Carrier

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    Co-pilot accused of hijacking Ethiopian Airlines flight


    The Eithiopian Airlines Boeing 757 flown from Addis Ababa to Geneva instead of its intended destination Rome was commandeered by its co-pilot, who was seeking asylum in Geneva.

    The co-pilot told ATC the plane was being hijacked, and after he landed, climbed down a rope from the cockpit, and told ground police forces that he was the hijacker.

    Ethiopia, which has a reputation of targeting journalists, opposition and minorities, has a deteriorating human rights record, and owns Ethiopia Airlines. Charges against the co-pilot could result in a twenty year prison sentence.

    No one was injured in the hijacking, but two Italian fighter jets “escorted” the plane to Geneva. Two hundred and two people were aboard.


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    Nepal Airlines Flight Missing


    Contact photographer Michael Fritz

    Eighteen people are missing over the Himalayan mountains of central Nepal on a Nepal Airlines Twin Otter en route from Pokhara to Jumla. The plane had stopped in Pokhara to refuel. The crew lost contact with Bhairawa ATC a quarter hour after taking off. The plane never arrived in Jumla.

    The plane’s first flight was in 1971.

    The route from Pokhara to Jumla flies over Dhorpatan and Rukum, and zig zags over tall mountains.

    The last radio contact was at 13:13.

    A fire was spotted in a forested area near Khidim but the search was called off due to weather conditions. Locals also reported hearing a loud noise. The Fishtail Air search helicopter was unable to land due to poor visibility and the air search was called off. On foot, the search continues with the Nepal Army, a team from Palpa and Mujhum Police.

    The wreckage has not been located but the crash site is presumed to be on the border of Argakhanchi, Gulmi and Palpa districts, one and half hour walking uphill from Khidim village in Argakhanchi district.

    There were three crew and fifteen passengers, all but one of whom were from Nepal. The foreigner is Dutch.

    The crew was made up of Captain Shankar Shrestha, co-pilot Rabinda Banjara and Air hostess Muna Maharjan. The names of the passengers have not been released.

    One child was also aboard.

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    Jenni Rivera Flight Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed in LA

    Even though Rivera had filed for divorce, the widower of Jenni Rivera, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Esteban Loaiza, is suing the owners of the Learjet that crashed on Dec. 9, 2012, killing the Mexican-American “Diva de la Banda” and six others. The wrongful death lawsuit in in Los Angeles Superior Court claims that the 78-year-old pilot and the co-pilot weren’t licensed to fly paying passengers.Also, the 43 year old jet flew unevenly and trembled when it hit cruising speed.

    The families of four of the others, Rivera’s deceased publicist, makeup artist, hairstylist and attorney filed a wrongful death lawsuit in January 2013.

    The pilot exceeded the age limit for the kind of license he obtained from Mexico, a fact for which Mexico’s civil aviation holds Mexico accountable. The pilot and co-pilot also died in the crash.

    The plane’s owners were Starwood Management LLC and its parent company, Rodatz Financial Group.

    The plane took off from Monterey and crashed within fifteen minutes.

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    Alaska Airlines Emergency Landing

    On Feb 10 2013, Alaska Airlines flight 837 en route from Norman Y Mineta San Jose Int’l Airport to Honolulu departed and returned to Mineta San Jose after a power problem in a navigation system an hour into the flight. 132 passengers and six crew were aboard.

    When the captain decided to return to Mineta San Jose, the San Jose Fire Department was on standby.

    The Boeing 737-800 (738) made a safe landing at 9:40 a.m after two hours in the air, and did not need towing.

    The replacement flight was scheduled to leave at 10:45.

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    Algerian Plane Crash Kills 77, One Survivor


    Seventy-seven people were aboard a twenty-four year old missing C-130 Hercules (#7T-WHM) that was flying from Tamanrasset to Constantine when it crashed into Mount Fortas in Algeria. The wreckage was discovered on Feb 11, 2013. The Algerian TV and Radio initially reported 102 fatalities, but updates say there were 78 aboard.

    The Military Lockheed C-130H-30 Hercules was flown by Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Jaza’eriya.

    There were four members of the crew and seventy-four passengers which included men, women and children. The assumption is that these were soldiers and military families.

    One soldier aboard the military transport survived; he is hospitalized in a military hospital in Algiers.

    The plane broke into three parts on impact. Fifty-five bodies were recovered on the rugged terrain in showy conditions.

