Nok Air flight aborted during takeoff from Phuket

[webfact]

Nok Air flight aborted during takeoff from Phuket
Tanyaluk Sakoot


Passengers from the aborted flight stream back into the terminal.

PHUKET: -- Passengers aboard the 11:20am Nok Air flight from Phuket to Bangkok found out today (October 28) why seat belts are always a good idea, when the plane’s brake slammed on halfway along the runway.

Flight DD7503 to Don Muang Airport in Bangkok, was already gaining speed in heavy rain when the front brakes of the Boeing 737-800 went on, hard.

A passenger aboard the aircraft told The Phuket News, “As the plane picked up speed, the brakes came on suddenly. It felt like in a car when you slam the brakes on in an emergency.

“Then the plane turned around and went back to the terminal

“We were told that there was a technical malfunction that would take about 10 minutes to fix and the flight would take off again at noon.

“But many of the passengers said they did not want to fly on that aircraft, so we were told by the captain that we could fly on another airplane and we were put on a bus and taken back to the terminal.”

Nok Air staff explained to passengers that the airline did not have a spare aircraft, so offered passengers either a refund within 45 days or seats on another airline’s flights at 3pm or 5pm.

A Nok Air officer at Phuket International Airport told The Phuket News she could not say what had caused the pilot to abort the takeoff.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/nok-air-flight-aborted-during-takeoff-from-phuket-49374.php


-- Phuket News 2014-10-28

[Costas2008]

"A Nok Air officer at Phuket International Airport told The Phuket News she could not say what had caused the pilot to abort the take off."

Anything to do with the malfunction of the brakes?????

Edited October 28, 2014 by Costas2008

[Jdietz]

> A Nok Air officer at Phuket International Airport told The Phuket News she could not say what had caused the pilot to abort the takeoff.

Failure to reach V1

[khwaibah]

"Nok Air staff explained to passengers that the airline did not have a spare aircraft, so offered passengers either a refund within 45 days or seats on another airline’s flights at 3pm or 5pm."

45 days for a refund??? UNEXCEPTABLE. $#@%^&* scamming thief's.

[LivinginKata]

"Nok Air staff explained to passengers that the airline did not have a spare aircraft, so offered passengers either a refund within 45 days or seats on another airlines flights at 3pm or 5pm."

45 days for a refund??? UNEXCEPTABLE. $#@%^&* scamming thief's.

Not really a scam, takes time for any company to refund money. And later flights were offered. You book with a small scale airline = expect a long delay if any aircraft malfunction.

[balo]

Aborted takeoffs happens quite a lot so no need for the passengers to get worried. If the pilots receive an error message of some kind during takeoff its a normal procedure to hit the brakes before reaching V4( point of no return . ) . Boeing 737-800 are probably one of the most safest planes to fly.

Edited October 28, 2014 by balo

[draftvader]

This is actually good news. Something was detected before V1 and they got to use the full length of the runway for its intended purpose. It is 100 times better to detect before V1 rotate than after.

Do you prefer:

1) Hurtling down the runway then sudden braking followed by an announcement about a short delay or

2) Hurtling down the runway, getting airborne THEN having the "We have a problem" announcement?

I know which I prefer and the crew deserve credit for their actions. The refund policies of the airline are probably clearly stated on the T&Cs that the people clicked past in a hurry. No complaints from me if they have a stated refund schedule in their contract.

[scorecard]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

This is actually good news. Something was detected before V1 and they got to use the full length of the runway for its intended purpose. It is 100 times better to detect before V1 rotate than after.

Do you prefer:

1) Hurtling down the runway then sudden braking followed by an announcement about a short delay or

2) Hurtling down the runway, getting airborne THEN having the "We have a problem" announcement?

I know which I prefer and the crew deserve credit for their actions. The refund policies of the airline are probably clearly stated on the T&Cs that the people clicked past in a hurry. No complaints from me if they have a stated refund schedule in their contract.

Well yes, but after an incident like this surely the airline would be / should be doing everything possible to 'look good'. And that includes

ensuring you don't aggravate passengers with things like '45 days for a refund'.

