TAROM Flight 3107

Not to be confused with TAROM Flight 371.

TAROM Flight 3107

YR-BGC, the aircraft involved, photographed in July 2005
Accident
Date	30 December 2007 (2007-12-30)
Summary	Ground collision with maintenance car in fog
Site	Henri Coandă International Airport, Otopeni, Bucharest, Romania 44°33′57.55″N 26°5′42.81″E ⧼validator-fatal-error⧽
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-300
Aircraft name	Constanţa
Operator	TAROM
IATA flight No.	RO3107
ICAO flight No.	ROT3107
Call sign	TAROM 3107
Registration	YR-BGC
Flight origin	Henri Coandă International Airport
Destination	Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport
Occupants	123
Passengers	117
Crew	6
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	123
Ground casualties
Ground injuries	1

TAROM Flight 3107 was a charter flight operated by a Boeing 737-300 that, on 30 December 2007, during the takeoff procedure, hit a service car carrying out repair work on lighting equipment on the runway at Henri Coandă International Airport in Otopeni, Romania.

Accident

Flight 3107 was a charter flight from Bucharest's main Otopeni airport to the holiday destination Sharm el-Sheikh's main airport in Egypt. Just before 11:00 in the morning a team of maintenance workers entered runway 08R at OTP to do maintenance work on the runway's center lights. The maintenance team consisted of four workers and two vehicles. Two of the workers were working at about 600 metres (1,969 ft) from the threshold and the other two workers were working at about 1,500 metres (4,921 ft) from the threshold. Visibility at the time was poor due to thick fog.

At 10:49 the maintenance team contacted the control tower to get approval for starting the cleaning operations of the center lights. Just under ten minutes later, the tower approved the start of the work. At one point, the workers were required to leave the runway to allow an aircraft to take off, but they were cleared to begin work again shortly afterwards.

Then, at 11:25:13, Flight 3107 was cleared to enter runway 08R for takeoff, and just over a minute later they were cleared for take off. Between 11:26:40 and 11:26:50 the control tower asked the maintenance workers if the runway was clear but got no reply. At 11:27:04, accelerating for takeoff, at a speed of about 90 knots (167 km/h; 104 mph), the Boeing 737 hit a car 600 metres (1,969 ft) past the runway threshold with the number 1 engine and with the left landing gear.

The aircraft ran off the left side of the runway and came to rest 137 metres (449 ft) left of the center line and 950 metres (3,117 ft) from the threshold. The passengers were evacuated via the emergency chutes.

Nicolae Ghinescu, the pilot in command of Flight 3107, who had over twenty-two years of flying experience, told journalists that "during the takeoff procedure, after 400 or 500 metres (1,312 or 1,640 ft), we met a car-obstacle, and we could not avoid it." he said. "The car was unsignalized nor had beacons lit, and two people tried to move the car to clear the runway, but it was too late".

Aftermath

The Boeing 737 used for flight 3107 was written-off, being damaged beyond repair following collision with the maintenance car and veering off the runway. The crash was the 17th loss of a Boeing 737-300.

See also

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• Aviation safety
• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
• Singapore Airlines Flight 006, a flight that collided with construction equipment after attempting to takeoff from the wrong runway.

External links

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Preliminary report Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at Realiatea.net

Pictures with YR-BGC:

• Photos @ Airliners.net
• Photos @ JetPhotos.Net
• Photos @ PlanePictures.net

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