    Lockheed Martin who built the plane will be assisting the investigation. The plane may have been on approach to Constantine Airport.

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    A Disgraceful Attitude

    Here are a couple of facts:

    – Yemenia Flight 626 was an International Airbus A310-324 from Sana’a, Yemen, to Moroni, Comoros, that crashed on 30 June 2009 killing 152.

    –French authorities charged Yemenia Airways with manslaughter over the Yemenia Airways crash.

    –A judicial source said that Yemenia’s Airbus A310 “should not have been allowed to fly”.

    –152 people died in the crash.

    In spite of this, Yemenia announced they are “ready to challenge any allegation regarding the pilot’s competence, or the plane’s maintenance.”

    They kept on flying a plane which was judged unsafe. Now Yemenia Airways is denying responsibility for the crash, which in all likelihood was a consequence of flying an unsafe plane.

    Any way you look at it, no matter how vehemently they dismiss it, no matter how many times they make an “official” statement, in refusing responsibility for a plane crash on their watch —a plane crash which killed 152 people who trusted the airline to deliver them safely and which is clearly their responsibility—Yemenia Airways has displayed a disgraceful attitude.

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    Overland Suffers Smoke


    On Feb 8, 2013, an Overland Airways ATR-72 flight OJ1175 from Abuja to Ibadan, Nigeria, suffered engine issues with smoke pouring from one engine. Passengers saw the smoke which started a panic, and they evacuated through the emergency exit.

    There were no injuries reported.

    The passengers remained in Abuja awaiting a replacement plane.

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is investigating.

    This picture displays why the passengers were panicked. Words alone don’t do it justice, do they?

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    Pegasus “Sochi Olympics” Hijack Attempt


    On Feb 7 2014, on a Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-86J en route from Kharkov to Istanbul, the 45-year-old passenger seated in “2F” hollered “BOMB!” threatened there was a bomb in the baggage compartment and wanted to hijack the plane to go to the Sochi Olympics. His attempt to enter the cockpit was foiled. When pilots entered Turkish airspace, they informed authorities.

    An F-16 Turkish military fighter jet was called to provide an escort.

    The flight landed in Istanbul (on the Asian side of the airport where Pegasus has its hub) where the Ukrainian man was taken into custody.

    There was no bomb. None of the 110 passengers were hurt.

    The passenger was just intoxicated.

    Videos Below

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    AI Tires Blown

    On Feb 2, Air India Flight AI-191, a Boeing 777-337ER, en route from Ahmedabad to Mumbai blew three tires on landing. The crew was able to taxi to the gate with assistance. No injuries to the 260 passengers resulted from the blown tires, and there were no reports of injuries using the emergency exits.

    The AI flight’s eventual destination was the US. Passengers continuing their journey were provided an alternative Boeing 777.

    THere’s no indication if the tires blew do to the runway surface, tire quality, a hard landing or other reason. The incident is under investigation.

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    Disgruntled Ryanair Passengers

    A Rabat to Paris flight is usually two and a half hours long.

    But on a Ryanair flight from Rabat, Morocco, to Paris a passenger became sick and the crew diverted to Madrid. Because of noise restrictions, the crew had to land in Nantes instead of Paris, and had to overnight there.

    Somewhere between Rabat and Nantes, passengers angry at being in the plane for seven hours, took food and drinks and were hostile to the flight crew.

    Personnel in Nantes said the Ryanair passengers were behaving in an “animal and barbaric fashion.” Apparently police were called but nothing was done.

    A hotel was provided in Nantes. The passengers did finally make it to Paris via bus.

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    Viral Video Pilot’s Engagement Cut Short in Cachoeira do Sul


    Last month, Arthur Demetrio must have been full of hope and good news when he took his girlfriend Thays Pereira da Cruz flying, and asked her to marry him by having his parents hold up banners saying “Thays Marry me” in an airfield in Cachoeira do Sul Brazil.

    See the proposal here

    I wish this were the end of the story.

    This Wednesday, Demetrio spoke to his fiancée Thays on the phone.
    Later that day, his Cessna 140 aircraft was flying out of the airfield where he proposed.

    He crashed in Cachoeira do Sul.

    His student Darlan Kabata dos Santos, 31, and he both died. There was almost no warning, though Demetrio had time to tell ATC he was having plane trouble, something about the elevator, which controls the nose of the plane.

