Some power in reserve and the pilot’s decision to use it may have prevented a disaster at Shanghai International Airport Oct. 11. The South China Morning Post reported that a China Eastern Airlines A320 at near takeoff speed came within 75 feet of T-boning a company A330 crossing the active runway. Both aircraft had been cleared. The A320 pilot saw the developing emergency and firewalled the throttles giving him the nudge he needed to take off prematurely over the A330. Authorities told the newspaper the smaller jet cleared the double-aisle airliner by 75 feet.
The number of passengers involved wasn’t immediately released but the two aircraft hold a combined total of about 500 people. The captain of the A320 spotted the crossing A330 at near V1 and increased power to get airborne faster. Two controllers have been suspended as authorities look into the exchanges that occurred before the incident. Chinese authorities put together a video simulation to illustrate what happened, below.
