Airline sacks crew after probe of error
Two pilots have been sacked from Hong Kong Airlines after trying to take off from a taxiway rather than a runway at Chek Lap Kok in a Boeing plane carrying 122 passengers and seven crew three months ago.
An air traffic controller raised the alarm when he saw the Boeing 737, bound for Cheongju in South Korea, speeding along the taxiway and alerted the Indonesian captain and his Argentinian co-pilot in time for them to abort the takeoff.
Taxiways at Chek Lap Kok run the length of the runways but are narrower, have distinctive green lighting and, unlike runways, no lights down the centre.
A Civil Aviation Department report issued following the incident recommends that the airline improve its standard operating procedures and place more emphasis on crew training to 'enhance flight crew situation awareness and alertness'. It also recommends improvements to taxiway lighting and ground marking systems at Chek Lap Kok.
Captain Indra Santrianto and his first officer, Diego Martin Chiadria, were dismissed after the department held an investigation into how their plane set off down a taxiway for takeoff in the early hours of September 13.
Mr Indra told management that he was merely travelling at speed on a taxiway on his way to the north runway and argued that air traffic controllers may have mistaken his approach for an attempted takeoff.