Horizon Air flight QX-2399 had to divert for an emergency landing in Yakima, Washington, on May 29th.
The plane heading from Boise, Idaho, to Seattle, Washington, was diverted after the crew noticed an electrical burning odor on-board.
The plane landed safely. All 82 people aboard remained unharmed.
What: Los Angeles Police Department helicopter
Where: Van Nuys Airport
When: April 24 2011, 6:00 am
Who: officers aboard
Why: In the San Fernando Valley near Saticoy Street and Densmore, gunfire struck the helicopter, which began smoking and leaking fuel. No one aboard the helicopter was hit.
The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing; at least one report said the chopper landed with a dead engine. The helicopter made an emergency landing at Van Nuys Airport, making an “auto-rotation” to land on the apron at a charter jet service, Clay Lacy Aviation. The helicopter was put aboard a flat-bed truck to be transported to Hooper Air Station for investigation.
The shooter was tracked down and arrested at his home and in possession of a semi-automatic rifle. The arrest was made at 7:10 a.m near Cohasset Street and Gloria Avenue. No one was injured. The shooter was reportedly distraught over the death of a friend.
* An autorotation is landing without a engine power. The airspeed of the descent turns the rotors fast enough to provide lift for a safe landing.
It is a strange, sad phenomenon how tragedies live on.
On August 31, 1986, a Piper and a Douglas DC-9-32 collided over Cerritos California. The Piper, carrying the pilot and two passengers was going from Torrence to Big Bear. They departed Torrence at 11:46. The DC-9 from Mexico City was approaching Los Angeles with 58 passengers and 6 crew aboard. At 11:52 am, the DC-9’s left horizontal stabilizer sheared through the Piper’s cockpit like a can-opener.
The Piper crashed in the Cerritos Elementary School playground; the DC-9 in a Cerritos neighborhood destroying five houses, damaging seven more and killing an additional 15 on the ground.
Descriptions of the collision still fill me with horror.
The accident predates some of the precautionary measures we have now. Now, the Piper would have a Mode C transponder, which would indicate that it was too high, breeching LAX Terminal Control area; LAX was not at that time equipped with automatic warning systems.
It has been twenty-five years since that accident happened. A memorial ceremony now is being held commemorating the tragedy in the Cerritos Sculpture Garden, and another in Loreto, Mexico. The tragedy is being remembered by at least 30 US families, 20 Mexican families, in at least one home in Colombia, and one in El Salvador. It is being remembered in the neighborhood the wreckage demolished, where families neither need nor want a plaque to remind them of their loss.
There is a reminder of this crash in every light plane, and every jet. In fact, everyone who flies now, everyone who has flown and not died in a crash owes a debt to the victims of this senseless tragedy, because this was the event that spurred the FAA to require “Mode C” transponders that could report three-dimensional positioning on light aircraft. This was the event that spurred the FAA to require TCAS on airliners.
I still live to breathe the smoggy air of Los Angeles. And as long as I still have the breath of life, I will remember the day when these 82 souls breathed their last.
Aviation tragedies shatters lives like broken glass, and there is no lawsuit, no settlement, no “all the kings horses, nor all the kings men” who can ever put families back together again.
Condor flight DE-4156 had to make an emergency landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland, on March 19.
The Boeing 767-300 was heading from Frankfurt, Germany to Cancun, Mexico, when a smoke alarm went off. The pilot then diverted the flight to Shannon Airport, where it made a safe emergency landing.
All 238 people aboard remained unharmed.
The airline arranged an alternate aircraft for passengers.
A Cessna aircraft made an emergency landing on US Highway 301 in Manatee County, Florida, on the morning of September 11.
Authorities said the pilot was attempting to land at Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport but could not make it. According to airport spokesperson Lionel Guilbert, “He descended. He said his engine started sputtering and at about 900 feet. The engine just quit altogether.”
The plane landed without incident. The pilot, identified as flight instructor Thomas Frick, remained unhurt.
The FAA is investigating.
What: 1982 King Air 55 owned by White Equipment Leasing flying en route from Marco Island to Jackson Mississippi
Where: Fort Myers Southwest Florida International Airport
When: Sunday April 12
Who: 6
Why: When the pilot passed out midflight, a passenger took the controls and safely landed the plane. The pilot died of cardiac arrest prior to landing.
Landing safely was a group effort. The on board passenger who landed the plane had a pilot’s license but was not certified to fly a high-performance turboprop and had no experience flying this type of aircraft. The Fort Myers air traffic controller who talked the pilot down was getting HIS direction from a Connecticut pilot reading the landing checklist from a King Air manual.
What: Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 en route from Kansas to Irvine
Where: LAX
When: 6:30 pm
Who: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball team
Why: While en route the plane developed hydraulic issues and diverted to LAX.
The landing gear had to be manipulated manually.
The plane had been slated to land at John Wayne Airport in Irvine.
