EASA Emergency AD No.: 2011-0122-E has been published limiting the life of A330 and A340 landing gear parts.
During ground load test cycles on an A340-600 aeroplane, the MLG bogie beam prematurely fractured. The results of the investigation identified that this premature fracture was due to high tensile standing stress, resulting from dry fit axle assembly method. Improvement has been introduced subsequently with a grease fit axle assembly method.
American Airlines flight AA-718 made an emergency landing in Gander, Canada, on June 30th.
The Airbus A330-300 plane flying from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Rome Fiumicino Airport, Italy, was diverted after it hit turbulence that injured a flight attendant.
The plane landed safely.
The NTSB has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking comments from the public regarding amendments to its procedural rules dealing with review of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificate actions and its rules concerning applications for fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
The NTSB listed three main reasons for its undertaking a review of 49 CFR parts 821 and 826: (1) to respond to parties’ suggestions for changing the rules; (2) to update rules that may be outdated; and (3) to modernize the rules to accommodate prospective electronic filing and document availability in case dockets.
The ANPRM indicates that certain parties have approached the NTSB concerning emergency certificate actions, which involve cases in which the FAA issues an immediately effective order revoking or suspending a certificate. In such cases, the NTSB’s procedural rules allow a party to challenge the emergency status of the case, and provide an expedited timeline for doing so. The rules currently require the NTSB’s administrative law judges to “consider whether, based on the acts and omissions alleged in the Administrator’s order, and assuming the truth of such factual allegations, the Administrator’s emergency determination was appropriate under the circumstances.” The ANPRM invites public comments concerning this standard of review, as well as other aspects of the emergency review process, such as whether a hearing should occur to allow parties to provide evidence concerning whether the case should be treated as an emergency. The ANPRM further invites comments concerning whether parties should have an opportunity for another level of appeal to challenge the emergency status determination.
In addition, the ANPRM also solicits comments concerning electronic filing of documents for aviation certificate cases, and requests specific consideration as to whether such electronic filing is feasible for individuals who opt not to retain an attorney. The ANPRM further seeks feedback concerning whether any outdated information exists in the current procedural rules.
The 60-day comment period for the ANPRM concludes on February 22, 2011. The ANPRM may be accessed at the following link: http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-12-22/pdf/2010-32056.pdf.
Eurowings flight EW-20 had to return and make an emergency landing at Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany, on November 20th.
The Airbus A319-100 plane took off for Berlin Tegel Airport, Germany, but had to return shortly afterwards due to an air conditioning problem.
The plane landed safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
Eurowings flight EW-5805 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 20th.
The Airbus A320-200 plane heading from Hanover, Germany, to Vienna, Austria, was diverted due to a cargo smoke indication.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Ile de Sein came in on the 26th from Senegal to assist in performing recovery operations in the current phase of Air France flight 447 recovery. The Remora 6000 robot found the chassis of the CSMU but not the actual CSMU memory module, which (after the human remains) is the key prize wanted in this search, being the one thing that can shed light on what occurred on June 21 2009.
Where is the memory unit? Even if this is just a question of a badly designed insecure containment system, where is the crucial unit?
68 people aboard the Ile de Sein are working the scene, armed with a crane and the Remora 6000 submarine.
* images and information are from Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses
Novo Air flight VQ-967 had to return and make an emergency landing at Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 16th.
The Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, en-route to Rajshahi, Bangladesh, had to return after its landing gear failed to retract.
The plane landed safely.
No injuries were reported.
