Luxemburg Airport Technician Needs New Drawers After Close Encounter with a 747
Yikes.
If you ever have a rough day at work, you might want to chat with the guy who was driving the van shown above this past Thursday (1/21).
Cargolux 747-400F LX-OCV, the aircraft involved in this incident, seen here on a brighter day, lifting off from JFK Airport. (Photo by John Musolino)
A technician sent out to repair a runway light was nearly squished when his vehicle’s roof was impacted by one of the main gear of a Cargolux 747-400F (reg LX-OCV). The flight, arriving from Barcelona (BCN) was cleared to land on runway 24 at Luxemburg Findel Airport (LUX) despite the van’s presence on the runway.
Luxemburg’s Transportation Ministry today says the van had been cleared to enter the runway prior to the aircraft beginning its approach. It is not yet clear if the van had been instructed to move, or if air traffic controllers simply forgot or did not realize he was still there. The incident occurred at night, in low visibility (RVR 350 ft) due to fog.
The plane landed safely despite some damage to the tires which hit the van. The technician was shaken up but not injured.
Comment by Dominic on 23 January 2010:
haha that sucks!
Comment by ned on 25 January 2010:
no comment
Comment by CFJ on 25 January 2010:
RVR was 'officially' 300m (RVR is always in metres, not feet), but probably less.
Comment by Blackprojects on 25 January 2010:
That van will need a new Drivers Seat and a Steam Cleaning!
Pingback by technician license - StartTags.com on 2 March 2010:
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Comment by NickB on 26 July 2010:
The story doesn't say the driver was in the van, just that the van was hit. He could have been on the runway (replacing the light), which would have been a whole lot scarier.