YOU NEED TO KNOW
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A Scandinavian Airlines flight at Brussels Airport was canceled on the evening of Thursday, February 5
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This happened after the pilot allegedly aborted takeoff after starting procedures on a taxiway instead of one of the airport’s runways.
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Scandinavian Airlines said it is “conducting a thorough internal investigation together with local authorities to understand the sequence of events,” according to Air Live
A Scandinavian Airlines flight was canceled after the plane’s pilot allegedly began his takeoff on a taxiway instead of the runway.
The incident occurred at Brussels Airport on the evening of Thursday, February 5, and affected SAS flight SK2590, which was heading to Copenhagen, according to Aerospace Global News, Air Live and The Aviation Herald.
The plane, an Airbus A320neo with 165 people on board, had been cleared for takeoff on Runway 07L — one of the primary runways at the airport — but ended up on a parallel taxiway, according to the outlets.
While on the parallel taxiway, the aircraft began its takeoff procedures, but then aborted takeoff just as the aircraft reached a speed of approximately 123 mph (107 knots on the ground), Air Live and the Herald reported, citing data from Flightradar24. An image of the flight path shared by Flightradar24 appears to show that the aircraft stopped near the runway before returning to its original departure point at the airport.
the Herald reported that the pilot realized the error at the point where the taxiway narrowed and the pilot managed to stop the aircraft before a taxiway intersection and a short distance from the airport fuel tanks.
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Emergency services responded to the scene and passengers on the plane disembarked on the taxiway as maintenance personnel inspected the plane’s braking system, which had overheated during the sudden stop, according to Air Live.
The passengers were transported back to the terminal. No injuries were reported, according to the outlets. The flight was eventually canceled after the incident.
PEOPLE has reached out to Scandinavian Airlines for comment on the incident.
Simon Berneblad Mandegård, a passenger on board the flight, described the incident as “a very dramatic moment,” according to the Daily Mail.
“We taxied out as usual, lined up, and suddenly started to accelerate like a regular takeoff, but after gaining quite a lot of speed, something was clearly not right,” he recalled. “The pilot suddenly slammed on the brakes, extremely hard, and the entire cabin felt the force immediately.”
“There was a strong maneuver to keep the plane on the paved surface, and you can feel how close we were to running out of space,” he added. “Thankfully everyone was safe, but it was definitely one of the most intense situations I’ve ever experienced on a plane.”
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Operations at Brussels Airport continued as normal following the incident, Aerospace Global News reported.
A spokesperson for Scandinavian Airlines told Air Live that the airline is cooperating fully with Belgian aviation authorities to determine how the incident occurred and noted that they planned to have an “internal investigation” into the matter.
“Safety is our absolute priority,” the airline told Air Live in a statement. “We are currently carrying out a thorough internal investigation together with the local authorities to understand the sequence of events.”
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