March 31-April 1 was a Busy Day

George’s Point of View

Let me know if you want the details here, I barely know what to choose. No deaths were reported with any of these incidents. (Altogether, it does look like our aviation has been taken over by the keystone cops)

I think my favorite is the plane that stuck a deer, in Kill Devil Hills. Though I do have some regrets for the deer. Do you think he had his pilot’s license or was officially a “Devil”? For the deer’s sake, I am hoping this was an April Fools Day joke.

Seriously folks. Maintain the planes.

  • AIRCRAFT ENGINE FAILED AND CRASHED, NEAR GRIFFIN, GA;
  • AIRCRAFT ON LANDING, GEAR COLLAPSED, AND PROP STRUCK THE RUNWAY, LANCASTER, TX
  • AIRCRAFT DURING HIGH SPEED TAXI RUN, BRAKES CAUGHT FIRE, AURORA AIRPORT, SUGAR GROVE, IL
  • AIRCRAFT ON LANDING, RAN OFF THE END OF THE RUNWAY INTO A WOODED AREA, LINCOLN PARK, NJ
  • AIRCRAFT ON TAKEOFF, STRUCK A BIRD, RETURNED AND LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT, PHILADELPHIA, PA
  • AIRCRAFT ON LANDING ON A ROAD, GROUND LOOPED AND WING STRUCK A TREE, 40 MILES FROM BEAVER, UT
  • N901DA, DELTA AIRLINES FLIGHT 1220 MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD 90 AIRCRAFT, ON PUSHBACK FROM GATE, DOOR STRUCK THE JETWAY, NO INJURIES REPORTED, DAMAGE IS UNKNOWN, SALT LAKE CITY, UT

April 1

  • AIRCRAFT LANDED GEAR UP AT A GRASS AIRSTRIP, BATAVIA, NY
  • AIRCRAFT ON LANDING, STRUCK A DEER, KILL DEVIL HILLS, NC
  • AIRCRAFT SHORTLY AFTER DEPARTURE, CRASHED INTO A FIELD, TAYLOR, TX
  • AIRCRAFT FORCE LANDED IN A FIELD, NEAR FRANKLINVILLE, NJ
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.

Similar Posts

  • | |

    Cracked Window Sends Plane Back to Airport

    What: Bulgaria Air Boeing 737-300 en route from Tel Aviv to the Bulgarian city of Burgas on the Black Sea.
    Where: Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv
    When: May 14
    Who: 146 passengers
    Why: When a crack was discovered in a window, the plane returned to Tel Aviv. There were no injuries. Passengers were provided replacement transportation.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    EASA Airworthiness Directive 2010-0242-E (click to view full)

    This EASA Airworthiness Directive was released following an uncontained engine failure of a Trent 900 engine on the Qantas A388 flight near Singapore on Nov 4th 2010, an uncontained engine failure.

    2010-0242-E : Engine – High Pressure / Intermediate Pressure (HP/IP) Structure – Inspections
    Number 2010-0242-E
    Issued by Europe
    Issue date 2010-11-22
    Effective date 2010-11-23
    Contributor EASA Propulsion Section
    Approval Holder / Type Designation ROLLS-ROYCE PLC —RB211 TRENT 900
    Supersedure This AD supersedes EASA AD 2010-0236-E dated 10 November 2010.
    Related information Rolls-Royce RB211 Trent 900 Alert NMSB 72-AG590 Revision 2 dated 18 November 2010. The use of later approved revisions of this document is acceptable for compliance with the requirements of this AD.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | | | |

    Foreign Airliner Leasing & Financing Un-Deserving Operators

    Arik Air Ltd., and Aero Contractors Co. of Nigeria Ltd., Nigeria’s top two airlines, have been banned from getting loans by Nigeria’s Central Bank due to the massive debt they have accrued. Arik Air owes Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria more than $534 million. Aero Contractors owes more than $203 million. A bank that loans money to these airlines will face “serious fines from the government.” Air Nigeria recently collapsed owing crew a debt of four months’ pay, in addition to $175 million in loans to Nicon Investments Ltd..

    Only three Nigerian airlines remain in operation. Arik Air has not published a date when it will resume flying.

    Officially, according to the BBC, the carrier resumed domestic flights on Sunday Sept 24. However we did get anonymous input from Monrovia that as of Saturday, Sept 22nd, Arik Air was flying.

