What: Cayman Airways Boeing 737-300 en route from Grand Cayman to Jamaica Where: Grand Cayman When: April 15, 2011 Why: After takeoff, the passengers aboard had a scare when they had to make an emergency return to the airport. The plane indicator light indicated a landing gear problem that did not materialize on landing. The plane made a safe landing, and passengers were boarded on to a later flight to Jamaica three hours later.
What: United Nations – UN/Georgian Airways Canadair CL600 2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-100ER on the return trip from Kinshasa-N’Djili Airport (FIH) to Kisangani (FKI) and Entebbe (and back) Where: Kinshasa-N’Djili Airport, Congo When: 04 APR 2011 2 pm. Who: 4 crew, 29 passengers Why: On landing in Kinsasha, the United Nations plane encountered rainy weather and crashed at the end of the runway, breaking into several pieces. Witnesses say the plane encountered windshear at 65 feet and fell straight down. At least eight were thrown from the plane when it broke. There were 32 fatalities. There was one survivor. The crew was composed of Georgians.
The rain helped put out the fire, according to firefighters. The black box was recovered.
The lone survivor, Francis Mwamba, a Congolese journalist, was taken to Biamba Marie Mutombo hospital.
The plane was also reported as a Fokker.
Airzena Georgian Airways made this statement:
“Airzena Georgian Airways” regrets to confirm an accident occurred at Kinshasa airport, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo on 4 April, 10 at 13:00 GMT.The flight was operated under UN mission by aircraft of type CRJ-100 enroute from Goma to Kinshasa. The landing was performed in adverse weather conditions. The aircraft sufferred crash landing, broke up into parts and caught fire.
According to the currently available information crew and passengers died in the accident. The number is specified.
The accident is being investigated officially to determine its possible cause.
“Airzena Georgian Airways” is deeply shocked about the accident and expresses its condolences to the family members of the perished.
What: Qantas Boeing 737-800 Aukland to Sydney Where: Sydney When: Apr 13 2011 Who: 130 passengers Why: While en route, the plane reportedly had a fuel leak and an engine problem while over the Tasman sea. They made a “priority” landing in Sydney, with no injuries, although the fuel leak problem was mistakenly announced.
The problem was diagnosed as a fuel transfer valve, which was subsequently replaced.
Prior to landing safely in Sydney, the problem was announced on Twitter.
What: Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777-268ER en route from Washington to Riyadh Where: Greece When: April 14, 2011 Who: 240 Why: While en route, the plane indicated a fire aboard. The pilot diverted to Athens where they made a safe landing.
The plane had “dry ice” aboard, which gave the appearance of fire. Though from the accounts we have heard, we’re not sure if the smoke was visually detected, or if the ions from the offgassing of dry ice fooled a smoke detector.
What: Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300 en route from Los Angeles to Sydney Where: Los Angeles When: April 12, 2011 Who: 305 passengers Why: On making its takeoff run from Los Angeles, the plane emitted a loud “bang!” and stopped on the runway, they believed for a nose gear. It turned out to be the fireball erupting from engine one. Needless to say, the jet was pulled for inspection, and the passengers were given hotel accommodations for the night. They were provided an alternative flight the next day.
Do we know more than we did before the investigations? No, we do not. Because after almost 9 months, we still haven’t heard the official investigation of the Air Blue Airbus that crashed in Margalla Hills on July 28, 2010. And this is not one of those cases where the blackboxes disappeared. The black boxes on this flight were located and sent to France for processing.
What: AirBlue Airbus A321-200 en route from Karachi to Islamabad Pakistan Where: Margalla Hills about 10nm north of Islamabad When: Jul 28th 2010 Who: 146 passengers and 6 crew Why: While on approach to Islamabad in poor weather conditions during monsoon rain and low visibility, radio contact was lost (at 09:45) and the plane impacted the terrain.
Helicopters flew into the mountainous area, which is difficult to access. Initial reports were that there were no survivors then helicopters were reported to have flown five survivors to hospitals. Six bodies have been recovered including the pilot but there are no survivors (in spite of the video report.)
Scheduled 14 CFR Non-U.S., Commercial operation of Airblue
Accident occurred Wednesday, July 28, 2010 in Islamabad, Pakistan
Aircraft: AIRBUS A321, registration: AP-BCB
Injuries: 157 Fatal.
