On Monday morning, the aircraft was able to be moved from the accident area to a safety area without damaging its structure and without generating pollution. The Hérault prefecture announces that air traffic, which has been stopped since Saturday, should resume this afternoon.
Air traffic should resume this Monday afternoon at Montpellier airport. He had been stationary since the landing accident of an Aeropostale Boeing 737 on Saturday September 24.
In a press release, the Hérault prefecture announces that the aircraft towing operation was successfully completed this morning. “Exiting the runway overnight from Friday to Saturday, the aircraft was able to be moved from the accident area to a safety area without damaging its structure and without generating pollution.”
The airport could have reopened earlier but this Monday at 8 a.m. at the microphone of France Bleu Hérault Emmanuel Brehmer, the boss of Montpellier airport had announced encountered more difficulties than expected. The earthwork to bring the 51 t plane to the runway, which had been carried out overnight from Saturday to Sunday, had not kept its promises. The towing operation had therefore been stopped pending consolidation.
Two cranes of 450 and 300 t
“The aircraft which had come to a stop at the end of the runway, the front part partially submerged in the Etang de l’Or, required the intervention of heavy lifting equipment, details the prefecture. Two cranes of 450 and 300 t , a heavy truck with flatbed as well as construction equipment for the earthworks of the site were hired to allow the movement of the aircraft in optimal safety conditions.In total, nearly a hundred people were mobilized on the site. whole operation. As a preventive measure, the Sdis of Hérault had installed an anti-pollution device in the Etang de l’Or.”
The investigations of the Air Transport Gendarmerie are continuing, as well as the investigation work of the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), to determine the causes of the accident. For Eric Brehmer, it is a combination of reasons, “among which is the weather at the time of landing”.