Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Ralf Meyermann
What: Lufthansa Airbus A320-200 en route from Frankfurt to Moscow
Where: Frankfurt
When: Apr 2nd 2011
Who: 80 passengers
Why: Engine exhaust increased in temperature. The pilots returned to Frankfort where they made a safe landing. Passengers were provided a replacement flight 3 hours later.
What: Piper PA-28R-200 Cherokee Arrow II en route from Hammonton Mun. Airport
Where: Myrtle Street, Atlantic County, NJ
When: NOV 21, 2009
Who: pilot
Why: After takeoff, the engine failed. The pilot landed safely in a nearby field.
Cezar Britto, president of The Order of Lawyers of Brazil said it was “a tragedy waiting to happen,” echoing public opinion. “What exploded in Cagonhas was not just the TAM airbus and almost 200 victims but the credibility of the Brazilian aviation system.”
Cagonhas is notorious for its short, dangerous runway.
“The runway was as slippery as soap,” a pilot confessed.
Rescuers pulled 181 bodies from the twisted metal wreckage and rubble. Five people are listed as missing. 11 are hospitalized. No passengers survived.
Relatives gathered to identify the remains amid calls for authorities to improve airport safety.
The crash is the latest of a series of airline disasters. The main runway had been resurfaced last month, but more work was scheduled to allow for better water drainage.
“Control tower operators had warned the runway should be closed,” said Sergio Olivera, who heads the Federation of Air Controllers.
Footage of landing showed the aircraft travelling at high speed–the Airbus took only three seconds as opposed to the usual 11 to traverse the runway then disappeared after skidding off the left side of the runway. Then a ball of flame filled the sky.
An investigation has been ordered. One of the black boxes has been recovered.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared three days of national mourning. Pope Benedict XVI expressed his sorrow.
In February a judge banned Fokker 100, Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737/700 jetliners from the airport but the ruling was overturned in appeals.
What: Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER en route from Hong Kong to Los Angeles
Where: Anchorage
When: Nov 22, 2012
Who: 288 passengers and 18 crew
Why: While en route, the Cathay Pacific developed a pressurization problem and had to make an emergency landing in Alaska. There were no injuries. When the pressurization problem developed, oxygen masks were deployed.
Cathay Pacific and the Civil Aviation Department will be investigating.
Passengers were provided hotel accommodations and an alternative flight.
The cause of the pressurization problem is speculated to be a malfunctioning valve in the air system
TAP Portugal flight TP-15 returned and made an emergency landing at Lisbon Portela Airport, Lisboa, Portugal, on October 29.
The Airbus A340-300, en-route to Recife, Brazil, had to return due to a cargo smoke indication.
The plane, with 274 people aboard, landed safely.
No injuries were reported.
Air France flight AF-474 had to return and make an emergency landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, on September 18th.
The Boeing 777-200 plane took off for Panama City, Panama, but had to turn back due to a light burning smell on board.
The plane landed back safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
Seventy percent of the victims of Air France Flight 447 have been identified, according to Investigators of the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie.
DNA examiniation of bodies retrieved in April resulted in 103 more passengers found and identified, in addition to the 50 who had been identified before the plane’s location had been pinpointed.
In France, Air France and Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer who built the A330 involved in the accident, are under investigation since last March for “manslaughter.”
The final report of judicial experts is due in June 2012.
Now we are going to see everyone jump on the pilots, and play the blame game. But these pilots were cleared to fly. In gathering up blame, the tragedy begins with the Airbus.
The manufacturer should require INTENSE training to include all possible situations a pilot might encounter while in flight. Certainly, with the computers running much of the show, they have all possibilities listed within their “brains.”
It is not enough to train a pilot to take off and land a monster like the A330.
And, of course, the operator, Air France, should stop rushing the process of training. Pilots flying a jet should simply not be mystified by anything that happens, because whatever happens, their training should have already covered it.
*snapshot from youtube
