The April 9 emergency landing of Eagle Air/Air New Zealand Beech 1900D en route from Auckland to Whangarei, attributed to an open rear cargo door, has been blamed on untrained baggage handlers who did not lock cargo doors.
The hatch flew open on takeoff. See the link to a photograph of the open door posted on the NZ Herald
The doors tend to be left unlocked in case late bags come in; but that is not a good safety practice because a broken cargo door can smash the tail of the plane or worse.
Air New Zealand flight NZ-410 made an emergency landing in Auckland, New Zealand, on July 14th.
The plane flying from Wellington, New Zealand declared an emergency after it was struck by lightning.
The plane continued for a safe landing. All passengers and crew members remained unhurt.
WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) have reached a settlement agreement about aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) violations from December 2010 to June 2012 at four New York area airports owned and operated by the PANYNJ — John F. Kennedy, Teterboro, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty International.
“We expect all airports to comply with our safety regulations and to correct any deficiencies immediately,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “These violations were egregious, and they will not be tolerated.”
Under the agreement, the PANYNJ agrees to pay a $3.5 million fine within 30 days. If there is a violation of the settlement agreement, the FAA will impose an additional fine of $1.5 million and will assess an additional $27,500 daily for each violation. In addition to the fine, the PANYNJ has agreed to take the following actions, with FAA approval, to address the underlying problems that led to systemic noncompliance with ARFF requirements at the four airports:
“We expect the Port Authority to have trained safety personnel to ensure the safety of the travelling public and airport personnel, just like we have at all airports in the United States,” said FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta.
The FAA became aware of ARFF violations as a result of an annual airport certification safety inspection of JFK in December 2011. The FAA also discovered similar violations at Teterboro, which prompted a full review of training at LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International, and Stewart International Airports. The review of ARFF training revealed violations at LaGuardia and Newark, with no violations at Stewart.
The FAA believes the settlement agreement provides the best long-term solution to ensure ARFF compliance, given the systemic nature of the PANYNJ airport problems.
Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino were sentenced to four years and four days in prison in the Amazon plane collision case when the Legacy 600 jet they were piloting made physical contact with a Gol Airlines Boeing 737. All 154 passengers and crew of the Boeing 737 were killed.
Their sentence was commuted to being banned from flying for four years, and also community service to be carried out in the US. The sentence accuses the pilots of being imprudent and inexperienced, and contends that they turned off the transponder, which the pilots deny.
The Gol jet collided over the Amazon rain forest with an Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet owned by ExcelAire Service Inc. of New York. The GOL InvestigatIon alleges that the pilots of the New York-based executive jet had placed the transponder and collision avoidance system on standby before colliding with the Boeing 737 operated by GOL Linhaus Aereas Inteligentes SA on Sept. 29, 2006.
The Legacy landed safely but everyone on the GOL jet died.
Flight controllers failed to alert pilots that they were on a collision course and also did not notice the transponder was off; in fact they deny turning it off.
On September 29, 2006, at approximately 4:57 pm, Brasilia standard time, a midair collision occurred over the Brazilian Amazon jungle, between a Boeing 737-800 (PR-GTD) operated by Gol Airlines of Brazil, and an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet (N600XL) owned and operated by Excelaire of Long Island, New York.
The accident investigation is being conducted under the authority of the Brazilian Aeronautical Accident Prevention and Investigation Center (DIPAA). Under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13, the United States, as state of registry and operator of the Excelaire Legacy, and state of manufacture of the Boeing 737 and Honeywell avionics equipment in both airplanes, has provided an accredited representative and technical advisors for the investigation. The U.S. team included the accredited representative from the major aviation accident investigations division of the NTSB, as well as technical advisors in operations, systems, air traffic control, flight recorders, and aircraft performance. Additional technical advisors from Boeing, Excelaire, Honeywell, and FAA have also been included.
If the transponder is off in either one of two approaching each other aircraft, the T Cast anti collision avoidance system will not work for either. We know there was no aural
warning in either plane to “pull up. Pull up.” Or vice versa.
So for sure the transponder was off in at least one of the planes, and that was probably the Legacy. However, in this Honeywell transponder, it is relatively easy for the
transponder to go off without the crew knowing that (due to design flaws.)
ATC put both aircraft coming at each other from oppostive directions at the same altitude, FL 370, and failed to track and warn, even though they had to know that for some reason the transponder in the exec jet was not working properly.
And who should we look for accountability to if the pilots are being held responsible for a Honeywell issue?
What: Beechcraft Baron en route from Los Angeles, California to Cabo San Lucas
Where: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
When: Sept 25 2010
Who: 4 passengers, names not released
Why: The wreckage of a small plane was found on a mountain north of the Cabo San Lucas. The crash is in a remote location, and rescuers are attempting to get to the rugged terrain. The plane broke into two parts but did not catch on fire.
On August 12, 2013, an Avery Enterprises Beech E35 Bonanza crashed at Yellowstone Airport, Montana. The nose of the plane is smashed.
Emergency responders included Gallatin County deputies, the Hebgen Basin Fire District and Forest Service personnel. The sheriff’s office is protecting the site until the arrival of the NTSB.
67-year-old Andrezej Furmanski died in the crash. Another victim, Kevin Avery, was taken to a hospital in Idaho Falls. Avery owns Avery Enterprises, registered owner of the plane.
The plane crashed on the north end of the West Yellowstone airport runway. The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. The Big Sky Trail adjacent to the airport was temporarily closed.