PicturedL An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-3BG/ER
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Contact photographer Tommy Desmet
What: Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-300 en route from Nairobi to Addis Ababa
Where: Nairobi
When: Dec 11th 2009
Who: not available
Why: The flight aborted takeoff and was rescheduled 4 hours later, when it successfully departed Nairobi.
Details are not available.
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Contact photographer Fabian Gysel
What: Swiss Airlines Airbus A340-300 en route from Zurich Switzerland to Tokyo
Where: Tokyo
When: Jan 7th 2009
Who: 227 passengers
Why: On landing at Narita, the plane’s left gear began smoking, which engaged emergency services. Hydraulics were leaking from the top of the gear strut. Timely repairs were made so that the plane was able to make its return flight.
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Contact photographer Adam Samu
What: Malev Hungarian Airlines de Havilland Dash 8-400 en route from Budapest Hungary to Geneva Switzerland
Where: Salzburg
When: Oct 8th 2009
Who: 37 passengers and 4 crew
Why: While en route to Geneva, the plane’s left engine experienced a drop in oil pressure. The flight diverted to Salzburg, where the passengers debarked. The passengers were provided hotel accommodations; and the plane went to maintenance, presumably to resume the flight on the 9th.
*note– We believe that the reports that the ENGINE ON THIS FLIGHT FELL OFF–are highly exaggerated. In fact, we think there’s a simple mistranslation somewhere, since the routine response for an oil pressure problem on a plane with more than one engine frequently involves turning an engine off (as opposed to it falling off.)
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Contact photographer Anton Harisov CHELTEAM Photography
What: Ural Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Novosibirsk to Moscow Russia
Where: Novosibirsk
When: Nov 6th 2011
Who: 130 passengers and 7 crew
Why: Just after takeoff, the plane’s navigation system indicated a failure issue. Although the system is reported to have recovered after a quarter of an hour, the pilots returned to the Tolmachyovo airport in Novosibirsk where they made a safe landing.
Passengers waited for a replacement jet.
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Contact Photographer Vlad Moskvin
What: Transaero Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from Moscow Domodedovo to St. Petersburg (Russia)
Where: Moscow
When: Jul 20th 2009
Who: 41 passengers and 6 crew
Why: On takeoff, the right wing lost a 60 by 80 centimeter “leading edge fairing”. The flight continued as usual and fortunately landed safely in St. Petersburg.
The part was found on the Domodedova airport runway.
George’s Point of View
I’m sure that all of us have heard of the old saying (paraphrased from De Minimis Maxima ) the mighty oak from tiny acorns grow.
When one considers the question of pieces falling off of a plane, it seems simultaneously a tiny pointless thing and a huge issue. Consider a miniscule hole in the roof of our house is hardly worth considering; perhaps it is even invisible to the naked eye. But look what damage it causes when it rains. Somehow I don’t think “the leading edge” is like a car’s hubcap, mostly for decoration. It’s there to do something, and when that part is gone, that something is undone and will have consequences. Maybe letting in some moisture. Maybe causing corrosion down the road.
As a frequent passenger, I tend to be somewhat fatalistic about plane parts. Look, some engineer put that part there for a reason. I don’t know what that reason is, but if it’s good enough for the plane’s engineer, it is good enough for me, and I’d just as soon not fly without it. So many carriers get bad reputations based on careless maintenance of old planes, and this is just the kind of incident that gets people talking. (Old planes need MORE maintenance as they get older, just like old furniture, old machines, old cars, old people, old EVERYTHING.) Certainly Russia knows that maintenance deferred–especially on an airplane–is a recipe for disaster.
I just hope they replace the part before the little acorn of a problem grows into a great big oak tree of a pending disaster. This may be the first incident in a chain of events that unravels the whole plane.
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Contact Photographer Luis Filipe Azevedo
What: SATA Internacional Airbus A320-200 en route from Ponta Delgada to Lisbon.
Where: Lisbon
When: Aug 6th 2009
Who: not available
Why: The flight had such a hard touch down that it caused substantial landing gear damage, and several rivets separated from the wing.
The plane involved became part of the SATA fleet on May 9. It is unclear if the flight involved was flying from Funchal or Ponta Delgada; and the date also is reportedly either the 5th or the 6th.
KLM flight KL-714 had to make an emergency landing in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on January 15th.
The Boeing 747-400 plane flying from Paramaribo, Suriname, was descending toward Amsterdam when the crew declared an emergency due to an indication of smoke in a cargo hold.
The plane landed safely. All 428 people aboard remained unharmed.