Sure it takes time to prepare refunds, but it's also true that they already have all details on all passengers in their databases, therefore

they could pretty easily prepare the refund documents electronically, and probably within one hour if they wanted to.

A few years back I was on a Cathay Pacific flight out of Hong Kong to Bkk, the aircraft lifted off but within just a couple of seconds there was an explosion in one engine and the aircraft dropped a bit heavily back onto the runway. The aircraft remained totally intact and nobody was hurt but it frightened the hell out of the passengers. We went back to the same departure gate, took about 10 minutes, when the passengers walked back into the terminal a Cathay Pacific team was waiting, all very well organized, no panic, no chaos, just sincere caring for all passengers.

Cathay obviously had well prepared procedures / routines ready to handle such cases. in fact everybody was amazed at how well they were prepared, including offering many options to passengers for later flights etc., etc., and including refunds on the spot.

[draftvader]

A fully fledged major airline versus a flying bus service? You would probably find Cathay were contractually committed to the service levels. Similarly you'll find that Nok has their contractual obligations too. I still stand by my statement that the airline has behaved appropriately.

What I find amusing is that these people certainly faced more danger travelling to the airport for their flight yet will never receive a refund from their taxi or bus driver. They're all still alive and still being given the opportunity to travel. The contract with the airline will clearly state their SLAs and this will include delays and refunds. If a person doesn't like them they shouldn't agree to them.

I have met many people who didn't read their £500,000 mortgage contract. I have no pity when it goes t**s up!

[DogNo1]

Nok Air probably doesn't have a lot of cash sitting around to apply to refunds.

[NeverSure]

Alternatively they could've spent it on a partial payment toward their hole in the ground.

555. Then each passenger would have died of airplane poisoning.

Airplane poisoning is powerful stuff. One drop will kill you.

[Torrens54]

This is actually good news. Something was detected before V1 and they got to use the full length of the runway for its intended purpose. It is 100 times better to detect before V1 rotate than after.

Do you prefer:

1) Hurtling down the runway then sudden braking followed by an announcement about a short delay or

2) Hurtling down the runway, getting airborne THEN having the "We have a problem" announcement?

I know which I prefer and the crew deserve credit for their actions. The refund policies of the airline are probably clearly stated on the T&Cs that the people clicked past in a hurry. No complaints from me if they have a stated refund schedule in their contract.

Some people are never happy.

Imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth if they had got into the air and then had to make an emergency landing?

[Soiyamoto]

Aborted takeoffs happens quite a lot so no need for the passengers to get worried. If the pilots receive an error message of some kind during takeoff its a normal procedure to hit the brakes before reaching V4( point of no return . ) . Boeing 737-800 are probably one of the most safest planes to fly.

. A lot of their planes are quite old though, i flew to udon once with nok and never again, old dirty plane

[retell]

"Nok Air staff explained to passengers that the airline did not have a spare aircraft, so offered passengers either a refund within 45 days or seats on another airlines flights at 3pm or 5pm."

45 days for a refund??? UNEXCEPTABLE. $#@%^&* scamming thief's.

Not really a scam, takes time for any company to refund money. And later flights were offered. You book with a small scale airline = expect a long delay if any aircraft malfunction.

or is it passengers can apply for a refund within a 45 days period ?

[Bkungbank]

Many airliner now days lack for safety due to cost cutting and competitions from other airlines, some just landed and didn't check the plane properly already new passangers inside the plane ready to fly again.

It's time to stop to put human life on risk , in one day a plane makes 4-6 destinations to make more profit but lack of maintainace .

[Valentine]

"Nok Air staff explained to passengers that the airline did not have a spare aircraft, so offered passengers either a refund within 45 days or seats on another airlines flights at 3pm or 5pm."

45 days for a refund??? UNEXCEPTABLE. $#@%^&* scamming thief's.

Not really a scam, takes time for any company to refund money. And later flights were offered. You book with a small scale airline = expect a long delay if any aircraft malfunction.

or is it passengers can apply for a refund within a 45 days period ?

