What: Air Cargo Carrier Shorts SD-360 en route from Tupelo to Houston
Where: Houston
When: May 17th 2012
Who: 2 crew
Why: After the Air Cargo Carrier landed at Houston-George Bush Intercontinental Airport, it caught on fire. Aviation Herald claims the cause of the fire was “brakes of the right main gear.”

Emergency services responded.

We haven’t heard if the plane made a hard or fast landing, Houston temps, or if there was some mechanical problem like a lock-up that caused the fire.

The post Hot Brakes in Houston first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Air Charter International has been key in aiding the innocent victims of this political unrest by getting them safely out of Egypt. “To date we have chartered numerous rescue flights out of Egypt over a span of a few days,” said Claire Brugirard, Commercial Sales Manager at Air Charter International.

She stated that all of these were executive and passenger evacuations out of Egypt. “Given the state of affairs in the country at the moment, our team faced several challenges in providing emergency response.”

However, Mrs. Brugirard reiterated that with their extensive experience in the Middle East and by working around the clock, they were able to take over 1000 passengers to safety.
“When we learned of what was happening in Egypt, our team quickly compiled a list of aircraft that could be useful in this situation. So when clients called us we were instantly able to provide information on all the most suitable available aircraft.”

Mrs. Brugirard said that Air Charter International sourced a number of suitable and reliable aircraft ideal for emergency evacuation.

For this level of crisis management, Air Charter International chartered B737-800, B737-400, Hawker 800 and King Air 200. “We chose these aircraft because they were the most economical and ideal for the range of destinations which expatriates were being evacuated to.”

Air Charter International successfully evacuated over a 1000 passengers to areas such as Amman, Prague, Dubai and Washington DC.

“Our dedicated sales team worked 24 hours a day to ensure that every single person that chartered with us got to their destination safely and comfortably. We were glad to do our part in helping the innocent victims of this sudden violence.”

The post Air Charter International Takes Victims Out of Egypt first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

This political unrest caused a panic among expats in the country and official consulates began making arrangements for the evacuation of their citizens in Egypt.

Air Charter International was commissioned to transport these passengers from Alexandria to Prague and Washington DC. The Commercial Sales team at Air Charter International worked 24/7 on making sure that all passengers were transported safely out of Egypt.
“Because of the urgency of the situation, it was imperative that we get our clients out of Egypt immediately,” said Commercial Sales Manager Claire Brugirard. The first flight to Prague departed on the 31st of January and the second flight to Washington DC departed on the 1st of February.

“Since the first priority was to get the passengers to a safe point outside Egypt, both flights were sent to Prague,” said Ms. Brugirard. She further explained that the second flight reached Prague and was then rerouted to Washington DC from there.

Air Charter International’s Commercial Sales team sourced a Boeing 737-800 for the journey. “We sourced two of these proven passenger aircraft for the trip because they were the safest and most economical for our clients.”

Ms. Brugirard further stated that the Boeing 737-800 is also spacious enough to accommodate last minute passengers, common during emergency evacuations.

“It happened on these flights as well. On the first flight we had an additional 13 passengers and on the second we had 1 more passenger, all which joined at the last minute. In anticipation of these additional passengers we enlisted a B737-800 for these flights.”
The Commercial Sales team at Air Charter International did encounter some challenges while organizing these flights. “Due to the ongoing political unrest in Egypt, there was difficulty in establishing a steady communication with the local authorities.”

This, Ms. Brugirard explained, made obtaining permits, that were also requested on short notice extremely difficult. “Our team worked around the clock to ensure that all the paperwork was in order so that the US citizens and students were safely evacuated out of Egypt.”

Experts in crisis management, Air Charter International’s Commercial Sales team monitored both emergency charter flights from start to finish. “At all times we kept an eye on status of these flights and the clients fully informed on their progress.”

The post Urgent Evacuation From Politically Unstable Area first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.