A SWISS Boeing 777 had a pretty rough day yesterday, after it diverted to Kazakhstan for a medical emergency. I first wrote about this yesterday, but wanted to provide an update about the “rescue” effort.
In this post:
SWISS 7777 diverts to Kazakstan for medical emergency
This incident happened yesterday (Saturday, August 17, 2024), and involves SWISS flight LX161, scheduled to operate from Tokyo Narita (NRT) to Zurich (ZRH), with 319 passengers onboard.
The flight was flown by a six-year-old Boeing 777-300ER with the registration code HB-JNI. It was supposed to depart Tokyo at 10:55AM local time, and ended up taking off at 12PM, commencing its 5,976-mile flight to Zurich.
Roughly the first seven hours of the flight were routine, as the aircraft primarily made its way across China. However, at that point there was a medical emergency, prompting a diversion. The aircraft flew north a bit, and diverted to Astana International Airport (NQZ), in Kazakhstan. The plane touched down there on runway 22 at 4PM local time, exactly eight hours after it departed Tokyo.
This stopover wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, as the intent was for the passenger needing medical attention to be offloaded, and for the flight to continue to Zurich. Unfortunately that’s not how things played out, though…
SWISS 777 accidentally taxies off runway in Astana
Upon landing in Astana, the SWISS Boeing 777 had to turn around on the runway, as the taxiway was closed. While this is supposed to be a pretty standard procedure, that’s not how it played out here — for whatever reason, the pilots accidentally taxied the plane into the grass.
The nose gear then got stuck in the soft ground. This caused major issues for operations — the airport’s only runway was closed for over two hours, as rescue efforts were put into action to get the plane out of the grass. This caused several flight diversions. The aircraft eventually had to be towed back onto the runway and then to the apron.
Once clear of the runway, the aircraft had to be inspected for damage. Nearly 24 hours after the incident, the plane is still on the ground in Astana. Fortunately the passenger in need of medical attention was quickly looked after.
One really has to wonder how this could happen. Admittedly the pilots probably weren’t fully prepared for all conditions at the airport, since this was a medical diversion. Furthermore, turning a Boeing 777 on a 150-foot wide runway is a tight squeeze. However, I would assume that Boeing 777 pilots would generally have a good “feel” for their plane, when it comes to proper handling on the ground.
Austrian 777 sent to rescue stranded passengers
Once it was clear that this aircraft was stuck in Astana, the airline made plans to rescue the passengers. It’s not entirely clear to me if the SWISS Boeing 777 was damaged, if the crew simply timed out, or what, but regardless, SWISS needed a new plane.
Since SWISS is part of Lufthansa Group, ultimately the decision was made to send a Boeing 777 from sister carrier Austrian to rescue passengers. Specifically, the 22-year-old Boeing 777-200ER with the registration code OE-LPC was put into action to pick up passengers.
The plane departed Vienna (VIE) at 11:32PM on Saturday, August 27, 2024, and completed the 2,418-mile overnight flight in 5hr19min, landing at 7:32AM. Then the plane had a turnaround time of just over four hours, and once again departed Astana (NQZ) at 11:35AM, and it’s scheduled to arrive back in Vienna in the early afternoon.
It’s interesting that the plane is transporting passengers to Vienna, where passengers will then be rebooked on flights to their final destination. I imagine the flight is to Vienna rather than Zurich so that Austrian can get the 777 back into scheduled service as soon as possible, since the airline doesn’t have many spare wide body planes.
Bottom line
A SWISS Boeing 777 flying from Japan to Switzerland had a rather rough journey yesterday. The aircraft had to divert to Kazakstan due to a medical emergency. But then due to a closed taxiway, the aircraft had to backtrack on the runway, and somehow ended up taxiing into the grass.
The aircraft is still on the ground in Astana nearly a day later. In the meantime, an Austrian Boeing 777 was sent from Vienna to pick up passengers. They’ll now arrive in Vienna in the afternoon, and will then be rebooked to their final destination.
What do you make of this SWISS diversion to Astana?
They needed the guy from the movie Airport.
That was my first thought.
If a passenger has a medical emergency, is the airline doing them any favors by dropping them off in Kazakhstan, of all places? What kind of medical treatment are they going to get there? Unless it was a real life or death situation, if it was me, I'd tell them to keep on going the 5 hours to the final destination.
The 22 YO Austrian aircraft operates a 2-class configuration with 32 Business seats only. Must have been a fun lottery in Astana for those originally seated in the 8 First, 52 Business seats onboard the 777...
This assumes the Swiss flight was more than 32 premium passengers (though indeed anyone in First definitely received a downgrade).
While some may recur to assumptions, I prefer basic logic. 319 passengers on a 320 seat aircraft.
First time I can say been there, done that. Unfamiliar airport. At night. It was a Cessna though.
Actually, the Boeing published minimum width of pavement for a 180deg turn with a B777-200 is 155.8 feet. This turn was not possible. The Swiss dispatcher should have been aware of the taxiway closure and chosen a different divert alternate.
Not particularly great handling of IRROPS: Rescue flight to VIE instead of ZRH. From there another rescue flight to ZRH. Both rescue flights delayed by several hours. Likely many pax connect beyond ZRH and will arrive 2 days late to their final destination.
