Lufthansa freight flight GEC-8340 rejected takeoff from Frankfurt, Germany, on May 8th.
The plane was accelerating to takeoff for Tel Aviv, Israel, when the crew rejected takeoff due to an engine failure.
The plane stopped safely and was towed to the apron. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
Air China flight CA-784 had to return and make an emergency landing in Auckland, New Zealand, on December 15th.
The Boeing 787-900 plane took off for Beijing, China, but had to turn back due to an engine failure.
The plane landed uneventfully. All passengers and crew members remained safe.
Turkish Airlines flight TK-1665 made an emergency landing at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey, on August 22nd.
The plane took off for Hamburg, Germany, but had to return shortly afterwards after the crew reported they could not retract the landing gear.
The plane landed uneventfully. Everyone aboard remained safe.
The airline arranged a replacement plane for the passengers.
Germanwings flight 4U-2033 had to return and make an emergency landing in Bremen, Germany, on November 9th.
The Airbus A319-100 plane took off for Stuttgart, Germany, but had to turn back due to a bird strike.
The plane landed uneventfully. Everyone aboard remained safe.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Ruud Brinks – Aerospray
What: Lufthansa Cityline Embraer ERJ-190 en route from Frankfurt to Hanover
Where: Cologne
When: Oct 21st 2011
Who: 41 passengers and 5 crew
Why: After takeoff from Frankfurt, an engine was shut down (for the second day in a row). The pilots diverted to Cologne where they made a safe landing. Passengers were driven to Hanover.
A Virgin Airlines flight taking off from Canberra aborted takeoff to avoid an incoming flight viewed by other passengers crossing in front of them to the left. Noteworthy is a report that the Virgin Airline pilots hit the brakes when ATC said “Actually, stop, because we’ve decided we’ll let this other aircraft land first and then you can take off.” Another non-collision is a good thing; as nerve-wracking as a rejected take-0ff can be, obviously it’s better than the alternative.
Boeing studies indicate one in 2000 takeoffs are aborted, though early rejected takeoffs may not always be reported.
A 1992 Takeoff Safety Training Aid Aid by the FAA says that
For passengers, the terrors of flight are certainly eased when there is some explanation to go along with the crisis. Perhaps a lack of narration can be forgiven if the pilot has his hands full averting a would be crisis. Still, a couple of word scan be very comforting and enlightening.
Personally, I can say this:
Molly and I experienced a aborted takeoff from Athens.
We were past the half way mark for sure and later were told the pilot had a warning light.
The plane came to a screeching halt taking maybe 45 seconds or more to bring it to a halt.
It is a scary situation, especially since the crew in the cockpit are dealing with whatever needs to be handled and we passengers are told NOTHING.
Maybe daredevils and roller-coaster enthusiasts would get a kick out of it, but it was a kick I’d have just as well gone without.
The plane was filled with people. We all weathered it pretty darn well. I heard no screams or crying, but they’d have had to be pretty loud, because my own heartbeat drowned out everything else. I’m sure there were a lot of rapid heartbeats that moment in that plane.
But I am here now, thanks to that pilot and crew handling a situation they might not even have called a crisis.
Lufthansa flight LH-105 had to reject take off from Munich, Germany, on November 1st.
The Airbus A320-200 plane was accelerating to take off for Frankfurt, Germany, when the crew received an indication of an open cargo door and rejected take off.
The plane safely returned to the apron.
Everyone aboard remained safe.
