Distress signal from British Airways flight after runway incident during take off from Edinburgh Airport
Second case in four years happened before runway was fully resurfaced for the first time since 2008
A British Airways flight with 138 people on board temporarily lost navigation equipment and issued a distress signal after it hit a runway surface "irregularity" and centre line lights while taking off from Edinburgh Airport in the second such case in four years.
The incident last October which was revealed in a UK Department for Transport air accidents investigation branch (AAIB) report follows another BA aircraft hitting an “uneven repair patch on the runway” in 2021.
The first full resurfacing of the runway at Scotland’s busiest airport for 17 years started a month after last year’s incident following being patched multiple times, and was completed in April.
The Scotsman revealed in 2024 that nearly 100 flights were disrupted during 16 unplanned closures of the worn-out runway over the course of a year because of emergency repairs that lasted a total of nearly nine hours and affected thousands of passengers.
The airport said at the time: “We always prioritise safety and maintain a regular maintenance regime, and we will continue to complete works where and when required.”
The AAIB report into the incident on October 30 last year, involving a Heathrow-bound Airbus A319 carrying 132 passengers and six crew, said the pilots heard a bang from the nose wheel as it was about to take off.
Minutes later, the plane’s autopilot and autothrust systems disconnected, “followed by a loss of positional information from the global positioning inertial reference system”.
The report stated: “The flight crew initially declared a PAN [a distress signal used to indicate urgency but the aircraft or occupants are not in immediate danger and do not need emergency assistance] and the flight continued to Heathrow using radar vectors.
“The flight crew were able to re-engage the systems, but they disconnected again during the approach and a further rudder travel limiter system error immediately prior to landing necessitated a go-around. The aircraft subsequently landed safely.”
The report said the faults “were caused by severe drift of the aircraft’s inertial reference system due to vertical shock loads encountered during the take off roll at Edinburgh.
“The runway surface was inspected, with no singular irregularity appearing capable of causing the shock load.
“A shock load was transferred from the nose landing gear to the air data inertial reference units, when the aircraft ran over several runway centre line lights and a runway surface irregularity.
“Full runway resurfacing at Edinburgh will minimise the probability of surface irregularities affecting other aircraft.”
In an AAIB report into the 2021 incident, which involved a similar Heathrow-bound aircraft with 106 passengers and crew on board, similar equipment faults were recorded as being caused by shocks just before take off from an uneven runway repair patch.
It said the captain heard a “loud bang” which he thought was caused by passing over a centre line light.
But the report stated: “Following a detailed inspection of the runway in this area, a slightly uneven patch repair was found which was thought to be the cause.
“When the repair was driven over at speed, it caused a distinct jolt. The airport authority replaced the repair patch during scheduled runway maintenance in early 2022.”
Edinburgh Airport declined to comment.
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