Saudi Arabian Airlines - SAUDIA

A Saudi Arabian Airlines MD-90 was substantially damaged during a runway excursion accident Riyadh (RUH). The seven crew members escaped unhurt. The airplane operated on a repositioning flight from Jeddah. During the flight, the captain discussed the use of manual spoilers during landing with the first officer. He further stated that; as he "had only around 400 hours in the aircraft" as a captain, he wanted to "see the effect' of landing with manual spoilers. He further explained that the flight provided an opportunity to "do it manually" (use manual spoilers) as it was a repositioning flight and, the weather and dry runway conditions were ideal. As such, he discussed the procedure with the first officer and elected to land with the auto ground spoiler system unarmed. The flight was uneventful. During the approach to Riyadh the Landing Checklist was completed, which included the arming of the auto ground spoiler system for landing. After the Landing Checklist was completed, the captain disarmed the auto ground spoiler system with the intention of applying manual ground spoilers after landing. The auto braking system was also not armed prior to landing. The final approach and touchdown to runway 15 Left at Riyadh were uneventful. The touchdown airspeed was 135 knots calibrated air speed (CAS). On touchdown, the captain manually extended the spoiler/speed brake lever, but did not latch it in the fully extended (EXT) position (fully aft and latched upwards). The captain then removed his right hand from the speed brake lever in order to deploy the thrust reversers. The first officer noted the movement of the spoiler/speed brake lever and called "Spoilers Deployed". Since the spoiler/speed brake lever was not fully pulled aft and latched upwards, the lever automatically returned to the forward retracted (RET) position. This movement of the spoiler/speed brake lever was not noticed by the captain and the first officer. In response, the ground spoilers re-stowed before being fully deployed and, a speed brake/flap configuration (SPD BRK/FLP CONFIG) Level 1 Amber Alert occurred. This alert occurred as the aircraft was not yet fully weight on wheels (WOW) and the aircraft still sensed a flight condition with speed brakes deployed and flaps extended beyond six degrees. Six seconds after touchdown on the right main landing gear, the nose gear touched down and the aircraft transferred to a ground condition (WOW on nose gear and main wheel spin up). The SPD BRK/FLP CONFIG alert extinguished when the nose gear oleo actuated ground shift on landing. After touchdown, the aircraft banked to the right and began to drift right of the runway centerline. In response, he applied left rudder, deployed the thrust reversers and applied left aileron. But this did not have any noticeable effect. The captain saw the approaching G4 taxiway exit and in an attempt to keep the aircraft from leaving the runway surface beyond the G4 taxiway exit, he decided to direct the aircraft towards the taxiway. He then applied a right rudder input which caused the aircraft to commence a rapid sweeping turn to the right towards the G4 taxiway exit. The aircraft left the runway at high speed, traversed the full width of the G4 taxiway, and exited the surface at its southern edge. The aircraft then entered a sand section and travelled the distance infield between the edge of the G4 taxiway and the adjacent section of taxiway GOLF. The left main landing gear collapsed during this time. The aircraft came to rest on taxiway GOLF. There was no post impact fire.

TF-ARS (B747-300) was on a scheduled flight from Medina (Saudi Arabia) to Dhaka (Bangladesh), flight number SVA810. The flight crew consisted of a commander, copilot and a flight engineer. The cabin crew consisted of 15 crew members including one senior cabin attendant. Additionally to the cabin crew, one “off duty” cabin crew member was in the cabin. According to the commander, the flight from Medina and the landing at Dhaka was uneventful. During the landing roll, approximately 50 seconds after touchdown, the flight crew received a call from the tower controller where the tower controller inquired whether the aircraft was under control. The flight crew responded to the call by stating that the aircraft was completely under control and asked what the problem seemed to be. The controller then informed the flight crew that fire was observed at the right wing area. At this point the Aerodrome Fire Operator had already activated the fire fighters as well as the rescue team. As soon as the controller had informed the flight crew about the fire, the flight crew received a No. 3 engine fire alarm. The co-pilot immediately discharged the first engine fire bottle and the flight crew requested firefighter assistance and shut down all engines. The co-pilot waited 20 seconds until the second fire bottle was discharged. At this time the commander called the senior cabin attendant to the flight deck using the public address system (PA). This command was followed by a command to the cabin crew to remain seated. The commander informed the senior cabin attendant of the situation and instructed him to evaluate the situation and to evacuate the passengers if necessary. The senior cabin attendant went back down to the main deck and saw the smoke and the fire through the windows. He then commanded the cabin crew as well as passengers, by using a megaphone, to evacuate the aircraft. The cabin attendant at location L2 (see figure 6-7, page 21) had already operated the emergency exit and started evacuating the passengers. Cabin attendants at locations L1 and R2 (see figure 6-7, page 21) also operated their respective emergency exits. After realizing that smoke and fire were at the right hand side, the emergency exit at R2 was blocked by one of the cabin attendants. All passengers managed to evacuate without serious injuries and the fire department at Zia International Airport managed to extinguish the fire successfully. The damage to the aircraft was later evaluated as beyond economical repair.