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Contact photographer Cees de Krijger
What: AirExplore Boeing 737-400 en route from Verona to Kos
Where: Kos, Greece
When: September 4, 2010
Who: 7 crew, 169 passengers
Why: After the left engine caught on fire, the plane made an emergency landing on Kos. Passengers disembarked via emergency slides. No injuries were reported.
What: American Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from San Francisco,CA to Honolulu,HI
Where: San Francisco
When: Dec 6th 2010
Who: 98 passengers
Why: The plane took off successfully but developed a bleed air problem in the left engine. The bleed air issue is more routine than problematic but dealing with it is certainly a best practice; the crew had to burn off fuel to land, and circled; but then diverted to LAX for the maintenance facilities. On arrival to LAX, passengers were booked onto alternative flights.
What: Air France Airbus A319-100 en route from Athens to Paris
Where: Athens
When: Feb 25th 2011
Who: 113 on board
Why: On takeoff, the plane had a bird strike.
THe flight returned to Athens about 30 minutes after takeoff. The extent of the damage to the plane was not reported.
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Contact photographer Jason Ernster
What: Northwest Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from San Diego, to Minneapolis
Where: Minneapolis
When: Oct 21st 200
Who: 144 passengers 5 crew
Why: The Airbus was out of communication for nearly an hour and a half, and overflew Minneapolis by 15 minutes. The plane had been in contact with Denver but lost contact southeast of Denver,CO after 5:56pm. Denver ATC conferred with Minneapolis ATC. Without reestablishing contact, just before 8 p.m., the plane flew over the airport.
Military jets were put on standby.
Meanwhile, on board, passengers had a very quiet flight, without input from the captain.
Before communications were re-established at 8:14 p.m. the plane had overshot the airport in an easterly direction by nearly a quarter of an hour. Contact was reestablished over Eau Claire, Wis. It is not known if pilots fell asleep.
Pilots didn’t discover their mistake until a flight attendant in the cabin contacted them over the intercom. Passengers were looking at their watches and wondering when the flight would end. Even after they landed, passengers were told to wait, eventually walking past a line of security officers.
On landing in Minneapolis, police boarded the plane, as per standard policy.
The two pilots are suspended until Delta/Northwest investigates the situation. Interviews of the pilots and rest of the crew are pending.
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Contact photographer Gerry Stegmeier
What: Lufthansa A320-200 en route from Munich to Hamburg
Where: Hamburg
When: Mar 1 2008
Who: 132 passengers and 5 crew
Why: On approach to Hamburg in stormy windy (47 knot wind gusts) weather, the left wing struck the runway on an attempted landing, veered, and had to make another go-round before a final landing.
On April 18, 2013, on landing in Lansing Michigan, a Boeing 737 owned by SUN COUNTRY suffered an incident. Almost landing, actually. We presume gusty conditions.
On approach, a wing struck the runway.
The crew aborted the landing, and diverted to Detroit where they made a safe landing.
There were no injuries reported and the degree of damage to the wing and the rest of the plane has not been released.
Allegiant Air flight 514 had to return and make an emergency landing at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 1.
The Boeing 757, heading to Fresno, California, had to be turned back after the pilot reported possible left engine fire.
The plane landed safely and no one was hurt.