    Officials informed his fiancée; she was the first to know. The family is devastated.

    Arthur Demetrio will be buried in Santa Catarina, where he is from.

    The accident is under investigation.

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    Pressure-loss and Smoke at 10,000 Feet

    I write a lot of shorthand. Not real secretarial shorthand but the kind that sums up major panicfests into four lines without even an exclamation point. A plane made an emergency landing at such and such a place after it filled with smoke. These people were hurt (or they weren’t), this broke on the plane (or it didn’t) and somebody broke something worse than a nail while exiting via the emergency slide (or they didn’t). I usually don’t have access to a lot of passenger interviews that talk about the terrifying moments between when they found out they were on a plane with issues, and when they were actually safe on the ground, and I mean literally on the ground, probably kissing it for good measure. Well, just because I don’t get a birds-eye view inside a plane showing everyone the human story while the pilots are duking it out in the cockpit for the sake of survival doesn’t mean there aren’t as many passionate plane stories as there are people in the plane. So I do have to apologize once in a while, for my tendency to rattle off the facts. I try to maintain my objectivity most of the time, so some of this news may come across as dull. I feel pretty certain no one aboard the planes feels like its dull.

    So on 29-JAN-2014, there was an emergency landing in Delaware after a Mesa Airlines/United Express CRJ 700 (Canadair CL-600-2C10 Regional Jet CRJ-701ER) Dulles-Boston flight got smokey in the cabin, and the oxygen masks dropped down, both pretty good indicators that something was wrong. They made a safe landing though, in New Castle Airport. There was a loss of pressure, and they descended to 10,000 feet before they landed at 9:55.

    In fact, here’s someone’s twitter about it, probably a passenger.

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    Will Yemenia Airways Be Held Accountable at Last?

    In 2007 there was this Airbus A310 that failed to pass inspection in France and was therefore banned from French Airspace. The plane was still in use though. Yemenia Airlines quit flying the plane over French Airspace, limiting its routes to non-euro airspace like the hop from Sanaa to the Comoros.

    Listen, I’ve heard some bad things about some planes but the descriptions I saw of this plane are so vivid I remember them, even though its been nearly five years. Frankly, the description sounded straight out of Romancing the Stone like the bus that takes Kathleen Turner (romance novelist Joan Wilder) to Cartagena, Colombia—crowded to the gills, livestock inside, seats rolling around, standing room only, everything that was portrayed in the movie, except (one hopes) people hanging off the outside of the plane. This rickety plane, which failed to meet safety standards continued to be in use until it crashed one stormy night in 2009.

    Now, five years later, France is charging Yemenia Airlines with manslaughter.

    I wonder at the timing. Apparently Yemenia Airlines is no longer on the EU banned list.

    I wonder if they waited for Yemenia Airlines to become more solvent before they charged them.

    I wonder if International Lease Finance Corporation is going to be held accountable. They leased the plane to Yemenia; and, like a father who hands his fifteen year old the keys to his car, they could have taken away the keys, or withheld them till the plane was brought up to code.

    I wonder if the delay was five years worth of research, and maybe evidence found.

    I wonder if another accident or enlightening incident happened that pointed the finger at Yemenia.

    I wonder if it was pressure from the families of the 153 passengers and crew (and little Bahia Bakari the twelve year old miracle survivor) aboard that international flight from Sana’a, Yemen to Moroni, Comoros that crashed on 30 June 2009.

    Pressure from the families brings change. I have a lot of confidence in family groups. Plane crash victims are united by a common cause, a cause which is ethical and pragmatic and yet impossible, because they are seeking justice when there can really be none. Because all these people want, if they could have their way, would be to have their loved ones back. They have the power of right on their side; and to make a galvanizing cause even more magnetic, they are fighting for the safety of every future airline passenger. I wish my friend Hans Ephraimson-Abt, who died last October, could be here to witness the charges being brought. He lost a daughter when her plane was shot down in 1983, and ever after made it his business to advocate for families. I think of him now because up until October, whenever I’d post an editorial concerning crashes, or family groups, he would always write back with encouragement, or some pithy bit of advice.

    Maybe I should be objective. After all, helping families in crashes is my business. But when you’re on the front lines of aviation safety trying to get better treatment for victims and the families of victims, it doesn’t take long to feel very personal. There are a lot of people who saw those headlines that France is charging the carrier with manslaughter who think that after four and a half years, it is about time. I just hope that somehow the 152 victims—and Hans—could know that the responsible parties may yet be held accountable.