It could be 45 days is standard as I have waited on a refund from Thai for that long & was told beforehand it would be 45 days. Air Asia the same.

[RichinThailand]

There are aborted take offs and go arounds on rejected landings every day all over the world. It should not even be a news story, let alone worrying about refunds, etc. Get over it...Put up news that is news!!

[stevehaigh]

"A Nok Air officer at Phuket International Airport told The Phuket News she could not say what had caused the pilot to abort the take off."

Anything to do with the malfunction of the brakes?????

seems like the brakes were the one thing we know for sure was working fine

[masuk]

"Nok Air staff explained to passengers that the airline did not have a spare aircraft, so offered passengers either a refund within 45 days or seats on another airline’s flights at 3pm or 5pm."

45 days for a refund??? UNEXCEPTABLE. $#@%^&* scamming thief's.

Better than AirAsia who promise a refund but don't actually do it.

[stevenl]

"Nok Air staff explained to passengers that the airline did not have a spare aircraft, so offered passengers either a refund within 45 days or seats on another airlines flights at 3pm or 5pm."

45 days for a refund??? UNEXCEPTABLE. $#@%^&* scamming thief's.

Not really a scam, takes time for any company to refund money. And later flights were offered. You book with a small scale airline = expect a long delay if any aircraft malfunction.

or is it passengers can apply for a refund within a 45 days period ?

Why the need to make things up? What you're saying is not what Nok said or implied.

[bra]

Aborted takeoffs happens quite a lot so no need for the passengers to get worried. If the pilots receive an error message of some kind during takeoff its a normal procedure to hit the brakes before reaching V4( point of no return . ) . Boeing 737-800 are probably one of the most safest planes to fly.

Good post but its actually V1 - above that speed the take off is continued. As far as comments on the brakes they were doing exactly what they were intended to do - stopping the aircraft - and if being applied in these circumstances you will feel a very strong deceleration.

As for those passengers who were so unhappy, remember the old aviation saying "its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than being in the air wishing you were on the ground"

[xerostar]

Getting up speed, flaps down, both engines running nicely ....now let see...Hmm..

...whoops .. both fuel gauges showing ...empty??

!!! Abort Abort !!!

[harrry]

Aborted takeoffs happens quite a lot so no need for the passengers to get worried. If the pilots receive an error message of some kind during takeoff its a normal procedure to hit the brakes before reaching V4( point of no return . ) . Boeing 737-800 are probably one of the most safest planes to fly.

. A lot of their planes are quite old though, i flew to udon once with nok and never again, old dirty plane

But very pretty. Age is not a problem if they are well maintained airframe and engine wise.

[draftvader]

Aborted takeoffs happens quite a lot so no need for the passengers to get worried. If the pilots receive an error message of some kind during takeoff its a normal procedure to hit the brakes before reaching V4( point of no return . ) . Boeing 737-800 are probably one of the most safest planes to fly.

Good post but its actually V1 - above that speed the take off is continued. As far as comments on the brakes they were doing exactly what they were intended to do - stopping the aircraft - and if being applied in these circumstances you will feel a very strong deceleration.

As for those passengers who were so unhappy, remember the old aviation saying "its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than being in the air wishing you were on the ground"

Not often I defend balo as we totally disagree on the KT case. However I think balo knows that it is V1. My suspicions are that balo is using the numeric keypad and just hit the wrong key when touch typing.

[draftvader]

Finally I have a couple of minutes to scour the Nok Air T&C page. I am interested in the words "delay" and "refund". This is not an accident but simply a delay caused by a technical malfunction.

For delay I have found

8. Cancellation or Delays of flights

In case of cancellation or delays of flights, the company is agreed to proceed in accordance with the announcement of Ministry of Transportation regarding “Right of passengers using Thai air transportation service in domestic routes policy” announced on December 6, 2007.

