incident occurred at night, in the midst of heavy rain and ferocious wind at the airport. Flight AK 5218, an Airbus 320 was believed to have crash-landed and skidded off runway to the right before coming to halt on the pavement beside runway. As a result, the airport's operation was closed for 1 day, causing up to 80 flights to be disrupted especially departing and arrival B737-400 flights by MAS. A comparatively smaller aircrafts, ATR-72 operated by MASWings were more and less affected. It was not until 2000 hours the next day, the airport's operation resumed back to normal.
It was indeed something unusual for Malaysians, considering the numbers of serious incident involving civil aircraft is so much lower in our country. Yeah, thumb up to all the Engineers and Pilots who take so much care of the aircraft and its passengers! The main cause of the mishap is however still unclear, but, according to early reports, it may be due to bad weather conditions at the time of landing. A sudden and strong cross-wind may blow the aircraft to the right, plus, wet and watery runway contribute to a phenomenon called "aqua-planing"; thus the aircraft skidded off the runway. The actual cause of the incident will be revealed only after completion of thorough investigation. For more information, click here.
A friend of mine sent me some real-time photos taken from actual scene of Kuching International Airport. Here a glimpse of what had happened! From my point of view, as a person who works in the aviation industry, I definitely do not hope such incident will repeat itself again. Imagine if this aircraft skidded off runway, suffered severe damage and caught fire. What would happen to the passengers on-board? You wont want to know ... Thanks God, all the 129 people on board escaped safely without any critical injury. Four were admitted to medical assistance, but later were released after check-up. Hope it will not occur again, otherwise people will have trauma boarding on a flight! Haha :)
Flight AK 5218 skidded off runway to the right
A closer look! Ouch, that's pain -.-"
The Nose Landing Gear had collapsed,both engines were severely damaged
An aerial view of Kuching International Airport.The red-marked cross was the location of the incident - Runway 25
Chinese New Year is just around the corner,
everyone is planning for their journey
back to home town.
Wish everyone has a safe and smooth
journey back home for re-union dinner!
Cheers,
KeithK :)
