Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Javier Gonzalez
What: American Airlines Boeing 767-300 en route from Miami to Chicago
Where: Miami
When: Feb 16th 2012
Why: After a normal takeoff, the flight was over Orlando when the plane developed bleed air problems.
Pilots returned to Miami and made a safe landing.
Air Baltic flight BT-619 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 13th.
The Boeing 737-300 plane heading from Riga, Latvia, to Amsterdam, Netherlands, was diverted after the crew discovered fire on board.
Swedish armed forces dispatched a fighter jet to inspect the plane from the outside. It did not find any traces of fire or smoke.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Allegiant Airlines flight 871 had to make an emergency landing at St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport in Florida, on June 1st.
The plane was flying from Moline, Illinois, when the crew reported a mechanical problem and declared an emergency.
The plane landed safely. All 140 people aboard remained unharmed.
The airline said, “Our mechanics are doing a full investigation and inspection to diagnose and repair the issue.”
Qantas flight QF-144 had to return and make an emergency landing in Auckland, New Zealand, on May 24th.
The Boeing 737-800 plane took off for Sydney, Australia, but had to turn back after the crew noticed smoke emanating from a forward galley oven.
The plane landed back safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
A single-engine Cessna crashed in waters off Hawaii, some 11 miles west of Oahu, on the evening of January 25.
According to the Coast Guard, the plane was en-route from Kauai to Oahu when it ran out of fuel. The pilot made a mayday call at 6:18 p.m. shortly after which, the plane disappeared from the radar.
There were 3 adults and a child aboard at the time; all of them were rescued. They were later shifted to Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, near Honolulu.
Pictured: A homebuilt Aussie Ultralight. The one involved in this crash is no doubt a completely different type.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Phil Vabre
What: 250 lb single-engine true Ultralight aircraft
Where: Desoto County soybean field near the intersection of Stateline and Center Hill Roads.
When: 10/2/09
Who: 52 year-old Louis Bassie of Byhalia Mississippi
Why: As he was coming in for a landing, Bassie’s plane took a nose-dive, spiraled out-of-control and crashed. Bassie had a pilot’s license, worked as a crop-duster, and had served in the military, but it does not take a license to fly a home built kit plane.
Federal authorities will not be investigating the crash of an unlicensed plane.
Southwest Airlines flight 1359 had to land in emergency at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona, shortly before 1:30 p.m. on October 6.
The flight was on its way from Phoenix to Newark when a blown tire was observed on the aircraft’s main landing gear. The plane was then diverted to making an emergency landing.
Southwest spokesperson Dan Landson said that the plane landed uneventfully after burning off extra fuel. All 135 passengers and 5 crew members were shifted to another aircraft.