A graduate in German, Jake has a passion for history and regional aviation, and enjoys sampling new carriers and aircraft. He has visited OEM facilities as far and wide as Bristol, Toulouse, and Seattle, and recently enjoyed the milestone of flying his 150th sector as a passenger. Based in Norfolk, UK.
A Pegasus Airlines Airbus A321neo that was set to depart from Frankfurt Airport (FRA) for Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) recently had to reject its takeoff after it turned the wrong way upon entering the runway. It did so at a relatively low speed and was able to safely depart in the other direction shortly after. Nonetheless, it highlighted what could have been an alarming situation.
In recent times, there have been certain situations where runway incursions have involved aircraft entering the runway or even attempting to land or take off without permission. However, this was a somewhat different situation, with air traffic control having cleared the jet to enter the runway ahead of its takeoff, only for its crew to turn the wrong way upon doing so. The incident was reported to the authorities.
An Alarming Error
Pegasus Airlines flight PC996 is a regularly scheduled service from Frankfurt to Istanbul, and one of three flights a day that the Turkish low-cost carrier operates on this popular route. Germany is home to a sizeable Turkish community, and the two countries' airports see consistent demand for travel between the nations. On Tuesday, October 20, one of these flights tried to take off the wrong way.
According to The Aviation Herald, PC996 was cleared for takeoff from runway 18 at Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday evening, having taxied onto the strip around 1,260 meters (4,134 feet) along from taxiway S. However, rather than beginning its takeoff roll with the planned southbound heading, it instead did so facing north on runway 36. German air traffic control provider DFS offered the following statement:
"The occurrence was reported to the responsible authorities. Whether an investigation will take place in what scale is in the responsibility of the BFU."
Runway 18 Can Only Be Used For Southbound Takeoffs
Coverage by aeroTELEGRAPH notes that the Pegasus Airlines Airbus A321neo operating flight PC996 had reached a speed of around 35 knots (65 km/h) by the time its pilots took the decisive action of rejecting their takeoff. At the time of writing, the reason behind their initial decision to turn the wrong way upon entering the runway is unknown. In any case, that strip is never used in that direction.
The reason for this distinction is the fact that, if an aircraft were to depart in a northbound fashion from what would be runway 36, its path of takeoff would potentially take it into the path of arriving traffic on runway 25R. With this in mind, aircraft using this runway can only depart to the south, offering an alternative to runways 07R/25L and 07C/25C when winds are not blowing from east to west or vice versa.
Following the rejected takeoff, aeroTELEGRAPH notes that the aircraft, which bore the registration TC-RDO, eventually exited the runway via taxiway M, around 530 meters (1,739 feet) from where it had entered the strip. It then returned to taxiway S, and re-entered the runway via taxiway S some seven minutes later. Thankfully, its second attempt at departing saw it line up in the correct direction on runway 18.
The Flight Ultimately Continued Its Journey As Planned
The ultimate path of Pegasus Airlines flight PC996 on Tuesday, October 20 can be seen above in the animated map derived from Simple Flying's flight tracker. According to tracking data from Flightradar24, the service was able to operate relatively punctually despite its initial rejected takeoff, which eventually saw it depart at 6:09 PM. This represented a 35-minute delay compared to the planned 5:35 PM.
However, the flight was able to make this time back en route as it flew on a southeasterly heading from Frankfurt to Istanbul. It was timed to arrive at 9:40 PM, but ended up touching down slightly ahead of schedule at 9:36 PM local time, after just under 2.5 hours in the air. It will certainly be interesting to see whether or not the incident is investigated more fully, and the findings of any subsequent reports.