Carrier

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    Guam Route Emergencies Reflecting Vigilance or Roulette?

    After four emergency landings in Guam in the past couple of weeks, Continental/United made a statement to the press.

    Actually, four emergency landings…that’s not that unusual, is it? Of course, they were all at the same airport, with the same airline. I’ve written here recently about shabby looking, poorly maintained commercial airlines. As frequently as I fly, I really do not want to worry about whether or not a plane is capable of staying in the air. I don’t want to worry about a crew with a crippling pecking order, or pilots who don’t know how to fly. I really don’t want to worry about a broken plane.

    I am always pointing out the need for maintenance to keep a plane in peak running order. Maintenance is important; and also, the pilots tell me that it is crucial to keep an eye on safety directives, and concurrent events which may reveal crucial matters affecting entire fleets, such as operating parts nearing the end of their lifespan, faulty parts, etc…

    So someone should maybe look closely at those flights, and see if there is some factor that applies. Better to have prevention now, beforehand, than have a disaster happen, and lawyers looking into it after it is too late. Have these Guam flights been problematic in the past? Why are there problems now?I might ask how necessary are those flights?

    About those 4 landings, Koji Nagata Director of Corporate Communications said that:

    “We treat any issue aboard our aircraft seriously and our pilots will not hesitate to declare an emergency, when the situation warrants, in ensuring landing priority and returning our passengers and crew safely to the ground as quickly as possible. Typically a declaration of an emergency is precautionary in nature, as was true with both cases in question, and the situations were effectively managed without incident.”

    Sure it would be great to never have emergencies. However. The time to handle an emergency IS BEFORE it turns tragic. Being able to handle emergencies is one safety skill at the top of the list of pilot skills, and one that can not be separated from the other skill that is becoming alarming among pilots (pilots who are losing the ability to fly due to automation.)

    Sometimes factors are not clear. For example, it is true that in some recent tragic situations like the RusAir jet crash I talked about yesterday, there was a problem in the cockpit that prevented the crew from coping with the emergency. Bad flying? Primitive Airport? Insubordinate navigator and Inexperienced pilot? But it all came down to one conclusion: together or not, at that date and time, they were unable to cope with their emergency-bad weather, foggy landing, a plane that is a flying behemoth landing in a primitive airport, and they took down a whole plane full of people with them.

    And as for the four emergency landings Continental/United experienced recently:
    -the air speed indicator (PITOT tubes? like in AF447),
    – -two landing gear situations
    -and in the Guam flight CO-117, altitude equipment failure (another tube?)

    The landing gear situations could reflect bad tires, hydraulics, landing at too fast, or even runway conditions; altitude and airspeed problems could be anything on the system, from the tubes to the electronics. Only detailed examination will reveal if there is some common cause

    The planes landed safely. An emergency landing, a precautionary landing (whatever they want to call it), they handled the emergencies proactively, and landed safely. It is a whole lot better than the alternative.

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    British Airways Says No Means No Flying High While Flying High, Drunk Businessman Does UK Time for Drunk and Disorderly

    Convicted of being drunk on an aircraft, and sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court in west London on September 23 after getting drunk on beer and bourbon with friends in Phoenix, and drunker aboard a British Airways Phoenix-London Boeing, Mortgage consultant Timothy Bradley propositioned a woman, shouted, verbally threatened the pilot, and brandished glass.

    Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson was not amused.

    In business class, no less.

    He was arrested when flight 288 arrived at Heathrow.

    He’s paying for it now, and is one month into his three month sentence.

    I only have one thing to say to Timothy Bradley (who may have to look into another line of work when he gets out.)

    Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

    Mark Twain

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    Arctic Charter Plane Crashes in Yellow Knife

    What: Arctic Sunwest Charters De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter en route from Thor Lake to Great Slave Lake
    Where: Old Town in Yellowknife
    When: Sept 22, 2011, 1:15 pm
    Who: 9 aboard, 2 fatalities
    Why: While en route from Avalon Rare Metals’ Thor Lake mine site, the Arctic Sunwest Charters float plane hit powerlines, a car and the Aurora Geosciences building before it crashed in Yellowknife in a small space between a building and a condo. Ironically, the plane ended up across the street from the Arctic Sunwest office, and just shy of Pilot’s Monument, a rock memorial to bush pilots. Emergency services performed cpr and worked on both pilots but they died at the scene. Seven passengers were retrieved from the plane which was crashed into a building, and were hospitalized. One passenger was airlifted to Edmonton.