So I have gone to an "unofficial" translation provided here

The delay was 10 minutes so we look at the first section of the delay provision (article 4, section 1)

(1) In case of the delay is more than 2 hours but not exceeding 3 hours, the airline must undertake the following actions:
(a) passenger shall be offered free of charge food and drinks as appropriate to the waiting time before boarding the aircraft;
(b ) passengers shall be offered free of charge appropriate communication facility such as telephone calls, facsimile messages or e-mail;
© if the passenger does not wish to proceed to fly, the airline must reimburse the air fare and other fees in full amount that the passenger has already paid for the part or parts of journey not made according to the procedure and within the specified timeframe in Section 6. If the airline wishes to reimburse in the form of travel vouchers or any other form instead of the air fare and fees, the airline must have consent from the passenger before hand.

As we can see in Section 1c we have to refer to a timeframe in Section 6.

Article 6 Reimburse methods for air fares and other fees or the money differential for airlines are as follows:
(1) produce a refund form for air fares and fees or money differential and make it available at a terminal building of an airport and at the headquarters or other branches of the airline or make it available for download via the website of the airline. The refund form must include at least the date, the time and the flight that the airline denied boarding, cancels the flight or delays the flight as well as the methods of payment of the passenger such as cash and credit cards. The form must also include the amount that the passenger pays, contactable address of the passenger and the passenger’s preferred method of refund payment such as cash, bank transfer, and bank cheque.
(2) prescribe and notify the passenger about the location or any other channel that the passenger may submit the refund form such as counter of the airline at the terminal building at the airport and the headquarters or other branches of the airline or via the website of the airline.
(3) reimburse the air fare and fees or the money differential to the passenger via the passengers’ preferred method of refund payment such as in cash, bank transfer, and bank cheque within the timeframe from the date that the airline receives the refund form and any other related documents as follows:
(a) if the passenger purchases the tickets with in cash, the money must be refunded to the passengers within 7 days;
(b ) if the passenger purchases the tickets in a credit card, the money must be refunded within 45 days.

As we can see, right at the bottom of Article 6 in section 3b, they have adhered precisely to their legal obligations and it is "within" 45 days.

This was all found within 10 minutes starting with the footer at the bottom of every page of their website. I will guarantee (I have never booked with them) that to book you HAVE to confirm you have READ and UNDERSTOOD the terms and conditions. It is entirely up to the consumer to do that. This 45 days makes perfect sense from a business perspective as it allows for a full month's accounting to pass and for provision to be made for money to be available then it allows a further 14-15 days (i.e. 10 working days) for ALL bank transfers to happen and show up on a customer's account.

I see literally no issue with the way that this low cost airline has responded to this minor delay. So it had a "physical" effect (i.e. the passengers experienced a small amount of discomfort and delay) on the passengers. The airline supplied seat-belts AND they demonstrated to an aircraft full of people, who think they know better (i.e. don't watch), how they work. The aircraft undergo strict maintenance schedules, the pilots are well trained and regularly screened for alcohol and drug abuse and psychological issues. This is completely outside the normal scale of transportation management in this part of the world (think buses and trains). How many bus drivers or train drivers are as well qualified or monitored?

As I said at the beginning of my first post on this subject "This is good news". If I were the airline I would be proud of this bit of PR.

Edited October 29, 2014 by draftvader

[harrry]

Finally I have a couple of minutes to scour the Nok Air T&C page. I am interested in the words "delay" and "refund". This is not an accident but simply a delay caused by a technical malfunction.

For delay I have found

8. Cancellation or Delays of flights

In case of cancellation or delays of flights, the company is agreed to proceed in accordance with the announcement of Ministry of Transportation regarding “Right of passengers using Thai air transportation service in domestic routes policy” announced on December 6, 2007.

So I have gone to an "unofficial" translation provided here

The delay was 10 minutes so we look at the first section of the delay provision (article 4, section 1)

(1) In case of the delay is more than 2 hours but not exceeding 3 hours, the airline must undertake the following actions:

(a) passenger shall be offered free of charge food and drinks as appropriate to the waiting time before boarding the aircraft;

(b ) passengers shall be offered free of charge appropriate communication facility such as telephone calls, facsimile messages or e-mail;

© if the passenger does not wish to proceed to fly, the airline must reimburse the air fare and other fees in full amount that the passenger has already paid for the part or parts of journey not made according to the procedure and within the specified timeframe in Section 6. If the airline wishes to reimburse in the form of travel vouchers or any other form instead of the air fare and fees, the airline must have consent from the passenger before hand.

