Gatwick 'signage' blamed as airliner takes off with dangerously little runway left

Pilots have blamed “bad signage” at Gatwick Airport after nearly running out of runway while taking off. A report by the Air Accident Investigation Branch found the mistake in March could have caused a potentially disastrous “overrun” after the Boeing 787-9 began its take-off 417 metres beyond the proper starting point. The Buenos Aires-bound jet carrying 270 people left the ground with only 600 metres of runway to spare. The Norwegian Airlines aircraft was one of five which failed to start its take-off from the right location at Gatwick's standby runway between September 2017 and March this year. The report noted: “After departure both pilots commented that there was not much runway remaining at lift-off.” The report added: "The crew did not identify the beginning of the runway and taxied forward to the landing threshold before beginning their take-off. "This decreased the take-off distance available and meant that the aircraft did not meet regulated performance requirements for its actual take-off weight. The distance available for the take-off would have been insufficient had an aircraft engine failed and had the crew decided to stop." The repeated problems on the standby runway follow a proposal by Gatwick bosses to bring it into routine use for departures as part of a plan to increase the airport’s capacity. Gatwick said it had agreed to make it easier for pilots to find the beginning of the runway, particularly at night.<br/>