[Peetwo]

Pegasus in the lap of the Gods -

Via the Oz:

Plane skids off runway and stops on slope metres from sea in Turkey


The Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737 is seen struck in mud on an embankment, a day after skidding off the airstrip at Trabzon airport on the Black Sea. Picture: AFP

The Australian 9:27PM January 14, 2018

JACQUELIN MAGNAY

Terrified passengers remain haunted by a close call on Saturday night when Pegasus flight 8622 careered off the runway at Trabzon airport in Turkey and landed nose down a cliff face just metres from the sea.

Pictures taken in daylight have revealed the extent of significant damage to the Boeing 737, which had left Ankara and landed in Trabzon at 11.25pm in rainy conditions with 168 passengers and crew.

Passengers scrambled out the rear and over-wing emergency exits and clambered back up the cliff. Airline officials said no passengers or crew were seriously injured.

The plane failed to slow along the runway and it skidded onto the adjacent grassed areas and plummeted down the nearby muddy slope at a steep angle. Such was the impact, one of the engines was ripped from the plane and landed in the Black Sea below. Traumatised passengers described the heart-stopping event, saying it was a miracle they escaped serious injury or death.

Yuksel Gordu, a passenger, told the news agency Anadolu passengers were terrified.

“It’s a miracle we escaped,” he said. “We could have burned, exploded, flown into the sea.

“Thank God for this, I feel like I’m going crazy when I think about it.” Another passenger said the delay in opening the rear door created panic inside the plane.

“There was a smell of fuel inside so we all thought the plane might explode, but thankfully it did not happen,” he said.

Fatma Gördü, said the plane was shaking as it landed on the tarmac.

“We tilted to the side, the front was down while the plane’s rear was up. There was panic. People shouting, screaming,” she told Anadolu.

Pegasus Airlines said in a statement Flight PC 8622 “had a runway excursion incident during landing”.

Is it just me but you gotta wonder about the rationality of building a runway on the edge of cliff?? Guess it's no worse than building a DFO within the ICAO prescribed runway safety dimensions, ala Essendon Airport: http://www.auntypru.com/forum/showthread...43#pid6743

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MTF...P2