As we can see in Section 1c we have to refer to a timeframe in Section 6.

Article 6 Reimburse methods for air fares and other fees or the money differential for airlines are as follows:

(1) produce a refund form for air fares and fees or money differential and make it available at a terminal building of an airport and at the headquarters or other branches of the airline or make it available for download via the website of the airline. The refund form must include at least the date, the time and the flight that the airline denied boarding, cancels the flight or delays the flight as well as the methods of payment of the passenger such as cash and credit cards. The form must also include the amount that the passenger pays, contactable address of the passenger and the passenger’s preferred method of refund payment such as cash, bank transfer, and bank cheque.

(2) prescribe and notify the passenger about the location or any other channel that the passenger may submit the refund form such as counter of the airline at the terminal building at the airport and the headquarters or other branches of the airline or via the website of the airline.

(3) reimburse the air fare and fees or the money differential to the passenger via the passengers’ preferred method of refund payment such as in cash, bank transfer, and bank cheque within the timeframe from the date that the airline receives the refund form and any other related documents as follows:

(a) if the passenger purchases the tickets with in cash, the money must be refunded to the passengers within 7 days;

(b ) if the passenger purchases the tickets in a credit card, the money must be refunded within 45 days.

As we can see, right at the bottom of Article 6 in section 3b, they have adhered precisely to their legal obligations and it is "within" 45 days.

This was all found within 10 minutes starting with the footer at the bottom of every page of their website. I will guarantee (I have never booked with them) that to book you HAVE to confirm you have READ and UNDERSTOOD the terms and conditions. It is entirely up to the consumer to do that. This 45 days makes perfect sense from a business perspective as it allows for a full month's accounting to pass and for provision to be made for money to be available then it allows a further 14-15 days (i.e. 10 working days) for ALL bank transfers to happen and show up on a customer's account.

I see literally no issue with the way that this low cost airline has responded to this minor delay. So it had a "physical" effect (i.e. the passengers experienced a small amount of discomfort and delay) on the passengers. The airline supplied seat-belts AND they demonstrated to an aircraft full of people, who think they know better (i.e. don't watch), how they work. The aircraft undergo strict maintenance schedules, the pilots are well trained and regularly screened for alcohol and drug abuse and psychological issues. This is completely outside the normal scale of transportation management in this part of the world (think buses and trains). How many bus drivers or train drivers are as well qualified or monitored?

As I said at the beginning of my first post on this subject "This is good news". If I were the airline I would be proud of this bit of PR.

Actually the delay was more than 10 minutes as they had to be bussed back to the terminal. It however was probably less than 2 hours though. Some of the passengers may have paid other than by a credit card though.

Edited October 29, 2014 by harrry

[hawker9000]

Many airliner now days lack for safety due to cost cutting and competitions from other airlines, some just landed and didn't check the plane properly already new passangers inside the plane ready to fly again.

It's time to stop to put human life on risk , in one day a plane makes 4-6 destinations to make more profit but lack of maintainace .

Sorry. 'Just plain unadulterated unsupported unmitigated BS. Are you an aviation mechanic?

[steven100]

It is plausible that during take off when the plane gathers speed and the pilot notices that the engine begins to splutter ...... this will cause an abort take off.

The plane would require a quick maintenance check such as cleaning the spark plugs & cleaning the air filter then it should be back in business.....

[JacChang]

I will take the "another airline's flights", thank you.

There usually is no such thing as another airplane, the plane that was scheduled is usually in the Aviation Maintenance Engineer's opinion, the best airplane in the availability. There would be 1 or 2 airplanes, but the condition is usually worse than the one deployed. They don't give out lousy airplanes and keep a good one at home JUST IN CASE something like this happens. No.

[LivinginKata]

A troll post has been removed.