Aircraft

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    Ace Lost At Sea


    Pictured: Alaska Central Express (ACE) Beech 1900C shot in Anchorage
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Ben Wang

    What: ACE Alaska Central Express Air Cargo Beech 1900C en route from Sand Point to Anchorage
    Where: Sand Point Alaska
    When: Jan 22nd 2010
    Who: 2 crew
    Why: While en route, the flight lost altitude, and then lost communication. It hit the sea around midnight.

    A search party has been formed. Some wreckage has been found near Egg Island.


    View Egg Island in a larger map

    We are hoping the crew will be found alive and intact.

    *** ACE Air Cargo Press Release ***

    January 22, 2010

    ACE Air Cargo has joined the search for our Beech 1900 aircraft, that disappeared shortly after departing Sand Point, Alaska with two pilots on board yesterday evening. At this time, we are focused on the welfare of our pilots and their families and will be releasing no further information at this time. We ask that the media respect the privacy of our employees and their families at this time. More information will be released as it becomes available.

    Click image to visit Ace site.

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    IndiGo Airbus Returns to Kolkata


    Pictured:IndiGo Airbus A320-232 over Ahmedabad – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Sunandan Subramaniam

    What: IndiGo Airbus A320-200 en route from Kolkata to Chennai
    Where: Kolkata
    When: Jan 20th 2010
    Why: After takeoff, flaps were locked in position. The plane returned to Kolkata and made a safe landing. No indication is made if the flight was cancelled, replaced, or continued after repairs.

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    Aeromexico Embraer Emergency Landing


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Jorge Garcia

    What: Aeromexico Connect Embraer ERJ-145 en route from Hermosillo to Tijuana
    Where: 36 passengers and 3 crew
    When: Jan 21st 2010
    Who: 36 passengers 3 crew
    Why: On landing, the Embraer veered off the runway and came to a rest on the ground.

    Several passengers were reported to be in shock, but there were no other reported injuries. The plane’s fuselage incurred damage.

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    Fog Entrenched Boeing Lands On Maintenance Van


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Alevik

    What: Cargolux Boeing 747-400 freighter en route from Barcelona, to Luxembourg
    Where: Luxembourg
    When: Jan 21st 2010
    Why: While landing in low visibility due to foggy conditions, the Cargolux 747’s tires went through the roof of a maintenance truck whose crew was working on the runway ground lighting. The van’s driver was not hurt; the van was damaged by being landed on by the 747 (no doubt!), and the Boeing’s tires were damaged after going through the van’s roof. No one, however, was hurt, although the maintenance person was hospitalized for shock.

    George’s Point of View

    I would be shocked too, if a Boeing landed on my roof while I was working. If it were I who’d been landed on, I’d have to change my name to Chicken Little, because I’d never again trust that the sky wasn’t falling. (I hope this guy is well insured, because even if he’s physically ok, he’s going to need therapy.)

    On the other hand, that is why I don’t work on a runway. (And if I did, it would be in Thousand Oaks, California, not Luxembourg.)

    One does wonder if the maintenance vehicle was cleared, or precisely who was supposed to be where at that exact moment. Perhaps the maintenance was going on specifically because of the foggy conditions. It does sound like someone was not exactly in the right place at the right time. Or perhaps, someone in HR did not like the maintenance guy very much, and their brother-in-law was in line for that position if it opens up.

    Luxembourg is investigating to see what what wrong, and how and why. (Luxembourg is 998.6 sq mi in area. Rhode Island is 1,545 square miles. I know size doesn’t matter, but Luxembourg is still smaller than our smallest state. Bigger than DC though.)

    The Administration of Technical Investigations is determining the cause of the accident in order to recommendation measures to avoid a reoccurrence. (See 4 rules below.)

    The Directorate of Civil Aviation will conduct an investigation regarding compliance with established procedure. (If the procedure is not to stay out of the path of incoming planes, I recommend changing established procedure.)

    The Administration of Air Navigation is doing an internal administrative investigation. I.E. Where will the hammer fall.

    Hello. To avoid a plane landing on somebody, follow these simple rules:

    • Rule Number One. Stay off the runway.
    • Rule Number Two. If you’re landing a plane, and they tell you to land on a runway, make sure there’s no one on it so you don’t land on them.
    • Rule Number Three. If you’re not landing a plane, don’t go on the runway unless you work there. Even if you work at the airport, and they tell you to fix the runway lights, make sure no one is going to use that runway while you’re fixing the lights.
    • Rule Number Four. If the visibility is low and you can’t tell if the runway is clear, and you’re supposed to land on the runway but you can’t see it, tell ATC that if it is humanly possible, they have to find you someplace to land where there’s enough visibility to see to land.
    • Rule Number Four-C. (otherwise known as the Life is Not a Cartoon rule). If something is directly behind you, get out of the way. This means moving left or right, out of the path of the incoming vehicle, not moving forward. If something motorized is directly behind you running directly in front of it WILL NOT HELP. ( Even the roadrunner and Wiley Coyote knew this.)