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    United Express No Lefts Turn Out All Right

    On January 27, 2013, a United Express Jet’s ailerons mid-flight failure fifty miles out forced the pilot of the Shreveport-Denver flight to make an emergency diversion and landing in Wichita.

    The pilot of the Embraer EMB-145XR Flight ? ASQ6099 could not turn left but made a safe landing at Mid-Continent Airport. Kudos to the pilot for figuring out how three lefts make a right (or something to that effect.)

    None of the thirty-nine passengers reported injury.

    Emergency services responded to the scene.

    After the plane taxied to the gate, UE provided transportation alternatives to the passengers.

    We can’t wait to hear what was wrong with the ailerons. Maintenance?

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    Experimental Crash in Brazil kills Deputy Mayor


    A small plane, an INPAER Explorer#PR-ZAL with three aboard was en route from Campos dos Amarais, Campinas to London but disappeared from radar while talking to ATC in Pirassununga Brazil at about ten on January 23rd. The experimental plane was registered but not certified, and barred from flying over populated areas.

    The Brazilian Air Force, Botucatu and São Manuel police forces were searching with a C-105 Amazonas, a H1 and an Eagle Helicopter, and found the remains of the passengers in dense forest, in a rugged area near Monte Alegre.

    The Squad of Campo Grande rescue team is on the scene.

    Locals who heard the failing engine, a roar and saw a flash of light in the woods notified authorities.

    The remains have been identified as:
    -Alderman and Deputy Mayor of Suzano (SP) Jessé Almeida,
    -Edson Geraldino, identified as owner of the plane.

    The identity of the third party, Rubens Geraldino, has not been confirmed by the family. The passengers (uncle and nephew) were from Mogi das Cruzes, SP, Brazil.

    Video Below

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    Slow ID in November 2013 LAM Crash

    Identification of the remains of those aboard the LAM Embraer-190 that crashed en route from Maputo to Luanda is moving at a snails pace. Sixteen of the 33 fatalities have been identified, mostly, according to police reports, by fingerprint evidence.

    The scientists who are making the identification are working with fragments.

    I am not a scientist, and it does not appear that the scientists in this case are using DNA identification. But I did uncover an article here where a forensic scientist explicitly lists the time it takes for DNA identification. This reference might prove useful in providing some kind of framework to the families who are waiting for remains of their recently lost family members to be identified if the Mozambique investigation turns to DNA identification. The families have been waiting since the date of the crash, 29 November 2013.

    The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR), were recovered from the crash site within four days of the crash. But the preliminary report only says:

    NTSB Identification: DCA14RA018
    Accident occurred Saturday, November 30, 2013 in Rundu, Namibia
    Aircraft: EMBRAER ERJ190 – UNDESIGNAT, registration:
    Injuries: 33 Fatal.
    This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. The foreign authority was the source of this information.

    The Namibia Ministry of Works and Transport (MWT) has notified the NTSB of an accident involving an Embraer ERJ-190 that occurred on November 30, 2013. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the MWT investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13 as the State of Manufacturer and Design of the engines.

    All investigative information will be released by the MWT.

    Read more

    Read more

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    Emergency Landing in Baku

    A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 en route from London to Singapore diverted to Baku in the first week of January 2013, after developing pressurization problems. The plane made a safe landing with no injuries.

    Four hundred sixty seven passengers were aboard the flight, and twenty-seven crew, none of whom were injured. Passengers were provided hotel accommodations pending a replacement aircraft from Singapore.

    A faulty door seal was reported to be the cause of the incident. The sound of the leaking air was audible and the flow of air was cold, an beyond the plane’s ability to manage. A replacement door was fitted before the plane flew out. Airbus is participating in the investigation by sending a team to Baku.

    Singapore airlines operates 19 A380’s.

    A photo tweeted by passenger Steve Murphy showed the oxygen masks deployed during the flight, after it began losing cabin pressure on January 6, 2013.

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    No Flaps—Fast Landing

    Delta flight 5104 carrying 47 people from Atlanta to Allentown made an emergency landing at Lehigh Valley International Airport after the Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200 developed problems with its flaps.

    Lehigh Valley International Airport is a regular stop on 5106.

    Air traffic control was notified at 6:35 p.m. and within twenty minutes the flight had made a fast landing without flaps—a fast landing because flaps help the plane slow down.

