Just another day at the airport...

Well sort of. We had a serious CB(Cumulonimbus: big cloud, poor visibility, lots of rain, thunder and lightning) hanging over the airfield this morning. At about 10 the weather slightly cleared. Cloudbase was around 750-1000 feet visibility less than 3km. Several aircraft managed to make a VOR to visual approach and landed uneventful. A Boeing 707 cargo flight passed overhead and descended to make a visual pattern at around 750 feet altitude. Turned out the pattern was a bit too close to the airfield and the pilot wasn't able to roll out on a steady final but overshot the centerline. Instead of breaking off and going around he attempted to correct the situation. He touched down on the runway but only managed to stabilise the aircraft when he was already halfway down. With only 1200 meters of slippery and wet runway left, all the reverse thrust and braking couldn't prevent the 707 from skidding off the end. Miraculously the plane came to a standstil after about 200 meters without as much as a scratch leaving just the captain with a big dent in his ego and a hole in his pension scheme. Things could have turned out much worse considering the payload...50 tons of Jet A1 fuel.



Now all they need to do is drag the plane out of the mud before it sinks much deeper. Wonder how they're going to do that without the help of any cranes. Maybe it will just be converted into barracks just like the other 707 sitting on the "old" runway.