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After landing at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), British Airways flight BA213 from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) made a wrong turn while taxiing and ended up stuck in an area under construction. The aircraft rolled into an area that cannot accommodate an Airbus A380.
Pilots accidentally crossed onto the wrong taxiway and found themselves in an area with width restrictions unsuitable for the jumbo aircraft. A tug was dispatched to reverse the A380. This allowed it to correct its course and proceed to the designated gate. The flight arrived early, but this ordeal made the flight get to the gate an hour late.
British Airways A380 gets stuck on a taxiway in Boston when it took a wrong turning onto a taxiway that was under construction.
BA213 from London landed normally yesterday but instead of taking taxiway M the crew taxied straight ahead where maintenance was taking place.
The… pic.twitter.com/VjkT4fvVH3
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) October 19, 2024
While the snafu is embarrassing for the pilots and British Airways, it could also result in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation since the pilots crossed a live runway without permission. This navigational error highlights the operational challenges A380 pilots face with Boston’s complex taxiway system and the ongoing construction work there.
British Airways’ Airbus A380 aircraft were taken out of service during the pandemic, but are back flying now. Long-term storage seems to have caused some ongoing maintenance issues with these aircraft. Many other airlines also stopped flying these massive aircraft over the past few years with some airlines like Air France not planning to bring them back at all.
Anthony’s Take: The Airbus A380 is a behemoth (and fun to fly on as a passenger), but it needs space to taxi. This one found itself where it should not have been and luckily was able to get back on course without further incident.
(Featured Image Credit: @aviationbrk via X.)
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2 comments
Bahston sucks!
The A380 needs space to taxi? That had absolutely nothing to do with their error. There’s plenty of space on November at Logan for the A380, it was just closed. Under normal circumstances (ie when it’s open) A380’s taxi down November all the time. They just missed their turn onto Mike, crossed an active runway, then somehow managed to taxi toward construction that has been going on for weeks.