United Airlines flight UA-876 had to reject takeoff from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on May 14th.
The Boeing 787-900 plane was accelerating to takeoff for San Francisco, California, when the crew noticed a blown tire and rejected takeoff at high speed.
The plane was towed to the apron. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
A crop dusting plane crashed in a privately owned field near Hill Road and East West Road in north-eastern Siskiyou County, west of Tulelake in California, after 9 a.m. on August 1.
Officer Tim Wood of the California Highway Patrol confirmed that the pilot of the plane, William Whitlatch of Klamath Falls, 58, died in the crash. He also said that, “At this point it appears that he struck some power lines which caused the collision.”
The plane, having pesticides on board, caught fire after the crash. “It sounds as if some of the first responders attempted to put out the flames…But unfortunately, the pilot died as the result of the collision,” Said Officer Wood.
According to police the plane was registered to Tulelake based Macy’s Flying Service.
First responders removed the body of Whitlatch from the wreckage, but hesitated to remove the plane due to damaged power lines and freshly-sprayed pesticides in the field. According to Officer Wood, “We just don’t want to enter the scene quite yet…Until we’re sure that it’s not going to cause harm to any of the other responders.”
The Federal Aviation Administration will assist the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office with the investigation.
What: Continental Airlines Boeing 777-200 en route from Tel Aviv to Newark,NJ
Where: Tel Aviv
When: Nov 9th 2011
Who: 280 aboard
Why: When smoke was reported as coming from the baggage compartment, the pilots returned to Ben-Gurion International Airport and made a safe landing.
45 ambulances and 17 mobile units were on the scene of the emergency landing.
The origin of the smoke turned out to be an oven in the aft galley.
July 9–The FAA is issuing an Airworthiness Directive (AD) that requires operators of Boeing 757, 767, and 777 airplanes to either inspect or replace certain flight deck windows. The AD only affects the forward viewing windows, not the side windows.
Operators have two options: Begin inspections within 500 flight hours and then continue at intervals that are specific for each of two window designs OR install a new, redesigned window. The inspection takes about an hour.
The AD is aimed at preventing smoke, fire or cracking of the inner layer of the forward viewing window caused by loose electrical connections that are used to heat the window to prevent ice.
Over the past two decades, there have been 11 reports of fire or flames on 757 (five events), 767 (three events), and 777 (three events) airplanes. Improper installation resulted in loose, improperly torqued or cross threaded screws that can contribute to overheating and arcing. The most recent incident was a May 16, 2010 emergency landing by a United 757 at Dulles International Airport.
The FAA proposed the AD in March 2008. The agency received extensive comments and determined additional 757 service information was needed from Boeing. That in-depth review identified unique issues on the upper electrical connections on 757s which will be addressed in a separate AD so as not to hold up the fix for the lower electrical connector issue which constitutes the majority of the service problems identified to date. Although there have been no fire events on 747s, the FAA plans to propose an AD this fall since those later model airplane windows are similar.
This AD affects 1,212 U.S. airplanes out of 2,619 worldwide. The estimated cost for the inspections is $103,020 total for U.S. operators. The window replacement is optional and would be an additional cost.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Ricardo Morales
What: Empresa Aerocaribbean SA Boeing 737-200 en route from Caracas Venezuela to Santiago Cuba
Where: Santo Domingo
When: Dec 10th 2009
Who: 90 passengers and 9 crew
Why: While en route, the flight developed oil filter trouble in the right engine.
Gushing black smoke, the plane made an emergency landing in Santo Domingo where maintenance took care of the problem. In six hours, passengers continued to their destination on the same plane.
Cathay Pacific flight CX-3290 made an emergency landing in Hong Kong, China, on June 19th.
The Boeing 747-400 plane took off for Anchorage, Alaska, but had to turn back after the crew noticed a gear problem.
The plane landed safely after dumping excess fuel. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
British Airways flight BA103 returned to London’s Heathrow Airport on January 8.
The Boeing Dreamliner 787 was en-route to Calgary, Canada, when a technical issue with one of its engines forced it to return for an emergency landing.
The airline said in a statement, “The flight landed safely at Heathrow and all customers left the aircraft as normal…We are sorry for the inconvenience but safety is always our highest priority…There was a suspected problem with the engine, and our engineers are now inspecting the aircraft to determine the nature of the problem.”
