Flooded Runway Accident at Auckland

[FD2]

With another tropical cyclone about to pound the North Island - the previous one has people only now beginning to get to grips with cleaning up the results - ALPA is calling for an enquiry as to whether commercial pressure kept the flooded airport open. That was after Air New Zealand flight NZ124 from Melbourne broke some runway lighting and burst a tyre. After the runway was clear again it should have been very obvious that the airport should have remained closed as the flood waters were rising so fast, but the airport management kept it open. Also, if the runway state had been correctly reported to NZ124, shouldn't it have diverted or been diverted?

ALPA claims that correct runway information was not passed to the incoming flight(s) and if so who should be taken to task by the CAA? Airport management or ATC for causing what may have turned out to be a more serious accident?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/131116 ... g-flooding

[FD2]

Pilots demand better runway checks during bad weather after a jet hit runway lights during Auckland floods


https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/131210 ... and-floods

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Try doing a pairs landing on a flooded runway, as #2, with thrust reversers.
We didn't know it was flooded, as at the time they only did runway inspections for civvy inbounds, not the RAF detached there.
There was nothing in the aircrew manual about pairs landing with thrust-reverse equipped aircraft (never happened before).
Not only did I have zero viz as soon as the lead engaged T/R (I tried to keep straight on the HUD heading), but the amount of water caused all sorts of warnings, including an asymmetric T/R on my own a/c.
Recycling the T/R was all sorts of fun, but worked.
The sqn laughed off my concerns.
The next landing as #2, about 5 minutes later, involved a sqn exec. They didn't laugh him off.
One month later, and the civvy land rover now did runway inspections for ALL a/c, and the Tornado was prohibited from doing pairs landing on flooded runways.