Recovery operation concludes for freighter that crashed through a perimeter fence during landing approach, with investigators now handling wreckage analysis
Work to remove a freighter that last week veered off the North runway at Hong Kong International Airport into the sea has now been completed.
A team of removal experts today completed the salvage work to remove the cargo aircraft involved in the October 20 incident that saw two airport security workers tragically lose their lives.
Two salvage vessels lifted the remaining parts of the aircraft, including an aircraft engine and a landing gear, out of the sea after the fuselage, tail and other parts of the aircraft were removed and transported to a storage site for further handling by the Air Accident Investigation Authority.
The flight recorder, commonly known as “black box”, has been recovered, according to the airport authority.
The North Runway is now fully open after it was placed into standby mode last week as work on the recovery of the aircraft continued.
The ACT Airlines flight (UAE9788) was operating from Dubai’s Al-Maktoum International on behalf of Emirates and landed in Hong Kong just after 03:50 local time on 20 October.
The aircraft (TC-ACF) was carrying four crew members and is suspected to have lost control upon landing and veered off the North Runway before crashing through a fence into the sea, according to AAHK.
“At the time of the runway excursion, a patrol car from the Aviation Security Company Limited, with two airport security staff, was carrying out patrolling duty on the perimeter road outside the runway zone. The patrol car fell into the waters after being hit by the aircraft,” AAHK said.
One of the security staff was certified dead at the scene, while the other was certified dead at the hospital.
