Weather data from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport indicates rain and a strong tailwind component at the time when a landing Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 overran the runway and broke up. Emergency services are attending the scene of the accident. There are no immediate suggestions of fatalities. The twinjet – which the carrier has identified as TC-IZK – had been arriving from Izmir at around 18:15, as flight PC2193. It overran the end of runway 06 and travelled down an embankment, its fuselage fracturing, and came to rest with its cockpit section having separated and rolled upside-down. NOTAM data for the airport states that “due to aircraft crash” the single runway 06/24 – which is 3,000m long – is closed. Pegasus Airlines has yet to confirm further details about the situation and the occupants of the jet. Meteorological data from Sabiha Gokcen at the time of the accident shows rain showers and cumulonimbus cloud in the vicinity. But it also points to winds from 290k at 22kt – and gusting to 37kt – which would result in a tailwind component of 14-24kt as well as a crosswind element for runway 06. The accident is the second serious event involving a Pegasus aircraft in less than a month. One of the carrier’s 737-800s suffered an excursion at Sabiha Gokcen on 7 January, also during strong winds and rain. Cirium fleets data lists TC-IZK as a 2009 airframe originally delivered to Air Berlin.

Source: Cirium

Airbus A350 operators have been ordered to define a “liquid prohibited” zone in the cockpit, after two incidents in which beverage spillages on the centre pedestal led to in-flight shutdown of a Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine. FlightGlobal exclusively revealed last month that a liquid spill had preceded a Delta Air Lines A350 shutdown and diversion on 21 January, and that a spill on an Asian carrier’s A350 was suspected to have resulted in a similar shutdown and diversion last November. In an emergency directive the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has warned that inadvertent spillage on the engine-start panel or electronic centralised aircraft monitor panel – both located on the pedestal – could potentially result in a dual engine shutdown. Preliminary technical investigation, it says, indicates “abnormal operation” of components in the panels resulting from the spillages. Uncommanded shutdown followed “some time” after the spillage and subsequent engine relight attempts were not successful. Airbus has published a temporary revision to the aircraft’s flight manual, dated 4 February, defining a “liquid prohibited zone” for the cockpit and the procedures to be followed in case of a pedestal spillage. It has also published an operator communication reminding airlines about standard practices for handling liquids in the cockpit. EASA has ordered A350-900 and -1000 operators to include the revision in the flight manual, adding that the directive is an interim action and further instruction could follow.

Source: Cirium

United Airlines will suspend its remaining flights to Hong Kong on 8 February in response to declining traffic, with the expectation of resuming service to the city on 20 February. The move comes amid ongoing concern about the coronavirus outbreak, which experts believe originated in Wuhan, China and already led airlines to halt China flights. “In response to the continued drop in demand, we are suspending operations to Hong Kong beginning 8 February until 20 February,” United says in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation as it develops and make any necessary changes to our schedule.” “These dates are fluid as the situation continues to evolve,” United says. In late January, Chicago-based United said it was cutting some but not all its flights to China, including Hong Kong.

Source: Cirium