Saudi loses the services of an MD90

Just got back from an exciting RON in Riyadh. :confused:
Several days ago an MD90 being ferried in tried to make a high speed right turn at too high of a speed. The skid marks start back on the runway and hearing that the left gear collapsed it looks like the pilots report will blame either the nose wheel steering or the anti-skid or the 8 knot crosswind or the short 13,500 foot runway. I suspect the CVR and FDR might say something else…

Those cwazy Saudi pilots… imagine trying to put an MD90 down on less than 14,000’ of pavement… :astonished:

You think a Saudi male is going to take the blame for something… :unamused: :stuck_out_tongue: I love Saudi they are entertaining if nothing else :wink:

He’ll hire a Korean for that! :smiling_imp:

Just a follow up. I received some pictures but they are in a document I can’t post here. What is clear is the left gear collapsed while the airplane was making a right turn, no surprise there.
The airport is the Riyadh, King Khalid International airport, OERK.
It was a ferry flight with 5 crew onboard.

The turnoff, G4, is a high speed turnoff to the right from runway 15L, it combines with a high speed turnoff from runway 33R becoming a 90 degree taxiway leading to the parallel taxiway or straight ahead to the ramp. These are the mid-runway turnoffs. 15L/33R is 13,500 feet long. (from memory) the airport is a shade over 2000 feet high, the temperature I don’t know but probably in the low to mid 30C area. Don’t know the wind.

From the pictures:

I can’t tell how long the airplane was skating on the left wing, but it looks like either he was trying to make a high speed turnoff, or got lucky and the taxiway just happened to be where he ended up. The aircraft is slightly off the left side of the high speed turnoff but still pretty much lined up with the taxiway, very little groundlooping, if any. It is hard to tell but the tail is well off of the runway indicating they were close to making the combined 90 degree taxiway. Even if the tires were all flat by this time!

The left main gear folded up, but stayed basically in position on the aircraft. The left inner gear door is not visible anywhere but probably in the back of somebody’s pickup truck. The right inner door is open and appears to be resting on the ground but no damage is apparent.

Flaps and slats are deployed. You can’t tell how much damage there is to the left wing. Nothing stands out.

The fire department did foam the taxiway at least one airplane length behind the left wing, more than that you can’t tell.

The #3 tire was shredded and was riding on the rim from somewhere on the runway. The #4 tire is flat but intact. The #1 tire is shredded, the #2 is hidden in the wheelwell. You can see the groove cut by the #3 wheel, the #4 tire was either skidding or flat but stayed intact. From the picture angle these appear to be for at least one full airplane length, more than that you can’t tell. There are no visible tire marks from the left gear.

Both thrust reverser’s are deployed.
Both the left and right forward slides are deployed.

We saw the airplane from a distance several days after the incident, the logo’s and name are painted out and the left engine has been taken off.
Apparently full power was not enough to get them to the gate.
(sorry, old pilot joke for the non-pilots here)