    Some witnesses say the plane appeared to lose power. The crash was within meters of the Arctic Sunwest Charters dock on Slave Lake.

    The pilots lost in the crash were Trevor Jonasson, 36, and co-pilot 26 year old Nicole Stacey. Stacey was from Yellow Knife, a master corporal reserve soldier with the Canadian Forces’ Yellowknife Company. Survivors, some of whom are American, included three passengers who were Avalon Rare Metals executives, and three company guests on tour, and a photographer shooting for Up Here magazine. The photographer suffered a broken leg and head trauma. The crash occurred in shouting distance of two survivers of the Nunavut crash of flight 6560 near Resolute Bay in August, and the plane lodged between two buildings, and by the Dancing Moose Cafe and the Geosciences Building .

    No one on the street was injured.

    The US NTSB is assisting the Canadian investigation, and released the following:

    The NTSB dispatched a team of investigators to assist the government of Canada in its investigation of Saturday’s crash of First Air flight 6560, a Boeing 737-200 combi airplane.

    On August 20, 2011 at 12:30 p.m. CDT, the airplane, en route from Yellowknife Airport to Resolute Bay Airport, crashed on approach, East of Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada. There are reportedly twelve fatalities and three survivors.

    The NTSB has designated air safety investigator Joe Sedor as the traveling U.S. Accredited Representative. Accompanying Mr. Sedor will be NTSB Operational Factors and Airworthiness investigators and representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Pratt & Whitney and Boeing.

    The Canadian investigation is in its Field Phase.

    The investigation is being conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which will release all information. The TSB phone number is: (819) 994-8053 and email address is: communications@bst-tsb.gc.ca

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    Continental Overactive Heater

    What: Continental Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Newark,NJ to London
    Where: Newark
    When: Sep 19th 2011
    Why: While en route, a cabin sidewall overheated. The crew shut down the local electricity but not before a passenger was burned by the heater. The passenger was treated for minor injuries.

    The incident occurred over Charlottetown in Canada. The flight crew returned to Newark and made a safe landing. A replacement Boeing completed the flight fourteen hours later.

    So, now I wonder why back in Newark, maintenance deactivated the heater instead of repairing the problem. If it was there in the first place to counter a cold spot, did it not need to be repaired? I am hoping this was just deferred until the plane reached the appropriate hub.

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    Drunken Navigator?

    The Russian Interstate Aviation Committee published their report on the June 20 crash of a RusAir jet at Petrozavodsk Airport.

    The crucial factors included poor visibility due to the fog, poor networking among the crew, and the pilot subordinating himself to a navigator in a “light level of intoxication” but was five years older, with 25 years of flight behind him, with 13,000 hours on Tu-134 flights.

    The body of the navigator had a 0.081% blood-alcohol level and it is conjectured that his pre-flight medical was falsified, because the pulse rate is identical to the rest of the crew.

    Although the fleet is aging, no mechanical flaws are cited in the crash. However, according to the Wall Street Journal

    Instead of the automated system required at Russian airports since 1992, investigators said, it measured visibility with nine signposts, but just two of them were illuminated.

    The onboard alarm went off at an altitude 60 meters, when the plane was 270 meters to the right of the runway, eight seconds before it hit the trees and well past the time the navigator should have warned the pilot or the pilot or co-pilot to independently decide to pull up.

    What: Rusline/Rusair Tupolev TU-134A en route from Moscow to Petrozavodsk
    Where: outskirts of the Besovets village, Petrozavodsk, Russia
    When: Jun 20 2011 at 11:40 pm
    Who: 43 passengers and 9 crew, of whom only a flight attendant and 4 passengers survived.
    Why: On approach to the airport, the plane struck the ground about 2600 feet shy of runway 2. On impact, the plane burst into flame, and skidded into the gardens of a residential area, although missing residences.

