Aircraft stuck on runway - exterior lighting?

[akerosid]

Last night, I was on board an Indian Airlines A320 which stopped - rather suddenly - on DEL's main runway, due to a problem with its nosegear, with the result that the aircraft was stuck on the runway and a decision was made to take pax on buses to terminal; nothing terribly serious and well handled by IC.

However, the one thing that concerned me was that when the engines were shut down, the exterior lights were also turned off - wingtip/beacon etc. It seemed rather strange, if not slightly unnerving, that we were stuck on the main runway of a busy airport, blocking a runway, but not clearly visible to other aircraft. Is there "best practice" on this; I'd have thought it would including leaving exterior lights on?

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

There's probably a rule somewhere that lights should be displayed in such cases but there is no reason to believe that it should present a collision hazard. ATC are there to prevent that happening as, presumably, the runway was closed?

[banana head]

HD

ATC are there to prevent that happening as, presumably, the runway was closed?

From some considerable experience of DEL I would have little faith in ATC there. Personally I would have lit the A/C up like a Christmas tree. After all if the ATCO operating tower (T/O & Landing traffic) can also cover approach, departure, area and over flying traffic what’s to say he/ she won't manage to clear something on top of you?
'Can't happen' you probably think - well consider the tragic mid-air over DEL.
Sadly your colleagues there have neither the infrastructure, support, training or quality system we enjoy in the UK.

Akerosid - Interested to know what bureaucracy you faced on return to the terminal, i.e. re-entering the country, visa, passport etc. Had a similar experience in DEL myself some time back and was almost 5 hours standing around while immigration/ customs decided what to do with the pax! Maybe not an issue for you if you were on a domestic though...

[lomapaseo]

Do you suppose that the attending vehicles including busses with their lights on might have attracted some attention to be seen from afar?

[niknak]

In the UK the airport authority would ensure that the Rescue Services were in attendance, even if it was just to provide ancillary lighting, which the major fire tenders are equipped with.

I would have thought that it would be common sense, that if an aircraft has to shut down on a runway, all electrical systems are switched off as a precaution, thereby precluding any exterior lighting on the aircraft.

[PRNAV1]

I was just wondering what would be the case if an aircraft bound to Delhi had a complete radio failure En-route in IMC and therefore continued to destination, did the whole procedure thing and attempted to land.

Is there a safety net in such an instance?

trying to remember if you need visual clearence to land in such a case...hmm

red/green flare...is that along the right lines?

[banana head]

niknak

if an aircraft has to shut down on a runway, all electrical systems are switched off as a precaution, thereby precluding any exterior lighting on the aircraft

Prey tell why?

If you have initiated an evacuation you will have completed the appropriate drills/ checklists thereby leaving the A/C on batt power, which will still light nav lights & exterior lighting around exits if fitted (certification requirement), and in any case in the circumstance outlined above the pax were not evacuated - simply disembarked and bussed to the terminal. No reason in the world not to leave the APU running and light the A/C up while this process is taking place. If an APU was unavailable I would have been insisting on a GPU with the steps for disembarking, and would have given consideration to leaving an engine running for electrics until its arrival.

[akerosid]

Banana Head, in response to your question, this was an IC domestic from Calcutta, so there was no bureaucracy at all - just a long wait for the bags.

Have to say, though, having returned from DEL (Intl) this morning, that they're in a pretty awful state; the international terminal at BOM looks awful, as indeed did all of the airports I experienced over the last week.

China is far further along the learning curve and has invested heavily in new airport terminals; India really needs to accelerate the process; however, Indian politics are proving to be an obstacle here.

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

If you close the runway with an a/c blocking it, can't you just turn the runway lights off, therefore meaning any inbound aircraft that was not aware of the blockage would not be able to land on the runway anyway?

[barit1]

Should perhaps shut down ILS on that RW too.

And it seems to me turning off RW lights could have prevented the SQ006 TO accident too.

[TopBunk]

Originally Posted by banana head

Personally I would have lit the A/C up like a Christmas tree

I wouldn't disagree, but with the typical DEL met conditions after dark of smoke from the evening meals being cooked, stopping 1500m down a runway after a problem does not guarantee that a landing aircraft will see you anyway Still the right thing to do though to maximise visibility.