On July 28, 2010, Airblue flight 202, an Airbus A321 with IAE V2500 engines, registration AP-BCB, impacted terrain in the Margilla Hills during approach to runway 12 at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (OPRN), Islamabad, Pakistan. All 150 passengers and 7 crewmembers onboard were fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed. The flight was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan (OPKC) to OPRN.
What: Emirates en route from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai Where: Chennai When: April 10, 2011 Who: 465 passengers Why: While en route, the plane had a technical failure resulting in smoke in the cockpit. The crew diverted to Chennai where they made a safe landing. Passengers were provided alternative transportation to Dubai. However, the passengers overnighted in Chennai as the problem could not be solved within the crews “max duty time.”
What: Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777-200 en route from London to Jeddah Saudi Arabia Where: Rome When: Apr 6th 2011 Who: 232 passengers Why: While en route, an engine developed problems and was shut down. The pilots diverted to Rome and made a safe landing. The engine indicated that it was overheated; but the mechanism was faulty. Repairs were performed, after which the flight was continued.
What: Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 en route from Sacramento to Kahului Where: Sacramento When: April 9, 2011, 10:20am Who: 169 passengers Why: After takeoff from Sacramento, a bird was ingested into the plane’s engine, causing engine trouble. The flight returned to Sacramento where it made a safe landing. A replacement flight was scheduled for the afternoon.
Recent bird include the Skywest/Delta Canadair CRJ 700 (Portland-Salt Lake City) strike on April 6 2011, the GOL Linhas Aereas Boeing 737-800 (Salvador-Aracaju) strike on April 3, and the Air France Boeing 777 strike in Paris (Paris-HongKong) on Mar 24.
What: Alitalia Airbus A321-200 en route from Palermo to Rome Fiumicino Italy Where: Palermo When: Apr 3rd 2011 Who: 150 passengers Why: While en route, the crew encountered an undesignated technical problem.
The crew returned to Palermo where they made a safe landing. The Airbus was flown to Milan for examination and repair.
What: Lufthansa Airbus A320-200 en route from Frankfurt to Moscow Where: Frankfurt When: Apr 2nd 2011 Who: 80 passengers Why: Engine exhaust increased in temperature. The pilots returned to Frankfort where they made a safe landing. Passengers were provided a replacement flight 3 hours later.
What: American Airlines Boeing 767-300 en route from Dallas to Santiago Chile Where: Dallas When: Apr 1st 2011 Who: 170 passengers 12 crew Why: After taking off from Dallas/ft Worth, the crew returned to the airport because of a tail strike. They made a safe landing 30 minutes after takeoff. The flight was cancelled.
What: Egyptair Airbus A321-200 en route from Brussels (Belgium) to Cairo (Egypt) Where: Cairo When: Apr 1st 2011 Who: 76 passengers Why: On landing at Cairo, the crew aborted the initial approach on receipt of an unsafe gear indication.The plane rotated with the airport to the right, and leveled off.
The cabin crew announced the flight would be landing later due to traffic then made a hard landing on runway 23L. The plane rolled out, with firetrucks on standby. The landing gear was examined on the runway.
What: Eurocopter EC135P2 Helicopter registration OE-BXF Where: Lake Achensee, Austria When: March 31, 2011 Who: 4 crew members, 4 fatalities Why: During a border inspection flight, the helicopter was flying very low, and tipped the surface lightly, the helicopter shot up, then fell. The helicopter had a crew of 3 Tyroleans and one Swiss. The air rescue and mountain guide, Stephen L. (38) was found floating; Pilot Mark P. (41), Mr Herbert F. (53) from the state police, and a Swiss civil servant (43) were not found until evening. They appeared to have been trapped in the cockpit. The pilot had 2,500 flight hours,and the helicopter was new.
Fire and water emergency personnel responded, and (3 rescue helicopters and 43 divers) dive teams are on site using sonar imaging. They are looking for the black box so they can learn the details of the crash.
In 2009 in Syria, two people died in an EC 135 helicopter.
What: American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-82 en route from Fort Myers to Dallas TX Where: Jacksonville When: Mar 30th 2011 Why: While en route, the crew smelled smoke in the cabin.
They diverted to Jacksonville. By the time they landed, the odor dissipated. The plane was examined; and a replacement MD-83 was flown in.
What: United Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Washington to Portland Where: Chicago When: Mar 29 2011 Who: 3 unruly passengers and one ill passenger Why: While en route, three unruly passengers caused the pilot to divert to Chicago for an overweight landing. The passengers disembarked, and the fight continued to Portland, albeit between four and five hours late. The passengers who disembarked were re-screened.