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    Passengers Get the Raw Deal in Kolkata


    What: Mahan Air en route from Phuket to Tehran
    Where: Kolkata airport
    When: September 21, 2011
    Who: 305 passengers (plus another 176 passengers from another flight)
    Why: Mahan Air ran out of gas in the wrong place and the wrong time. The IOC allows the airline a certain amount of credit, when they pay a security deposit, but they were a month overdue.

    The flight landed in Kolkata, the crew expecting to be able to refuel, and they were grounded. (Indian Oil Corporation.) So the airport lounge filled up with passengers from one…no, make that two Mahan Air flights when a second Mahan flight showed up. There was only room for 280, and the passengers were stuck until morning. Some sources say all 305 were stuck in the airplane, not in an overcrowded lounge for thirteen hours. Anyway, was this the experience they bought when they paid for their ticket? Apparently.

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    Hoax Alarms Oakland Passengers


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

    What: Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 en route from Seattle to Oakland
    Where: Oakland
    When: Sept 19, 2011
    Who: 126 passengers, 6 crew
    Why: While passengers were winging it from Seattle, a handwritten bomb threat note threatening the Oakland flight was found in an airport bookstore in San Francisco International Airport.

    The flight landed at Oakland as planned—twenty minutes early, due to some background aviation networking. The fake crisis brought in some real FBI agents and real bomb sniffing dogs who got everyone out of the plane (and screened); and the plane was sent to an isolated location to (fortunately, not) blow up. No bomb was found.

    A false report or threat of a bomb or harmful device is punishable by up to four years in prison, a $2,000 fine plus reimbursement of costs to government.

    Sent from 37 thousand feet headed to NY

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    TACA Airbus Cockpit Smoking

    What: TACA Peru Airbus A320-200 en route from Lima to Cuzco
    Where: Cuzco
    When: Sep 18th 2011
    Who: 90 passengers
    Why: While en route, the windshield heating system began smoking.

    Pilots continued to Cuzco, stepping up the pace, and made a safe landing, with no injuries. Some passengers erroneously believed the turbine in the right wing was on fire.

    “sobrecalentamiento en el sistema eléctrico de los parabrisas en la cabina de los pilotos originó humo y activó el proceso de emergencia preventiva“, the problem was due to overheating of the windshield heating system, according to TACA, a problem that was essentially a short circuit.

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    Biman Bangladesh Airlines= Running Late Airways

    What: Biman Bangladesh Airlines en route from Dubai to London
    Where: Amman Jordan
    When: Sep 18th 2011
    Who: 193 passengers
    Why: Before this flight, the plane had been delayed in Dhaka Bangladesh with an undesignated problem with an engine that delayed the prior flight for three hours.

    Then, after taking off from Dubai, the plane developed engine problems.

    The pilot diverted the flight to Amman Jordan, where there was a layover as the problem was handled.

    What: Biman Bangladesh Airlines DC10 en route to Jeddha and Riyadh
    Where: Amman Jordan
    When: Sep 18th 2011
    What: Since Thursday, 314 passengers on two DC10 had to wait 40 hours after the (two) Biman Bangladesh Airlines DC10s developed undisclosed problems. After being cleared by immigration,they were held in the airport without food since Saturday. The airlines has been plagued with scheduling issues snowballing after one flight was grounded for hydraulic leaks and another for engine problems. Currently three Biman Bangladesh Airlines are grounded, including a DC-10, a Fokker, and a Boeing 737.

    An unsubstantiated rumor is being circulated that within the airlines “a vested group…may have a hand behind [the flight delays] to realize some personal gains.”

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    Emergency Landing in Jackson

    What: Continental/Expressjet Embraer ERJ-145 en route from Knoxville to Houston
    Where: Jackson, Mississippi
    When: Sept 14 2011
    Who: 52 passengers on board
    Why: After takeoff, there was a popping noise in the cabin, and smoke ensued.

    The pilots diverted to Jackson where they made a safe landing.

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    Military Embraer Crashes in Angola, 6 survivors


    What: Força Aérea Nacional Angolana Embraer 120ER Brasilia en route from Albano Machado to Luanda
    Where: Angola
    When: Sept 14, 2011
    Who: 23 aboard, 17 fatalities
    Why: An Angolan Air Force Embraer 120 Brasilia crashed while trying to land at Albano Machado Airport in Huambo, Angola and was destroyed. Number of those aboard ranges from 23 to 36.

