What happened
On October 13, 2016, an ATR 72-200 series aircraft, registration YR-ATI, was performing a scheduled commercial flight from Bucharest (LROP) to Iasi (LRIA). After receiving taxi clearance and lining up on runway 08L, the crew requested a brief delay to allow another aircraft to depart.
As the takeoff roll commenced, the crew sensed significant vibrations in the nose gear area and subsequently aborted the takeoff. The aircraft vacated the runway via taxiway "O" and returned to its parking position. Upon inspection at the apron, the crew discovered damage to the left-hand nose gear tire, deformations and skin punctures on the ventral fuselage, and impact marks on at least three blades of the left-hand engine propeller.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the cause of the vibrations and the resulting aircraft damage. A subsequent inspection of runway 08L revealed metallic debris and glass cullet, which were identified as fragments from destroyed runway edge lights. Specifically, six edge lights on the south side of the runway were found to be missing or destroyed.
The board examined the flight crew's actions, noting that while an airport service vehicle had performed a runway inspection prior to the incident, no abnormalities were detected at that time. The investigation also reviewed the aircraft's movement via A-SMGCS records, which indicated that the aircraft had deviated from the taxiway centerline and failed to align with the runway centerline.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was the aircraft alignment and takeoff roll being performed along the right-hand runway edge lights rather than the runway centerline.
- The flight crew failed to maintain concentration, as their attention was distracted by irrelevant conversation during a critical phase of flight.
- The crew did not implement the "Sterile Cockpit" concept during taxi and lineup.
- The pilot in command failed to utilize all available resources, such as cross-checking visual references (runway centerline beacons) against onboard navigation instruments.
- The aircraft deviated from the yellow centerline markings while transitioning from taxiway "W" onto the runway.
- A failure in the final safety filter occurred when airport personnel conducted a runway inspection that failed to identify the debris left by the destroyed lights, allowing three subsequent commercial flights to operate on the contaminated runway.