Description

On 21 January 2010, a Boeing 744-400F being operated by Cargolux on a scheduled cargo flight from Barcelona to Luxembourg was about to make a daylight touchdown following a ILS Cat 3B approach to runway 24 at destination in thick fog when one of the pilots briefly saw an object which he believed to be a vehicle stationary within the TDZ not far from the centreline. It was subsequently found that one wheel of the right body landing gear had struck and damaged the roof of a van being used by a maintenance crew carrying out preventive maintenance on the runway centreline lights. The only damage to the aircraft was to the tyre on the wheel which hit the vehicle which had to be replaced.

Investigation

An Investigation in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13 provisions was carried out by the AET - the Administration of Technical Investigations within the Department of Transport of the Luxembourg Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure.

All relevant recordings, including the aircraft Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR), were available to the Investigation, although it was noted that the airport did not have Surface Movement Radar or any other means of non visual ground traffic surveillance, recorded or otherwise.