Virgin incident exposes safety issues at Darwin Airport

Darwin airport is being urged to install centre-line lighting after a Virgin jet ran off the runway.

The Virgin plane that slid off of the Darwin runway on landing in 2016.

An investigation into a Virgin Australia flight that ran off the runway on landing in Darwin, has found the airport could improve safety by installing centre-line lighting on the runway.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has recommended Darwin International Airport undertake the safety action, and also called upon the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to mandate centre-line lighting for runways wider than 50-metres.

In the Virgin Australia incident on December 6, 2016, a Boeing 737-800 from Melbourne had touched down in Darwin when it suddenly started to rain heavily.

Coupled with a light and increasing crosswind, the aircraft drifted 21m to the right of the centre line, and as a result the right landing gear went off the sealed surface and destroyed six runway lights.

A runway excursion involving a Boeing 737 at Darwin Airport draws attention to the effectiveness of centreline lighting on wider than usual runways, a new ATSB investigation highlights. https://t.co/wdQg7JQnU0 pic.twitter.com/f4jctgyKgN

— ATSB (@atsbinfo) May 15, 2019

Minor damage was incurred by the aircraft but no-one on board was hurt.

The ATSB’s final report released today, said the runway in Darwin was the only one in Australia of more than 50m without centre-line lighting.

“No similar occurrence has happened at any other of the busier airports in Australia where the runways are either narrower, or are a similar width but with centre-line lighting,” said the report.

“A study of relevant occurrences worldwide found that the likelihood of a runway veer-off on landing increases significantly when using a runway that wider than 50m and does not have centre-line lighting. This is likely due to limitations in the visual cues available in such circumstances.”

Damage to the Virgin aircraft’s right landing gear. Picture: ATSB

Two runway veer-offs had occurred at Darwin in recent years and the report also noted there was “no advisory information about this hazard in the operator’s manuals or in the aerodrome information provided to operators by Darwin Airport”.

As a result of the incident Virgin Australia took a number of safety actions, including reviewing the risk profiles for all airports including Darwin.

The airline also initiated specific training for pilots for loss of visibility in heavy rain.

Darwin International Airport advised the runway was due to be resurfaced in 2022 but made no commitment to installing centre-line lighting.

Comment is being sought from the airport’s operator NT Airports.