Witnesses report low flying aircraft close to buildings

An airplane caused panic yesterday morning in Taipa during a low altitude fly-by, close to the waterfront area surrounding the Amizade Bridge, several witnesses residing in the area claim.
At approximately 11 a.m. yesterday, an airplane with a red painted fuselage caused a scare to the residents of the Taipa waterfront area. In particular, those within the  “Pearl on the Lough” residential complex building who saw an “airplane flying fast in front of their windows.”
An airport source that asked to remain anonymous told the Times that the incident is connected to the use of runway 16. The runway is used when aircraft approach from the direction of Zhuhai. Due to noise restrictions in the airspace over Zhuhai, “most of the landings come from the sea” to runway 34.
“In those cases [runway 34] is used with an Advanced Instrument Landing System [ILS] but when the wind is too strong from the South there is the need to use runway 16 that is not on an ILS system.” Such instances require more skill on the part of the pilots, as they need to navigate by eye, as well as employ maneuvers such as the “referred left turn at low level before landing on the runway.” The source noted that, “this time the pilot basically got it wrong.”
According to the source “they might be doing a go-around because they could not see the runway, and got it too late and too low – below 600 feet or the height of Taipa Hill – and that explains why the aircraft passed by so close and at the height of the building.”
Our source added that the fact that the aircraft passed over the bridge is something that “normally never happens.” A strong crosswind at that exact moment might have also contributed to the incident. “Over the last few years there have been a number of incidents where airplanes have not turned left on time and not climbed, presenting a significant safety threat.” Insofar as the source is aware, “the airport is working on a new approach system.”
Ms Thurid, a resident who has lived in “Pearl on the Lough”’s second tower for approximately four and half years, said that she had never seen something like this. “It was obviously off-
route and on a collision course,” she told the Times.
“I was in my living room looking straight out my window towards Hong Kong when I saw a big airplane (I’m pretty sure it was a 737) coming past the window full power and over the exiting circle from the [Amizade] bridge and went straight over the [Taipa] ferry terminal, heading to Hong Kong. The trajectory of the flight was right on top of the exiting circle of the bridge so it was that close to our building,” she told the Times.
The witness said it was difficult to see the airliner’s information because her view was primarily the “undercarriage of the plane” as it headed in the direction of Hong Kong but Ms Thurid recalls that “the landing gear was not down”. This led her to conclude that the aircraft was not preparing to land.
“It was definitely in the wrong place,” she said, adding that, “we are used to seeing the planes taking off and landing every day from our windows and that was definitely not in the right place nor position for landing. [If it was to land in Macau, the aircraft] was totally perpendicular to where it should be going.”
“The flight originated from the North and as soon as it came out of a cloud it banked and turned over towards Hong Kong,” she concluded.
Another resident of the same residential complex, Kiki, told the Times that she also witnessed the odd maneuver. “I was in the house and was initially taken by surprise by the noise. It was the first time that I saw an airplane flying just outside our apartment. It was actually really close,” she mentioned.
“It was really my first time experiencing this although I’ve heard from other people that it has happened before,” she added, concluding that “I saw most of the belly of aircraft as it was tilted at about 45 degrees. A really unusual position for an airplane.”
Other people living in the same area and contacted by the Times said that although they did not witness the incident “it is not unusual to see airplanes coming in the direction of the building, but they usually turn much earlier.”
Contacted by the Times, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macau (AACM) confirmed that the incident was due to the fact that runway 16 was being used yesterday “due to weather conditions that didn’t allow [for] landings to be done at runway 34,” in the words of Euphemia Lam, Senior Officer of Public Relations of AACM. She added that “in this case there is a need to go around and make a big turn on the side of runway 16 and the aircraft might get a little nearer to the residential area.” Lam reassured the Times that, “visually it might seem that is very close but the operation was always within the protection area.”
Lam also recalled “within a year of operations of the airport, only 15 percent of the operations are [handled] using runway 16, mostly due to weather conditions.” Although the AACM spokesperson initially responded, “all was according to normality” she confirmed that the controversial maneuver involved a Siam Air aircraft.
About 11 months ago the Times reported a similar incident where an Air Macau flight encountered trouble landing and flew close to a hill while circling overhead before attempting to land again.