Yeah doesn't really make sense -- it would have taken 2-3 hours more to drop off pax in ZRH and then fly plane back to VIE. LH Group should make their planes more easily interchangable.
Also, VIE has a smaller range of destinations compared to ZRH, so some passengers would need to travel to ZRH or MUC and then to their final destination.
I happen to be sitting in NQZ right now, The 777 is still parked in the middle of tarmac.
Caused quite a bit of delays yesterday
This is exactly why I don't know why more airlines opt out of a nose wheel camera for the 777. Probably only costs a few more thousand as an option and could potentially save hundreds of thousands in incidents like this.
Seems like Swiss almost always flies the polar route, over Alaska and Greenland, between NRT and ZRH. Quite the coincidence that this medical emergency occurred when they were taking the Central Asia route instead.
Thats interesting -- I couldn't find a single date on flightaware where they didn't use the polar route, except for the flight that was diverted. I'm curious how much shorter the polar route is compared to the transasian route
In truth I am not knowledgeable about what SWISS 777 pilots are proficient at. I will guess that once flying a 777 pilots rarely come across an airport with no taxiway, thus requiring a 180 on the runway.
I used to fly into smaller airports in Italia that routinely had MD88 and 737 executing 180's on the single runway/taxiway.
777-300 requires, it’s in the operation manual, 185.5 feet of pavement width to execute a 180 degree turn. The flight crew should know this, or at least be able to look it up in their manual. Additionally they had ground cameras at their disposal to watch the nose gear go into the dirt.
NQZ's sole runway is the standard 45 meters wide... so a hair under 150 feet.
Was the pilots name Borat?
Used to commute to Astana back in the day! Unusual architecture though watch out for horse meat!
I believe this incident is called a "Swiss Miss".
Curious why the Austrian plane would have stop in Vienna first when was not in original plan
The main runway at Astana is only 150 feet wide. The wheelbase - distance from main landing gear to nosegear is 102 feet with a turning radius of 114 feet.
It would have been very difficult to have executed the u-turn correctly but it wasn't impossible. A ground spotter would have helped immensely.
@Tim Dunn
Good comment/info.
What catches my eye is the angle of the nose gear. It's straight, not angled, as in the process of turning. It's up to the aviation agencies to evaluate.
I correct myself. The nose gear was angled as it entered the grass, then straightened, by that point too late. Your comment re ground marshaling seems to apply??
@Tim
As you said, difficult but not impossible. The 777-300ER can perform a 180 degree “pivot turn” with a minimum pavement with of 143.2 ft, however that requires locking up the inside main gear and creates a lot of wear and tear on both the pavement surface as well as the aircraft. What baffles me is that the crew would be making use of the ground maneuvering camera system in that case and should have...
@Tim
As you said, difficult but not impossible. The 777-300ER can perform a 180 degree “pivot turn” with a minimum pavement with of 143.2 ft, however that requires locking up the inside main gear and creates a lot of wear and tear on both the pavement surface as well as the aircraft. What baffles me is that the crew would be making use of the ground maneuvering camera system in that case and should have called it quits when it became apparent the nose wheel would not clear.
Having a medical emergency in Kazakhstan is potentially problematic. When you get old, travel is not as easy. Not all medical emergencies involve old people.
I wonder how the plane got out of the grass. Did a tow go into the grass? Some planes can reverse thrust and go backwards. DC-9's could do that but Delta prohibited doing that. Northwest allowed that and often did that.
At least it wasn't some remote place. Swiss is a mediocre airline.
“Swiss is a mediocre airline.”
Not in first class.
Very mediocre in Business....
Being amazing in first class doesn't really help the what, 97%?, of passengers who don't get to experience it.
The entire thesis of this site is focusing on the perceived service to the 1% to the exclusion of what the majority of passengers experience.
Maybe LX does provide a good premium experience most of the time but operational issues like this ruin the day and week for everyone.
the real irony of this event is that LX usually flies Tokyo to ZRH via a polar route over the North Pacific, over Alaska and...
The entire thesis of this site is focusing on the perceived service to the 1% to the exclusion of what the majority of passengers experience.
Maybe LX does provide a good premium experience most of the time but operational issues like this ruin the day and week for everyone.
the real irony of this event is that LX usually flies Tokyo to ZRH via a polar route over the North Pacific, over Alaska and Canada and Greenland.
For some reason, this flight went via Central Asia; there are far fewer opportunities to divert on a polar route but they do exist.
It is also noteworthy that it is generally not economically viable to fly from Asia to Europe via a western hemisphere polar route for any country other than Japan which just highlights how difficult Russia airspace restrictions are for airlines.
Mediocre to its customers.
And Mediocre is very nicely put...
One thing that could be helpful is that Swiss, EU, and Japanese passport holders do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan. So if they're stuck overnight they can at least get a landside hotel.
Also, I have heard that Kazakhstan is "very nice!"
Americans also don't need visa to enter Kazakhstan.
I've been there recently. Astana is certainly very nice. St Regis for under $300 USD a night? You can stay at a brand new Hilton Garden Inn or Hampton Inn for as low as $60?
What about US passport?