    Not that aviation is actually that simplistic. It will be months before a legitimate opinion clears the committees. And of course, it is a good day when everyone gets out alive.

    Boeing is the world’s leading aerospace company and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. It is still headquartered in Chicago and California

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    Airbus Engine Shut Down over Pacific


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer G.Luca D’Urbano

    What: Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340-200 en route from Auckland to Buenos Aires
    Where: Pacific Ocean
    When: Jan 21, 2010
    Who: 229 passengers
    Why: An hour into the flight, the left engine had to be shut down. The Airbus returned to Auckland to make a safe landing. After undergoing maintenance, repairs and essential services, the plane will optimistically be resumed eventually. It is not known if passengers have hotel accommodations or if they will be waiting at the airport.

    Any time an engine must be shut down, especially when it is an airbus over a body of water, we all breathe a sigh of relief at a safe landing.

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    Spain: Helimer 207 Crashes in Sea


    Click to view full size photo at jetphotos.net
    Contact photographer JUSTO-M. PRIETO

    What: “Salvamento Marítimo (Helisureste)” Agusta Westland AW.139 in a training mission out of LEAM (Almeria Airport, Spain)
    Where: In sea 4 nm of Almeria airport
    When: Jan 21, 2010
    Who: 3 fatalities, one severe injury
    Why: The marine search and rescue helicopter fell into the sea off Almería 4 miles from the runway. They were on approach to the airport and returning from aerial maneuvers with Névola (ship). Only one person was rescued, and he was in serious condition. Rescue services included four helicopters, two boats and a tugboat, as well as member of Marine Rescue, Civil Guard.

    Those who died were Commander Jose Luis Lopez Alcala, of Granada; copilot Kevin Holmes of New Zealand/Granada; and Iñigo Vallejo Garcia,of Seville.

    Suffering from hypothermia, rescued craneman Alberto Elvira Vallejo was taken to Torrecárdenas Hospital.

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    Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Struck by Lightning

    What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 en route from Oakland to Burbank
    Where: Burbank
    When: January 20, 2010 9:57
    Who: 81 passengers
    Why: While en route from Sacramento, the Boeing 737 was struck by lightning. The plane landed safely at Bob Hope Airport, and was examined for damage from the lightning strike.

    Two individuals aboard this flight were taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center for treatment.

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    SouthWest Airlines Boeing Struck by lightning

    What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 en route from Sacramento to Burbank
    Where: Burbank
    When: January 20, 2010 9:38
    Who: 69 passengers
    Why: While en route from Sacramento, the Boeing 737 was struck by lightning. The plane landed safely at Bob Hope Airport, and was examined for damage from the lightning strike.

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    Fatal Plane Crash in Ohio

    What: Mitts Corp Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 Marquise en route from Gainesville to Elyria.
    Where: Elyria, Ohio
    When: Jan 18, 2010 at 2:08 p.m.
    Who: Don Brown, 89, and his wife Shirley, 87, of Vermilion Township. Pilot Wesley Roemer, 30, of Gainesville, Fla., and co-pilot John Mengelson, 46, of Florahome, Fla.
    Why: The plane reportedly nose-dived into the ground near Lorain County Regional Airport in New Russia Township on approach to the runway. All victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

    The NTSB will be reporting.

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    Hawaii Plane Crash Kills Vet and Son

    What: single engine Piper Cherokee PA32
    Where: Koolau Mountains in East Oahu near the Lanipo Trail on WAIALAEIKI RIDGE, 10 MILES FROM HONOLULU, HI
    When: Jan 11, 2010
    Who: Pilot Dr. Nicolas Polumbo and passenger Timmy Polumbo
    Why: AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THERE WERE TWO PERSONS ON BOARD, ONE WAS FATALLY INJURED, ONE UNKNOWN INJURIES, WRECKAGE LOCATED ON WAIALAEIKI RIDGE, 10 MILES FROM HONOLULU, HI

    The pilot had been flying to his veterinary clinic and made no mayday call prior to the crash. Visibility may have been a factor as the weather was overcast.

    Crash crews rapelled from the helicopter due to the inaccessibility of the crash site.

    (Link to a recovery video. KITV has not released for embedding)

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    Argentina: Helicopter Crash

    What: Prefectura Naval Argentina Schweizer 300C
    Where: Cerca Aeropuerto Internacional de San Fernando Argentina
    When: Jan 19 2010
    Who: 2 on board.
    Why: Flying from San Fernando International Airport, Argentina, during a test flight, an Argentinean Cost Guard helicopter fell out of the sky 50 meters from the main runway. The two individuals in the helicopter did not survive.

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    Plane Lands Sans One Engine at JFK


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Stefan Heymanns

    What: Cargo Air Lines Boeing 747-200 en route from New York to Liege Belgium
    Where: Gander Canada
    When: Jan 17th 2010
    Why: While en route, the plane noticed an oil pressure problem developing and shut down the afflicted engine. The plane dropped to a lower altitude and returned to JFK where it landed safely. * A cargo flight, no passengers involved.

