What: ETHIOPIAN Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Bamako Mali to Addis Ababa Where: Ndjamena Chad When: Jan 29, 2010 Who: 150 passengers Why: After circling N’Djamena for an hour and dumping fuel, the plane made an emergency landing in Chad on Thursday. The emergency was attributed to a radar problem. Earlier the same plane had electrical problems on an earlier leg of the flight.
Why does this sound to me like an accident waiting to happen? Maintenance! Please!! Let us not have more bad news!
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
What: Cessna Centurion T-210 en route from Dallas to Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport Colorado Where: East 37th Street between Boyd Lake and Rocky Mountain avenues When: Noon Wednesday Who: Pilot John Stewart and passengers Bonnie Evertson and Ryan Kole Why: The pilot lost power about five to eight miles south of the airport and had to land on County Road 24E. No one was injured. The plane sustained minor damage to its propeller and one wing after hitting street signs on landing.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
The Boeing-737 flight that crashed in Kazan may have done so under the command of a
Pilot In Command (PIC) who had never performed a real go-around. The PIC had 1000 night flight hours and was properly trained, according to authorities—but if that is the case, how is it being reported that the PIC had never performed a go-around? What is verifiable is that there is a large debris field, a nose down crash. Note how windy it is while they are on the field putting out tape and spraying. Also there is a video being posted that shows a nosedive: http://lifenews.ru/#!news/122878 though whether this is actually the Tatarstan Airlines flight in question is, in fact, questionable.
The PIC had 25000 hours and the copilot had 1900 hours. Reports are that the “pilot of Kazan crash had put the plane into nosedive.” The plane hit nose first. We do not know if it was at the steep angle in the video above or in a more normal angle.
The black box has been recovered, and the preliminary report may be available soon.
Six crew members and 44 passengers died. Their bodies have not been identified yet, through the manifest has been released.
What: Qantas Airbus A380-800 en route from Singapore to Sydney Where: Sydney When: Mar 31st 2010 Who: 244 passengers Why: On landing, the plane blew its left tires; and there were sparks and and a brief fire from the brakes. The plane left a rubber trail. Damage assessment was made on the tarmac by engineers, with the plane sitting on its rims.
Qantas denies classifying this as an “emergency” landing.
George’s Point of View
I’m thinking how smart Boeing is to have held up release of their big jumbo, especially when I see A 380 incidents.
I am reminded of all the flaws that popped in the Airbus A310 (reputedly a rush copy of the Boeing 737); and I also remember reading about Airbus struggling to get the A-380 shipshape before Airbus rushed it to market. In development, Airbus wrestled with a plane that was severely overweight, withstructural, and production problems. Remember the trouble the A-380 had getting launched:
On Dec 4 2009, QANTAS Airbus A380-842 (VH-OQA) Singapore to London- On the runway, the plane’s nose gear became unsteereable. The plane was towed to the gate and spare parts had to be flown in to deal with the problem.
On July 4 2009, Qantas Airbus A380-842 (VH-OQA) Singapore to London- the approach was aborted due to nosegear problems. On landing, steering failed.
In March of 2008, Qantas removed all 3 of its A-380s due to fuel system problems (two unserviceable with a ‘”fuel tank indication system problem”.)
The A380 is a part of the Air France, Emirates, Qantas and Singapore airlines fleets , and in which fuel gauge problems, nosegear problems and braking problems are becoming known issues. Problems also arise because the prohibitive size of the plane limits where it can land.
Some Worrisome Airbus History
In 2004, Joseph Mangan, an Airbus whistleblower told European aviation authorities of flaws on a computer chip on the Airbus A380. (These were microprocessor flaws that could cause the valves that maintain cabin pressure on the A380 to accidentally open during flight, allowing air to leak out so rapidly that everyone aboard could lose consciousness within seconds.)
Mangan was chief engineer for the Viennese company TTTech Computertechnik, which supplied the chips and software controlling the A380 cabin-pressurization system assembled at the French Airbus plant. TTTech fired Mangan, filed civil and criminal charges against him for revealing proprietary company documents. Austrian law has no whistleblower protection, and there is currently a gag order imposed on Mangan. They claim his allegations have been disproved.
What did he know? Have the problems behind his concerns been addressed? What elsedo we not know? Without transparency, how can we ever know?
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
United Airlines flight UA-839 made an emergency landing in Sydney, Australia, on October 4th.
Cathay Pacific flight CX-270 had to divert and make an emergency landing at Minsk National Airport, Belarus, on July 11th.
Flybe flight BE-6300 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Jersey, Channel Islands, on October 2nd.