    In George’s Point of View

    Before making a loan, banks need to look past the uncertainties in airline survival, aircraft value, interest rates and the airline’s credit worthiness.

    This is what the aircraft leasing companies should do:

    Stop leasing planes to operators that are careless in their maintenance and pilot training.

    Leasing companies should not look only at credit worthiness. Yes, that is one factor, but it is only part of the picture. Leasing companies must also make judgements based on the history of the airline operator performance, and maintenance.

    If credit and performance history all checks out, the oversight is not over. The leasing company should monitor every single plane they have leased out to foreign operators.

    If monitoring reveals any problems whatsoever, that pilots are not being trained, that they are not getting enough sleep, that the operator or aircraft goes on a black list, that the operator is shown to be negligent in any way, then the lessor should endeavor immediately to pickup/repossess that plane.

    Maintaining every aspect of the plane’s maintenance, flight operations, crew resource management, and crew training is as crucial to the contract agreement as payments. Failure to keep everything up to date is as much a breach of contract and cause for action as is failure to pay.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    Training on Trial

    A federal hearing into a fatal plane crash last February in Buffalo, N.Y., is focusing on the training of the pilot. A top concern is the training the flight’s captain, Marvin Renslow, received from Colgan Air. (May 12

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    Safeland Technology

    U.S. carriers including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc are testing Aviation Safety Technologies LLC’s SafeLand concept, a new technology which is designed to provide numerical scores relaying accurate information about conditions on the tarmac. The system is still in development.

    The website touts AST’s SafeLand software as “the first-ever technology designed to leverage the availability of real time data to monitor and measure aircraft systems such as speed brakes, spoilers, flaps and hydraulic and mechanical braking systems and many physical parameters such as speed, deceleration, temperature, pressure and wind in order to accurately report true aircraft runway surface characteristics, true braking friction, cornering friction and tire and brake wear.”


    Click to view the Information Flow Diagram on AST’s website

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | | |

    FAA and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Reach Agreement on Airport Safety Violations

    WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) have reached a settlement agreement about aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) violations from December 2010 to June 2012 at four New York area airports owned and operated by the PANYNJ — John F. Kennedy, Teterboro, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty International.

    “We expect all airports to comply with our safety regulations and to correct any deficiencies immediately,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “These violations were egregious, and they will not be tolerated.”

    Under the agreement, the PANYNJ agrees to pay a $3.5 million fine within 30 days. If there is a violation of the settlement agreement, the FAA will impose an additional fine of $1.5 million and will assess an additional $27,500 daily for each violation. In addition to the fine, the PANYNJ has agreed to take the following actions, with FAA approval, to address the underlying problems that led to systemic noncompliance with ARFF requirements at the four airports:

    • The Port Authority will create a dedicated ARFF force to carry out airport-related ARFF functions with no collateral police officer duties.
    • The staff will report directly to the Department of Aviation and be operational no later than March 31, 2014.
    • The Port Authority will hire an ARFF fire chief and facility captains as soon as possible, but no later than March 31, 2014.
    • The Port Authority will submit a curriculum for training to the FAA on or before December 31, 2013, which includes at least 75 hours of initial ARFF training and 40 hours of annual recurrent firefighting training in addition to Part 139 training, pertaining to an airport’s operational and safety standards and providing for such things as firefighting and rescue.
    • The ARFF personnel will work a 12-hour shift.
    • The Port Authority will amend the airport certification manuals for the four airports to include: an organizational chart; a process to maintain ARFF training records; and a description of ARFF operations, including shift assignments, personnel training records management, and Department of Aviation oversight.
    • The Port Authority will conduct monthly internal audits of ARFF training and shift assignments and annual external audits to ensure that all ARFF personnel assigned to a shift are trained.

    “We expect the Port Authority to have trained safety personnel to ensure the safety of the travelling public and airport personnel, just like we have at all airports in the United States,” said FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta.

    The FAA became aware of ARFF violations as a result of an annual airport certification safety inspection of JFK in December 2011. The FAA also discovered similar violations at Teterboro, which prompted a full review of training at LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International, and Stewart International Airports. The review of ARFF training revealed violations at LaGuardia and Newark, with no violations at Stewart.

    The FAA believes the settlement agreement provides the best long-term solution to ensure ARFF compliance, given the systemic nature of the PANYNJ airport problems.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.