    Media reports say a wheel broke off on landing. Other reports say the plane was flying low and already on fire before it crashed in the Cachingue neighborhood.


    There were six survivors, including the pilot and co-pilot. The back of the crashed plane caught on fire, leaving the survivors who were in the front of the plane. Those dead include s Lt Gen Bernardo Leitao Francisco Diogo, and Lt Gen Elias Malungo Bravo da Costa Pedro, and two unidentified women, and two unidentified children.

    The plane broke in two on impact. The pilot says the problem was mechanical.

    A second accident occurred in Three Bridges, in Lubango, Huila province, killing the pilot of a SU-22.

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    Air India on Flakey Financial Footing


    Newspaper articles in July promised compensation to Air India crash victims, and here it is September, and they’re still arguing about compensation, which is still unpaid.

    Perhaps this is partly due to financial circumstances, as independent sources say all Indian airlines are barely keeping afloat, due to competition, low fares and rising wages and fuel expenses,(not to mention corruption, and failed safety efforts) but in the worst shape are Kingfisher Airlines and the state-owned Air India. Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya who controls Kingfisher, denies rumors of Kingfisher nearing its demise.

    In mid-August, the government said it planned to take three months to financially restructure Air India. The turnaround plan is described as a hub-and-spoke route model. Costs will be cut by redeploying staff and unloading real estate.

    According to Moody’s any loan to Air India is ‘credit negative’. Air India has incurred heavy losses and has been in the red since its the 2007 merger with Indian Airlines.

    In the meantime, who knows when, or how much suffering families will be paid in compensation.

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    1.9 Million Civil Penalty Proposed against Colgan Air

    Formerly Colgan Air was under fire for long-distance commuting, crew-room sleeping and other fatigue-related factors that came to light after the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407. Now the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $1,892,000 civil penalty against Colgan Air of Manassas, Va. a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines, for allowing flight attendants to work on 172 revenue passenger flights when they were not properly trained to use the planes’ cabin fire extinguisher system.

    “FAA rules on flight crew training are designed to help ensure the safety of passengers,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We require carriers to comply with all of our safety rules, and we will not hesitate to take enforcement action when they do not.”

    The 84 newly-hired flight attendants worked flights on the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 twin turbo-prop aircraft between Nov. 3 and Nov. 9, 2009 after the FAA told Colgan the flight attendants had not completed the required training.

    The FAA inspected the carrier’s new-hire flight attendant training for the Q400 on Nov. 2, 2009. The FAA alleges the new Colgan flight attendants were trained with fire extinguishers used on the airline’s Saab 340s, which operate differently than those used on the Q400.
    “The airlines have to properly train crewmembers on the use of emergency equipment,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “The flight attendants’ primary responsibility is to know exactly how to handle emergency situations, and they can’t carry out that responsibility if they’re not properly trained.”

    Colgan has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the agency.

    According to Colgan, “Colgan Air was using the same type extinguisher for both the Saab 340B and Q400 training, although the Q400 extinguisher has a hose. This occurred in November 2009, and all flights during this period were completed safely and Colgan remains in compliance with these requirements today.

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    Engine Fire at Dulles, Three Evacuation Injuries


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Ronald J Stella

    What: United Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Washington DC to San Francisco,CA
    Where: CHANTILLY Virginia
    When: Sep 14th 2011
    Who: 179 passengers and 6 crew
    Why: Before taking off, while still at the airport on ramp for departure, the plane developed immediate problems.

    Smoke was reported coming from the right engine. Pilots stopped, the emergency slides were deployed, and passengers, three of whom were injured on the slides, evacuated from the plane.

    Emergency services were on standby. On inspection, no fire was found.

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    Last Surviving Hockey Hero Succumbs

    Aleksandr Galimov, the last of the Russian Hockey team had been found after the crash standing in the river, tearing off his burning shirt. He survived the crash but died Monday at the burn clinic, five days after the crash.

    The plane struggled to gain altitude on takeoff and crashed about a mile from the end of the runway.

    The Yak-42 is an aging Soviet-designed narrow-body aircraft, the frequent focus of safety concerns after a series of problems and crashes.

    After the last fatal Yak-42 crash crash of this behemoth is blamed on pilot error, it is my opinion that someone is in denial.