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    Chautauqua Electricals Smoke Landing in Cleveland


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer DJ Reed

    What: Chautauqua Airlines Canadair CRJ-200 en route from Boston to Cleveland
    Where: Cleveland
    When: Jan 19th 2010
    Who: 55 passengers
    Why: Prior to landing, the jet suffered electrical problems resulting in smoke and a loss of power. The crew managed a safe landing. Passenger debarked on the runway and were bussed to the gate. The plane was taken out of commission for maintenance/observation/repairs.

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    Alitalia Tailstrike (or not)


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Giovanni Verbeeck

    What: Alitalia Boeing 767-300 en route from New York JFK to Rome
    Where: New York
    When: Jan 15th 2010
    Who: 180 passengers
    Why: On take off, the Boeing apparently had a tail strike, but not one hard enough to damage the tail skid. The crew performed checks, but then decided to dump fuel and land. After circling, the flight landed safely approx. an hour and a half after initial takeoff. After two hours, the same aircraft took off again for Rome.

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    Austrian Airlines Fokker Smokes Take-off


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Radu Dobrescu

    What: Austrian Airlines Fokker 100 en route from Belgrade Serbia to Vienna Austria
    Where: Belgrade
    When: Jan 19th 2010
    Who: 83 passengers and 5 crew
    Why: After passengers had boarded but before they took off, the left hand engine began smoking. Passengers disembarked and the flight was cancelled. The flight was reported alternately as an aborted takeoff and engine fire, but in our opinion, the most credible report seems to be that the flight never actually attempted to get off the ground.

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    US Airways/PSA Airline Runway Overrun


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Charin deSilva

    What: US Airways/PSA Airlines Canadair CRJ-200 en route from Charleston West Virginia to Charlotte, North Carolina
    Where: Charleston
    When: Jan 19th 2010
    Who: 30 passengers and 3 crew
    Why: During takeoff, the pilot overran runway 23. The takeoff was aborted as the pilot responded to a warning signal, coming to a stop before a steep drop at the runway’s end. We don’t know the extent of damage but it is expensive, especially to the EMAS (and the plane!), but apparently there were no reported injuries. EMAS is credited for saving the lives of the crew and passengers as when the pilot braked during take-off, the plane impacted the Engineered Material Arresting System.

    The Yeager Airport EMAS is a system of concrete blocks designed to collaps to bring a plane to a safe stop.

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    Red Wing Emergency Landing


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Ignatiy Savranskiy

    What: Red Wings Tupolev Tu-204 en route from Omsk to Moscow
    Where: Omsk
    When: Jan 19 2010 8:45 p.m. Moscow time
    Who: 207 passengers
    Why: After takeoff, the bay door of the front landing gear failed to close. The pilots made a successful return to Omsk, and landed safely, with emergency vehicles on standby.

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    Air Slovakian Crew Diverts Plane in Protest. Passengers Hostage to unpaid Wages


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    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.

    George’s Point of View

    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.

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    Sao Paulo: Swiss International Airlines Airbus Cracks Windshield


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Stefan Sonnenberg

    What: Swiss International Airlines Airbus A340-300 en route from Sao Paulo Brazil to Zurich Switzerland
    Where: Sao Paulo
    When: Jan 17th 2010
    Who: not available
    Why: On takeoff, the flight crew reported they had a cracked windshield. They entered a holding pattern, dumped fuel and landed safely under emergency overweight conditions.

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    Piper Crashes in Bahamas


    Pictured: A Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six at Nassau – Lynden Pindling International (Windsor Field)
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Stephen B. Aranha

    What: Piper Saratoga enroute from Nassau Lynden Pindling International Airport to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport
    Where: 10 miles northeast of Bimini Bahamas
    When: January 17, 2010 4:50 p.m
    Who: pilot and 2 passengers including Andrew Peterson and J.P. Antonmattei.
    Why: Pilot David Howell and two or three passengers departed Nassau for Fort Lauderdale at 2:49, and made no distress calls. Howell had been working on opening a bed and breakfast in the Bahamas, and his companions were investors. At 4:40 p.m. Sunday, the Bahamas Civil Aviation Department Air Traffic Services was notified that the Piper had ditched two miles off Bimini. Witnesses saw the plane going down just before 5 pm. The U S Coast Guard and the Royal Bahamas Police Force are searching the area for survivors. Reports conflict as to whether or not one body was recovered Sunday evening northeast of the Bimini Bay Resort, or whether divers saw remains in the plane Monday.

    The Bahamian FAA is the lead agency in the case.

    On the way to the Bahamas, there was also a couple aboard, but the couple elected to stay in the Nassau. Initial reports speculated that there was a fourth person aboard on the return flight.

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    Microburst Diverts AA MD-80 to San Jose

    What: American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80 en route from Texas to San Francisco
    Where: San Jose
    When: Jan 18, 2010
    Who: 132 passengers and 5 crew
    Why: While en route, the plane developed a throttle problem (left throttle stuck.) On approach to San Francisco, the plane encountered a microburst ( a short, intense gust of wind). Between the throttle problem and the microburst, the crew declared an emergency.

    The flight diverted to San Jose where it landed safely. Passengers were bussed to SF.