German investigators determined that the crew of an ATR 72-200 freighter was interrupted as it turned for take off from Cologne and inadvertently aligned with the runway edge light on the left.
As the ATR accelerated along the runway, it struck some of these lights, damaging the fuselage around the nose gear, main landing gear, and propellers. Take-off canceled.
The crew of the Swiftair aircraft (EC-INV) - which departed for Sofia in darkness on April 27 last year - were ordered to retreat and line up on runway 06. This retreat is unusual due to the closure of the normal taxi line for construction.
With the captain controlling the direction of the front wheel, the ATR glides along the track to the turnpad at the end, initially following the yellow cabin guide line for a left turn to line up. .
But as the plane made this turn, a voice was heard in the cockpit, said German investigative authority BFU.
"The crew tried to identify the cause of the noise," he said. Initially, the crew assumed that the cockpit door had opened, but later determined that the [captain's] bag fell behind the seat. "
The BFU said the pilots, the only passengers, would turn briefly to look around the cockpit.
“This must have led to a misperception and misinterpretation of the actual position of the aircraft and intermittent marginal runway errors on the turnpad with the center line,” he said.
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