Air Niugini plane overshoots runway in Micronesia

[GarrettM]

Dramatic imagery. Looks like most everyone ok though.

Plane overshoots runway in Micronesia and lands in ocean

 

[defurax]

Great that there is no serious injuries. 36 PAX and 11 crew, that's First class ratio! I guess freight is the revenue generator...

 

[Glider_]

I've flown into this airport on UA for a dive holiday. Can confirm that on approach if seated on the lagoon side it feels like you're coming in for a water landing regardless!
..... water water water water water close water closer water REALLY CLOSE WATER runway.
Google Maps

I was pleasantly surprised by the ABC and SMH coverage of this incident; referring to a water landing rather than a crash into the sea. (Edit: ok ABC have since updated the story and now include the term crash. Other media outlets are using the term with gay abandon).

Very happy for the passengers and crew all evacuated safely. Looks like the locals in their boats were out there very quickly and the plane was only a short distance away. One of the passengers reportedly said he just thought they'd landed hard until there was a hole in the side of the plane and water started coming in.

I heard in another report that the plane has now sunk. I reckon there's probably some very expensive dive gear wet in the hold and some relieved but disappointed divers in one of the best dive destinations in the world without their gear.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

That's a logistical nightmare for them! Glad all are OK

 

[ozbeachbabe]

A crew of 11 seems a lot for a 737 - maybe some positioning or deadheading crew?

 

[moa999]

One of only three 737s (two 800s and one 700) with four Max's due from 2020.

Will definitely hurt their operations, but not many pax for such a large aircraft (they have much bigger fleet of Fokkers and Dash8s

 

[Denali]

I've flown into this airport on UA for a dive holiday. Can confirm that on approach if seated on the lagoon side it feels like you're coming in for a water landing regardless!
..... water water water water water close water closer water REALLY CLOSE WATER runway.
Google Maps

I was pleasantly surprised by the ABC and SMH coverage of this incident; referring to a water landing rather than a crash into the sea. (Edit: ok ABC have since updated the story and now include the term crash. Other media outlets are using the term with gay abandon).

Very happy for the passengers and crew all evacuated safely. Looks like the locals in their boats were out there very quickly and the plane was only a short distance away. One of the passengers reportedly said he just thought they'd landed hard until there was a hole in the side of the plane and water started coming in.

I heard in another report that the plane has now sunk. I reckon there's probably some very expensive dive gear wet in the hold and some relieved but disappointed divers in one of the best dive destinations in the world without their gear.

And all the camera gear! Cameras are a loss but the housings might be saved, if closed.

Glad to hear everyone is safe.

 

[Major]

AVH reports 12 crew, which IMO means a deadheading crew.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

A crew of 11 seems a lot for a 737 - maybe some positioning or deadheading crew?

I'm not sure what they would be positioning for and deadheading would be a little odd as well. I'm wondering if PX have employment of Micronesian crew as part of their deal to fly to Chuuk and Pohnpei??

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I'm not sure what they would be positioning for and deadheading would be a little odd as well. I'm wondering if PX have employment of Micronesian crew as part of their deal to fly to Chuuk and Pohnpei??

PX has a once weekly flight Chuuk to NRT. Would make sense to bring the crew to do the round-trip TKK-NRT-TKK rather than have a crew do POM-TKK-NRT and have to spend a week in an hotel to crew the return.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Thanks MT, that makes sense. I now remember that flight. It's a new addition I think (at least I remember fairly recently reading about a new POM-NRT route). Pretty stingy doing it with a 737-800 when they have 767`s, but I guess loadings may still be a problem.

 

[marki]

I was put on standby for the next few days because of this. Part of my job in aviation medicine is medical retrievals. Especially several days afterwards there can be several evacuations to the Australian mainland.
Currently I have not been called out.

 

[ksthommo]

Video posted on the ABC News Website. Luckily US Navy Personnel were on Chuuk
improving the wharf. One of them must have had a video/gopro handy.

The moment a US Navy teams wades into a half-sunk plane to rescue its passengers

 

[Boca68]

Apparently now one confirmed dead, after initial reports stated no deaths. Seems to have been lost after exiting the aircraft from what I summise

 

[Deleted member 29185]

That's tragic news.

 

[Mattg]

Since this accident PX has dropped its POM-TKK-NRT flight (replacing it with direct POM-NRT). And the 1x weekly POM-TKK-PNI flight is now being operated by a Fokker 70 under a new flight number.