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Contact photographer Petr Gorbunov
What: Air Astana Airbus A321-200 en route from Almaty to Astana
Where: Almaty Kasakhstan
When: Sep 24th 2009
Who: 59 on board
Why: While en route, the indicator revealed overheated hydraulics fluid before it failed. The flight returned to Almaty and landed safely.
Lufthansa flight LH-542 made an emergency landing in Frankfurt, Germany, on August 24th.
The Airbus A340-300 plane took off for Bogota, Colombia, but had to turn back after the crew noticed a smell on board.
The plane landed back safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Pictured: Carpatair Saab in flight
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Bogdan Pop
What: Carpatair Saab 2000 en route from the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, to Timisoara in Rumania
Where: emergency landing at Timisoara International Airport in Western Romania
When: Feb 28, 2009
Who: 51 people-47 passengers, 4 crew.
Why: Six miles from the airport, the crew discovered that the plane’s landing gear was stuck. After the flight circled for two hours burning fuel, the plane landed safely on the main landing gear on a 200-yard long bed of foam. No injuries were reported.
Carpatair vice-president Dan Andrei is reported to have said, “When it landed, the plane came down on the side wheels; it braked sharply and at a low speed it came on its front belly, while the front landing gear remained stuck.”
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Jing-Kai Chiou
What: China Airlines Boeing 747-400 en route from Taipei Taiwan to Shanghai
Where: Hangzhou
When: May 1 2010
Who: Lin, 58 yr old male passenger
Why: While en route, the passenger told someone he had explosives in his luggage. Consequently, the flight diverted to Hangzhou where it made a safe landing–without blowing up. The passenger denied there were explosives (it was a joke.) He was taken into custody, and the flight continued to Shanghai without him, arriving nearly 6 hours late.
Southwest Airlines flight 4378 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Omaha, Nebraska, on February 23rd.
The plane heading from Denver, Colorado, to Chicago, Illinois, was diverted after the crew noticed an unusual odor in the cabin.
The plane landed uneventfully. All 140 passengers and 5 crew members remained safe.
Korean Airlines flight KE-2707 had to make an emergency landing at Kansai Airport, Osaka, Japan, on December 31.
The Boeing 777-300, en-route from Seoul, South Korea, to Tokyo, Japan, had to be landed in emergency due to engine failure.
The plane landed safely.
All 338 people on board remained safe.
Expressjet flight EV-3747 had to return and make an emergency landing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 25th.
The plane took off for Houston, Texas, but had to return shortly afterwards after smoke was detected in the cockpit.
The plane landed uneventfully. There were 51 people aboard at the time; all of them remained unharmed.