What: American Eagle Embraer ERJ-145 en route from Oklahoma City,OK to Chicago O’Hare,IL Where: Kansas City When: Mar 26th 2011 Who: 1 attendant Why: While en route to Chicago, the flight encountered turbulence, injuring the flight attendant.
The pilot diverted to Kansas City and made a safe landing.
What: United Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Chicago O’Hare,IL to Washington National Where: Washington DC When: Mar 22nd 2011 Who: 68 people aboard Why: The United crew was informed that the airport was “uncontrolled” via the advisory frequency. The plane made a visual approach and landed ten minutes after the American Airlines flight
What: American Airlines Boeing 737-800 en route from Miami,FL to Washington National,DC Where: Washington When: Mar 22nd 2011 Who: 97 people on board Why: On approach to Washington National, the crew found themselves without feedback from ATC. They declared the airport uncontrolled. The tower frequency was declared an advisory frequency and landed safely without clearance.
What: Colgan Air de Havilland Dash 8-400 on behalf of Continental Airlines en route from Cleveland,OH to Baltimore,MD Where: Pittsburgh When: Mar 17th 2011 Who: not available Why: While en route, left engine indicated a fire.
The crew shut down the engine and diverted to Pittsburgh where they made a safe landing 30 minutes after the initial alert. There were no injuries.
What: AM Transporte Aereo Militar Xian MA-60 en route from La Paz to Rurrenabaque Where: Rurrenabaque Bolivia When: Mar 18th 2011 Who: 33 aboard Why: On landing at Rurrenabaque the landing gear failed to deploy. The flight performed a belly landing with no injuries reported. Minor damage on the plane. The gear problem may have been due to a hydraulic leak but the circumstances are under investigation.
What: Yas Air Ilyushin IL-76TD en route from Tehran Mehrabad to Aleppo Where: Diyarbakir When: Mar 16th 2011 Who: crew of freight flight Why: Told that the plane was carrying nuclear weapon parts, the flight was escorted to Diyarbakir Turkey by Turkish F-16 fighters.
What: Swiss Airbus A320-200 en route from Zurich Switzerland to Madrid, Spain What: Swiss Airbus A320-200 en route from Zurich Switzerland to Moscow Domodedovo Russia Where: Zurich When: Mar 15th 2011 Why: To save space, lets call these planes Swiss Airbus Spain and Swiss Airbus Russia …
Swiss Airbus Spain was taking off when ATC had them abort the takeoff.
Swiss Airbus Russia was taking off simultaneously, and they were allowed to continue.
An an ILS calibration flight was measuring runways 14 and 16 in the area at the same time. Russia was on one of the runways being measured, but not Spain.
Swiss Airbus Spain stopped with hot brakes, and takeoff was delayed for three hours. Russia was allowed to continue.
A near miss may be a near collision, but a close call is a close call. And this was a close call.
What: Air Canada Airbus A319-100 en route from Toronto to Winnipeg Where: Sault Ste Marie When: Mar 8 2011 Who: 125 aboard Why: While en route, the plane was over Canada when the displays quit. The loss of the displays is being attributed to an electronic power failure. (Wonder if there was a short or if it was something else?) The displays were only offline for less than a minute, and subsequently began flashing error messages. Pilots continued on to Winnipeg and managed to land safely. The plane was taken out of commission in order to have an Airbus inspection to determine what exactly was going on.
Flying an Airbus without electronic displays is, I think, tantamount to suicide. I am surprised they didn’t divert somewhere and land immediately. Is it not somewhat risky to continue flying an airbus when the display connections are flakey? This same sort of thing happened on a BMI Airbus A321. Apparently catastrophic failure in rough conditions is not unheard of. In fact, rough conditions are not required to cause the need for a reboot. The term for “rebooting” an airbus that has lost its electronics is called “recycling,” a common enough thing that there is recognizable pilot humor regarding it.
What: King’s Aviation Hawker Sidley HS 125 registration 5N-BNR Where: Bauchi Airport, Nigeria When: 08 MARCH 2011 Who: Nuhu Ribadu, presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria Why: On landing at the airport, the plane struck goats on the runway.
The plane owned by Wings Aviation incurred some damage. No one aboard the flight was injured, but the director of media and publicity of the Nuhu Ribadu Campaign Organisation is calling the invasion of goats on the runway a sign of sabotage.
