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Contact photographer Georg Noack
What: Lufthansa Airbus A320-200 en route from Munich Germany to Istanbul Turkey
Where: Istanbul
When: Jan 10th 2010
Who: not available
Why: While on approach, the airbus flew through a flock of sea gulls breaking a landing light; it was the first of six bird strikes at the airport within thirty minutes.
Recovery of the black boxes is not the only Air France news.
In the poker game of damage recovery, Air France must have blinked. The Brazilian Court system rejected the latest offer to the family of the deceased Luciana Clarkson Seba, a 31-year-old Brazilian who died along with her husband and stepparents.
Brazil rejected the appeal and raised compensation from1.2 million reals ($744,000) to 1.4 million reals ($868,000). The decision was unanimous.
Currently French courts are considering manslaughter charges against Airbus. At least Airbus has some good news to temper the bad, since the search has revealed the black boxes. Whether or not the integrity of the boxes has been breached has not yet been revealed. Experts predict both extremes: complete data loss due to the pressure and time and complete data recovery. We tend to believe the data is safe, since these memory devices must pass certification at 3400 G/ 600 psi.
And when that data is recovered, the experts will be examining it, looking at the rest of the gathered evidence, including the wreckage that is being recovered right now, which will have its own tale to tell.
It remains to be seen if the pitot tube theory will be supported by the CDR and FDR; but with all of these various sources coming together, we can anticipate a dimensional inquiry, a coordinated synthesis, and a profound deduction to explicate the enigma that is Air France Flight 447.
On April 29, we saw a report that Nordwind passenger airlines dodged missles over Syria.
The Airbus A320-232 was flying from Sharm el Sheikh-Ophira Airport to Kazan Airport (from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt to Kazan, Russia) was over Syria when two missiles exploded in the air close by.
Interfax.ru reported the crew steered the jet and saved the passengers’ lives. Unidentified forces launched the two ground-to-air missiles which came very close.
Russian authorities announced the incident.
“On April 29, at 0455 (Moscow time), a Northern Wind plane was travelling in Syrian airspace from Sharm el Sheikh to Kazan and the pilot crew has recorded military activities on the ground that could have endangered the plane and 159 passengers.”
Pilots made a safe landing.
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Contact photographer Szabo Gabor
What: Egyptair Airbus A320-200 en route from Cairo to Nairobi
Where: Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi
When: June 6, 2012, 3.36am
Who: 143 aboard
Why: While landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the plane veered off the runway on to soft ground, shutting down the airport and causing delays for the rest of the day. Passengers were evacuated with no injuries reported. Flights were diverted to Mombasa and Entebbe.
Passengers disembarked on the soft ground and were ported to the gate.
According to the BEA, they will release the final report on Germanwings 9525 on Sunday, March 13, 2016 during a press briefing. I plan to be there.
Although the public has not seen the final report, and indeed, as the investigation has not yet even been completed, the world already understands what happened aboard this tragic flight. What we really do not understand—and perhaps never will—is what drove Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to research cockpit door security and methods of committing suicide. We do not know what drove a depressed human being to impel the plane and all the lives in his safekeeping into the side of a French mountain, condemning every soul aboard that plane to death. We do not know the devils that hounded him into this cold-blooded act. We only mourn, perhaps, his loss of humanity, as we mourn alongside the grieving families who have been robbed of their loved ones and their rightful lives.
All passenger/families received a total of 8 million euros, divided equally among them. Media reports on what passengers received from Lufthansa varies.
In the German media, the Rheinische Post claimed officials of the German airline said families of the 144 passengers have obtained different compensation amounts. It is also reported that Lufthansa group has paid 11.2 million euros ($12.48 million) to the families. Additional “uncalculated” compensation in “property damages” is still coming from Lufthansa to the families.
This compensation…coming from Lufthansa, whose 2014 profit was declared “flat” at a mere $31.7 billion, announced in October of 2015 a nine-month net profit of €1.75 billion ($ 1.97 billion), up 262.7% from €482 million. The tragedy which destroyed 150 lives, and crippled all of their families appears to have left Lufthansa’s bottom line untouched.
Do we also mourn and grieve and condemn Lufthansa? The depth of the ethics and principals of this many billion dollar company—the largest airline in Europe—remains to be seen. We can ask ourselves if this is a high-principled company of good repute, of sterling honor. We need not conjecture long. A tangible answer will be obvious when these decisions are made. We will see where lie their priorities when we learn how they treat the families whose lives hang in the balance in their custodianship.
On Allegiant Air 822, everyone aboard the Airbus A320 was leaving Clearwater International anticipating a routine flight and to land at Elmira/Corning Regional Airport. A Brake Control panel light changed all that. Pilots diverted to Baltimore. Passengers assumed the brace position, and survived the landing without further ado. No injuries and no obvious problems occurred, though the control panel alert suggested that brake issues might have been going on.
Passengers arrived at Big Flats, NY, at 3:00 a.m.
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Contact photographer Karl Nixon
What: Albanian Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from Tirana’s Mother Theresa International Airport in Albania to Bologna Italy
Where: Bratislava
When: Jan 17th 2010
Who: 110 passengers
Why: After boarding a flight from Tirana Albania to Bologna Italy, passengers were actually flown to Bratislava Slovakia. Disgruntled unpaid crew members flew their paying passengers to Bratislava (instead of Bologna) in protest for not receiving wages, or at least that is what the crew told the passengers.
Albanian Airlines leases the plane from Air Slovakia, and the Czech pilots are employed by Air Slovakia. Air Slovakia denies owing wages, and claims that the diversion was due to technical problems. Albanian Airlines says they knew of nothing technical wrong with the plane (which is also technically grounded in repairs with Bratislavan maintenance.)
Meanwhile, passengers alerted the media as soon as they arrived in Bratislava that the crew reported they had diverted (hijacked? passengernapped?) the plane because of unpaid wages. Passengers were put up in hotel accommodations in Bratislava (I’d have liked to see the accommodations!) and were supposed to have departed Monday. It is not reported whether or not the crew was put up with accommodations in jail.
Is this starting to sound like an episode of Wings, only with everyone in the cast speaking in a Tony Shalhoub version of a Bratislavan accent?
And you can be very proud that not once did I make a snide, uncalled-for reference to “brat” and “slave” and “protesting” “unpaid” pilots. Well. Maybe once. We do believe in pilots getting paid–but we also tend to prefer pilots who take passengers to their expected destinations.
