Forty-Four

At around 5pm on Sunday, an Antonov AN-2 touched down on the runway at Findel. For reasons not yet established, it swung through 180 degrees before coming to a halt. Twelve passengers were on board. None were injured. They left the aircraft unaided.[1]

The AN-2 is a single-engine biplane, designed in the Soviet Union in the 1940s and built for decades afterwards. It is one of the most produced aircraft in history. It was not designed for modern commercial runways, and it does not belong on one during a busy Sunday evening at a national airport. But there it was, sitting across the tarmac, requiring a container forklift and three hours of work by Findel firefighters to clear.[2]

The runway was partly closed. Landings were not possible. Takeoffs were still allowed. The result was 44 flights affected, 3'500 passengers disrupted, 10 flights diverted (five to Saarbrucken, three to Frankfurt-Hahn, one to Brussels, one to Cologne), 16 cancelled, and 50 hours of cumulative delays. The costs ran to over €200'000 in hotel bills and rebookings. No EU compensation was triggered.[3]

The runway was back in service by 8pm. Luxair CEO Gilles Feith confirmed the figures. Lux-Airport confirmed the reopening.[4]

The pilot, who has been flying the AN-2 for 15 years, said a side wind caused the accident. Pressure on the wheels caused the left tyre to buckle and break open the plane's wing on the runway. He regularly takes passengers up in the aircraft, which was built after the Second World War.[5]

He also pointed out something that has been discussed for the 30 years he has been flying: the idea of giving private aviation its own dedicated runway. No municipality, however, wants either a runway or a fuel depot on its doorstep. At Findel, the message is always that private aviation has to go elsewhere, yet no alternatives are ever put forward, even though airline and cargo pilots are themselves trained there.[6]

The accident happened on the eve of National Day, one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. The runway closure coincided with the start of the torchlight procession and fireworks in the city centre. Thousands of passengers sat in terminals or on diverted planes while, a few kilometres away, 2'800 people carried torches through the streets and fireworks launched from the Adolphe Bridge.[7]

The Antonov AN-2 has a stall speed of around 40 km/h, a payload of over a tonne, and the ability to operate from unpaved strips. It is, by any reasonable measure, one of the most capable bush planes ever built. It is not, however, a plane that should be blocking the only runway at a national airport for three hours on a Sunday evening in June. The fact that it was, and that 44 flights and 3'500 passengers were affected, is not really a story about the aircraft. It is a story about infrastructure, and about the fact that a 30-year-old conversation about a second runway has produced no runways.[8]