Quote: The pilot reported that there was snow and ice on the runway. He reported that a strong crosswind gust forced the experimental airplane to veer off the left side of the runway where the it struck runway lights.

Seems some people just push things too hard this time of year when conditions are not conducive to a safe flight.

Full incident report on ASN : http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=151374

Quoting zeke (Thread starter): Seems some people just push things too hard this time of year when conditions are not conducive to a safe flight.

Cargo pilots tend to fly in a lot worse conditions than passenger pilots, but still, you'd think that there's be enough local personnel there to do a proper field condition test.

Thanks Zeke

Merry Happy to you !!!

   Thanks for that, Zeke. I shared that story to PHX Spotters page.

considering that the incident took place at the North Pole, should the runway not have been 18 ???

Quoting zeke (Thread starter): Seems some people just push things too hard this time of year when conditions are not conducive to a safe flight.

He is time limited though! Lets hope the winds are calm enough for an uneventful take-off on Monday evening or we'll have nothing to unwrap on Tuesday morning!

Merry Christmas everyone   

Darren

Quoting hailstone (Reply 4): considering that the incident took place at the North Pole, should the runway not have been 18 ???

Yup! This is clearly a tower fault.

This airport has had southerly wind constantly during the last four and a half billion years. Why on earth (eah - why on ice) have they made a 13/31 runway?

And much worse, why does tower clear such a heavy cargo plane for takeoff on a crosswind runway? Especially since the runway also seems to have been contaminated.

The end users of the cargo should sue the airport for damage caused by any late delivery.

Thanks Zeke, I just had an amazing laugh. People are staring. I´ve shared it with all my pilot friends.

Quoting hailstone (Reply 4):

Shouldn't all runways be 18 at the North Pole, regardless of their orientation.. After all, every direction is south from the North Pole....   

Ha, Ha - very funny!!

I notice the date of the incident is December 22. I am guessing this was a test flight... do a little run up of the engines on the reindeer since they haven't been airborne in a year. It seems to be sorted out as NORAD is reporting he is on the runway and the elves are completing the walk around... http://www.noradsanta.org/en/track.html

Haha, nice one, had a good laugh about that page.

Everything seems to be sorted out and Santa is now cruising over Poland   

Quoting okjet (Reply 12): Santa is now cruising over Poland

He's a few hours ahead of schedule then!

Darren

Quoting hailstone (Reply 4): considering that the incident took place at the North Pole, should the runway not have been 18 ???

Quoting Cactus105 (Reply 8): Shouldn't all runways be 18 at the North Pole, regardless of their orientation.. After all, every direction is south from the North Pole....

Not exactly. The geographic north pole, and the magnetic north pole are rarely ever at the same point during a given time period. Over the past 100 years, the magnetic pole has traversed from Canadian arctic waters, to Russian arctic waters.



[Edited 2012-12-24 08:46:45]

Quoting Goldenshield (Reply 14): Not exactly. The geographic north pole, and the magnetic north pole are rarely ever at the same point during a given time period. Over the past 100 years, the magnetic pole has traversed from Canadian arctic waters, to Russian arctic waters.

Well, if you are going to be that concise, runways for airports in the Arctic are aligned to their true direction, not magnetic.

Quoting okjet (Reply 12): Everything seems to be sorted out and Santa is now cruising over Poland

Hmm I wonder what sort of type rating SLEI has