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Contact photographer Ignatius
What: Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 767-300 en route from Manila to Bandar Seri Begawan
Where: Kota Kinabalu
When: Apr 18 2010
Who: 150 people
Why: While en route, the flight developed engine trouble. The plane made a safe landing and was able to resume the flight after several hours.
What: Jetlite Boeing 737-700 en route from Mumbai to Ranchi to Patna
Where: Patna Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport
When: Jun 1st 2011
Who: 100 aboard
Why: On landing at Patna, the plane had a bird strike on one of the engines.
The plane made a safe landing at Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport anyway, although the next leg of the return (to Mumbai) had to be delayed due to damage to the plane.
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Contact photographer Mark H
What: Qantas Boeing 747 en route from Johannesburg to Australia
Where: Johannesburg
When: Nov 16, 2010, 7:20 p.m.
Who: 171 passengers
Why: After takeoff around 6pm, the Qantas jet—reportedly the same plane which turned back from Sydney to Buenos Aires on Nov 15 2010_ingested a bird into the number 2 engine,which caused a drop in power. The pilot made an emergency landing (80 minutes after takeoff) in Johannesburg with emergency vehicles on standby.
Passengers will be provided hotel accommodations and are expected to have flight accommodations on one of three options within 24 hours.
The damage to the number 2 engine is said to be limited to a turbine blade.
While it is no doubt that the media is overreacting to the current series of Qantas incidents, the airline’s reputation of being the world’s safest airline should be untarnished. Consider how their fleet is being squeezed by having to pull six A380 superjumbos because of the engine problem that Rolls Royce admits is their problem.
The rest of Qantas fleet must be scrambling to make up for the temporary loss of the A380s. Such is the perfect scenario-pushing the remaining fleet to the max-that will inevitably stress the “weakest links,” should there be any.
But a bird strike is a routine event, routine in the sense of being an inevitable phenomenon. Bird strikes happen. And when they do, so far, the Qantas pilots have been able to handle every contingency.
Lufthansa flight LH-401 had to return and make an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, on February 22nd.
The Boeing 747-800 plane took off for Frankfurt, Germany, but had to turn back due to an engine failure.
The plane landed uneventfully. All one hundred and twenty-seven passengers aboard remained safe.
British Airways flight BAW-215 had to divert to Shannon Airport in Ireland, for an unscheduled landing on November 21.
The Boeing 777-200ER was on its way from London Heathrow to Boston when the crew reported a technical issue. It is believed that the one of the aircraft’s generators stopped working and the backup unit had to be used.
The plane dumped fuel to shed off extra weight and landed safely at Shannon airport at 6:58 p.m.
Engineers examined the aircraft after which it was able to resume its journey shortly after 9 p.m.
What: Spicejet Boeing 737-800 en route from Kolkata to Delhi
Where: Kolkata
When: Sep 8th 2010
Who: 136 passengers
Why: On taxi (or during takeoff) which was already an hour late, the Spicejet’s left engine was smoking.
The pilot noticed the smoke, aborted the flight and returned the plane to the gate where maintenance worked on repairing the problem.
After another delayed departure, the Spicejet was again en route. When the cabin did not pressurize a quarter of an hour later into the flight, the pilot turned back and made an emergency landing in Kolkata.
At 10:20pm, passengers were flown out in a replacement plane.
American Airlines flight AA-87 had to return and make an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport in London, England, on March 11th.
The Boeing 767-300 aircraft, heading to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, had to be turned back after the crew needed to shut down an engine due to technical issues.
The plane landed uneventfully. Everyone aboard remained safe.