    No injuries were reported.
    Video Below

    /a>video solutions

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    Emergency Landing at Emerald Airport


    After suffering engine trouble, a Virgin flight for Brisbane returned to Emerald Airport and made an emergency landing.

    No injuries were reported. Emergency services responded to the scene. Passengers were provided overnight accommodations.

    In my experience, this does not happen often to Virgin.

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    NTSB PARTICIPATING IN JAPAN’S INVESTIGATION OF B-787 BATTERY SMOKE EVENT

    A maintenance crew observed a Japan Air Lines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at Tokyo-Narita Airport with white smoke coming from the lithium-ion batteries when one of eight cells started leaking. The euphemism used by the media was “venting gas.” No passengers were aboard and the plane was parked undergoing maintenance when it occurred but 158 passengers scheduled to fly on it were provided a different plane.

    Press Release
    The National Transportation Safety Board will participate in the investigation of a smoke event involving the main battery of a Japan Airlines B-787 that occurred while the aircraft was parked at Tokyo’s Narita Airport on Jan. 14.

    The investigation is being led by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau. NTSB aircraft systems investigator Mike Bauer will travel to Japan to assist with the investigation.

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    Emergency Landing in Phoenix


    US Airways Phoenix to Philly developed engine vibration in a left engine and returned to Phoenix.

    The Boeing 757 circled Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for 90 minutes to burn off fuel then in spite of unwanted oscillation, made a safe landing at 10:50 a.m. Passengers were provided other flights.

    The plane and its engine’s bad vibes are being inspected.

    Jan 16: Flight Aware Tracking of Flight AWE714

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    Turbulence over Atlanta

    On January 10, a Delta Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Jacksonville to Atlanta encountered turbulence on approach to Atlanta.

    A flight attendant was injured.

    No other injuries were reported.

    The incident is under investigation.

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    Parachute Flight Comes to Quick Halt


    On Jan 14, 2013, six people—pilot Marcelo Rodríguez, two instructors and three parachutists—were aboard a Cessna 205 during a parachute flight in Punta el Este, Uraguay.

    When the engine lost power, the pilot made a forced landing and flipped. No fatalities were reported. The injured include Uruguayans, two Argentine women and one other. The injured were treated on the scene by mobile emergency units and then transferred to medical centers in Maldonado and Punta del Este.

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    Southwest Flight Lands at Wrong Airport; Pilots Suspended

    The pilots who flew flight 4013 (Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700) and landed at the wrong airport nine miles from the correct airport on Sunday have been suspended. Yes, they landed safely but at the wrong airport. Hello. The PIC and copilot have a combined flight experience of twenty-six years. Guess they weren’t (as the video says) “paying attention.”

    Nothing for the passengers to worry their pretty little heads about.
    Please note the above line is sarcasm.

    Southwest Airlines said:

    “The Southwest Airlines Pilot in command of flight #4013 safely landed at (PLK) Taney County airport this evening. The Boeing 737-700 carried 124 Customers and a crew of five and was operating as a scheduled flight from Chicago Midway to Branson.

    Our ground crew from the Branson airport has arrived at the airport to take care of our Customers and their baggage. The landing was uneventful, and all Customers and Crew are safe.”

    The runway was half as long as normal, the plane stopping three hundred feet short of the drop off at the runway’s end.

    The PIC was cleared to land at Branson, right before it nailed the landing at M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport.

    So we’re all waiting for the investigation to hear the answers to why it happened, why the co-pilot didn’t catch the mistake (or maybe he did?), if confusion between Branson and Southwest is a common thing, and all those other questions that come up.

    See Videos Below

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    Unidentified Body Discovered


    Remains of some poor soul were discovered on the banks of the Dordogne River ten kilometers from where the helicopter crash killed Hong Kong tycoon Kok Lam. The body has not been identified yet. Due to its condition after being in the water, the id will have to be found through DNA testing. The remains of 12-year-old son Kok Shun-yu, son of Kok Lam, were found indie the Robinson R44 a day after the helicopter crashed.

    The body found in the river may be a person missing since April, which might explain the extent of the damage of the remains.

    Kok Lam was owner of the Hong Kong based Brilliant group, which runs upmarket hotels and other properties, including the newly purchased Château de la Riviere.

    Read more:

    Billionaire Lost in French Helicopter Crash

    Helicopter Lost in Dordogne river