A Jetstar Asia Airbus A320 performed a take-off in darkness from an unlit runway at Singapore/Changi Airport, a report by the country’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) has found.
The incident, which involved 9V-JSM (c/n 4872), occurred on a scheduled flight between the capital and Soekarno/Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 21, last year.
The A320 was carrying 15 passengers when it departed runway 20L with all the lights turned off during the hours of darkness.
According to both the captain (PIC) and first officer (FO), when entering the runway, they saw that the edge lights were on and the centreline lights were off, although the FO did notice that the runway edge lights appeared dimmer than usual. The PIC and FO could not recall whether they looked in the direction of the runway end lights and hence could not be sure if they were on.
