Egypt Air flight MS-903 diverted to Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Regional Airport, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, on September 30.
The Airbus A321-200, en-route to Dubai, from Alexandria Borg el Arab, Egypt, had to be diverted in emergency due to loss of cabin pressure.
The plane landed safely.
All people aboard remained unhurt.
What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-3H4 en route from Phoenix to Sacramento
Where: Yuma International Airport, AZ
When: 01 APR 2011
Who: 118 aboard
Why: A hole burst through the top of this Boeing while en route. The plane suffered decompression, descended to a safe level (when an attendant was injured) and made an emergency landing in Yuma.
The hole has opened a witch hunt on aging Boeings in search of the kind of metal fatigue that would result in a hole during operations now that the aluminum skin has been known to separate at the lap joints, where panels are spliced together. Although the incident did not result in death, it is being taken as a “warning.” 175 Boeing 737 are slated for examination, and maintenance programs (Southwest, FAA, Boeing) are being re-evaluated to take this into account.
Discussion of lap joint and the 3 rows of rivets. The skin separated at the lower rivet line. Pre-existing fatigue existed on the fracture surface. (Multi site damage.) The decompression happened 18.5 minutes after take-off, and no pre-indications. The flight crew immediately declared emergency.
Spirit Airlines flight NK-713 had to return and make an emergency landing in Orlando, Florida, on August 19th.
The Airbus A320-200 plane took off for Houston, Texas, but had to turn back due to a bird strike.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Lufthansa flight LH-608 had to divert and make an emergency landing at Larnaca International Airport, Cyprus, on July 20th.
The Airbus A330-300 flying from Munich, Germany, to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, had to divert due to an unusual odor in its cabin.
The plane landed safely.
All 186 passengers remained unhurt.
JetBlue flight B6-915 had to divert for an emergency landing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on May 30th.
The Airbus A321-200 plane heading from John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, to San Francisco, California, was diverted after a lithium battery inside a passenger’s laptop caught fire.
The plane landed safely. All 158 people aboard remained unharmed.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Ilari Lehtinen
What: Finnair Airbus A340-300 en route from Hong Kong China to Helsinki Finland
Where: Hong Kong
When: Nov 27 2010
Who: 256 passengers
Why: The flight rejected takeoff due to some unexplained anomaly and at “low speed.” The plane braked safely on the runway, and took off again about an hour later.
Brussels Airlines flight SN-357 had to return and make an emergency landing at Brussels Airport, Belgium, on May 13th.
The Airbus A330-300 flying to Kinshasa, Congo, had to return due to hydraulic failure.
The plane landed safely.
No one was injured.
