TAP A340 overran on take-off after intersection blunder
Brazilian investigators have finally disclosed that a taxi route error resulted in an Airbus A340-300’s overrunning the runway on take-off from Rio de Janeiro, whereupon it collided with lights and navigation aids before climbing away.
Investigation authority CENIPA detailed the circumstances in a 4 September document, released nearly seven years after the 8 December 2011 incident.
The crew of the TAP Portugal aircraft, bound for Lisbon, had been instructed to taxi for runway 10 which had already been effectively shortened by construction works that rendered the first 1,270m unavailable. Take-off calculations showed that the remaining 2,730m was sufficient for a reduced-thrust ‘flex’ take-off, from the displaced threshold, at a temperature of 34°C.
To reach the displaced threshold the aircraft needed to taxi to the AA intersection. But the crew inadvertently taxied to the BB intersection, which lay some 600m further down the runway – leaving just 2,095m for the take-off run.
