What: Air Tran Boeing 717-200 en route from Charlotte to Atlanta
Where: Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport
When: May 4 2011
Who: 115 passengers
Why: After taking off, the left engine compressor stalled. The pilots shut down the left engine and returned to the airport.
Spartanburg EMS, and Boiling Springs, Greer, Pelham and Tyger River fire departments were on the scene
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Charles Polidano
What: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 747-400 en route from Kuala Lumpur to London
Where: Kuala Lumpur
When: Apr 17th 2012
Who: 351 passengers, 21 crew
Why: After taking off from Kuala Lumpur, the engine exploded.
Or at least that’s what passengers felt when they heard a backfire or some other kind of explosion from one engine, and saw sparks and flames.
Pilots dumped fuel and returned to Kuala Lumpur where they made a safe landing.
A replacement jet was provided.
What: Ryanair Boeing 737-800 en route from Eindhoven to Ibiza
Where: Paris
When: May 15th 2012
Why: The flight was en route over Paris when a problem developed, and the crew diverted to Brussels where they made a safe landing at Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA).
The plane will be examined to determine the nature of the problem. (We an only assume the rocking motion passengers complained of was not turbulence.)
United Flight 4412 had to return and make an emergency landing at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 13.
The plane departed at 10:13 p.m. and immediately turned around and landed back uneventfully at 10:20 p.m.
No one was injured.
Airport authorities said they were not sure what caused the emergency landing.
United Airlines flight UA-934 had to reject take off from Newark, New Jersey, on October 17th.
The Boeing 767-300 plane was accelerating to take off for Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom, 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 unharmed.
Delta Airlines flight DL-2894 had to return and make an emergency landing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 8th.
The Airbus A320-200 plane took off for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but had to turn back due to an engine failure.
The plane landed back safely. All one hundred and twenty-five people aboard remained unharmed.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Gerard Helmer
What: Million Air Boeing 707-323C en route from Manta Ecuador to Miami
Where: Dolorosa
When: October 22, 1996,
Who: pilot-in-command, first officer, flight engineer, 1 passenger and 30 on the ground died in the crash. 50 were injured.
Why: On October 22, 1996, a Millon Air Boeing 707-323C cargo flight carrying frozen fish and flowers crashed after takeoff from the Eloy Alfaro Airport, Manta, Ecuador. The aircraft ripped off rooftops of houses in the Dolorosa neighborhood and crashed in flames into a restaurant. Local officials claim an engine was on fire. The airplane was destroyed. The airline transport pilot-in-command, first officer, flight engineer, 1 passenger, and about 30 persons on the ground were fatally injured. About 50 persons on the ground sustained serious injuries.
