Engine speed surge reportedly caused Turkish plane to skid off runway

[Eugene]

Source: CBS/AP

CBS/AP January 15, 2018, 10:53 AM

Engine speed surge reportedly caused Turkish plane to skid off runway

ANKARA, Turkey -- A Turkish media report says the pilots of a plane that skidded off the runway and down a slope toward the sea have told investigators that the plane's right engine experienced a sudden surge of speed that forced it to swerve to the left. The Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800, with 168 people on board, went off the runway at Trabzon Airport, northern Turkey, late on Saturday, stopping at an acute angle only a few meters away from the Black Sea.

All passengers and crew were evacuated and no one was injured. The airline said in a statement that all those on board disembarked safely.

The private Dogan news agency said Monday the pilots told investigators that the plane landed normally but that the engine's sudden increase in speed caused them to lose control.

Authorities at Trabzon Airport on Monday were making preparations to tow the plane off the slope.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pegasus-airlines-speed-caused-plane-to-skid-off-runway-ankara-turkey/

[greymattermom]

1. Can't they put sand bags or something

along the edge of that cliff to stop planes? I think they did something at the end of the runway at Midway.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-midway-runway-safety-getting-around-met-1110-20141109-column.html

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. I wonder if the right reverse thruster didn't deploy.

If it didn't, when thrust reverse was was applied to both engines the right engine would continue to generate forward force while the left engine slowed that wing down. Just a thought. Aircraft have lights that indicate when the thrust reversers are fully deployed. The pilots could have gotten distracted and not checked the indicators before reversing thrust.

I would imagine things went to shit really fast once the aircraft began to pivot.

I'm still amazed that they were able to evacuate the aircraft safely, since it looks like the slope was too steep to deploy the inflatable escape slides and the passengers would have to climb a steep slope to get to the rear exit.