    Read more … Yak 42 Crashes on Takeoff from Yaroslavl, Hockey Team Wiped Out

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    Chile Turns to Psychic Leonor del Carmen Díaz

    What: Grupo 10, Fuerza Aerea de Chile CASA 212 Aviocar en route from Santiago to isla Juan Fernandez
    Where: near the Juan Fernandez islands
    When: Sept 2, 2011 4:58 p.m.
    Who: 21 aboard, 21 fatalities
    Why: The Chilean air force plane on a relief flight attempted to land, but the landing was aborted twice as pilots fought hard winds. On the third attempt, the flight disappeared from radar, as witnesses saw it veer left. It was lost at sea.

    In addition to the usual sources, Defence Minister Andres Allamand of Chile told the world Chile has turned to a psychic who was on one of the search boats as it looked for 17 bodies missing off of the island believed to have been the setting for the novel Robinson Crusoe by 18th century British author Daniel Defoe, the main island of the Juan Fernandez archipelago.

    The local psychic who assisted was Leonor del Carmen Díaz. She drew a map of her “vision” of the accident that revealed to her body of the “plane on the ocean floor with victims’ bodies still strapped in their seat belts inside it.”

    WE believe in whatever it takes to find the bodies, and if a Psychic works by all means.

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    Continental Express Emergency Landing

    What: Continental Express flight from Knoxville to Houston
    Where: Jackson- Evers International Airport
    When: Sep 12, 2011, 11:45 am
    Who: 52 aboard
    Why: The flight was en route to Houston when it developed problems including smoke in the cockpit.

    The crew heard an audible pop when they began smelling (but not seeing) smoke. The pilots diverted to Jackson- Evers International Airport and made a safe landing. Emergency services were on standby during the landing. THere were no reported injuries.

    Repairs were made to the plane and the flight resumed by 12:30 pm.

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    DGCA Gulf Air Landing Examined

    What: Gulf Air Airbus A320-200 en route from Bahrain to Kochi, India
    Where: Kochi
    When: Aug 28th 2011, 3.55 am
    Who: 137 passengers and 6 crew, 8 injuries
    Why: In examining this August incident, after doing some runway testing, the DGCA is blaming the accident on a slick runway.

    However defects have been found in the plane’s front wheel. And the statement of the DCGA’s opinion also mentions pilot error. So they have released a statement combining pilot error, plane flaws and a bad runway as being behind the runway excursion.

    Can a pilot land on a slick runway? What exactly was the pilot’s error in this situation? Does the entire runway have the identical friction coefficient or just the area tested? Runway friction is also going to be affected by the condition of the tires; what was the condition of the tire before it blew? Inquiring minds want to know.

    Airport testing at Cochin airport revealed airport friction level.

    A C K Nair, director of the Cochin airport made the following defensive statement:

    “As per the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) norms the friction coefficients of the runways should not go below 0.34, while the value was 0.61 to 0.86 till recently. On the day of the mishap the average value was hovering between 0.52 and 0.84. The value at the spot where the ill-fated aircraft touched the runway was 0.75 to 0.85. We did another test on September 3 and the value was above 0.5.’

    Read More about Gulf Air Airbus Skids into Mud On landing in Kochi

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    Congo Plane Excursion

    What: Protocole Aviation Douglas DC-8 freight flight from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville
    Where: Brazzaville
    When: Sep 12th 2011
    Who: 4 crew
    Why: En route transporting food from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville in the Congo, the flight landed hard. A tire burst on landing, resulting in the plane going off the runway.

    The landing gear was damaged.

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    Virgin Airbus Emergency Landing in Grand Junction


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

    What: Virgin America Airbus en route from San Francisco to New York City
    Where: Grand Junction Colorado
    When: September 8, 2011, 2:00 a.m.
    Who: 111 passengers and 6 crew
    Why: While en route, the Virgin America flight experienced problems, described by one passenger as “the engine quit” and by another as “a giant flame from the engine.” While en route, passengers were awakened by a loud noise, and according to one passenger, flight attendants rushed to the cockpit.

    Pilots shut the engine down and continued the flight. Individuals with military experience were asked to assist in case of emergency.

    (We don’t usually get this much detail, but it is clear that the passengers were terrified. Pilots always say these huge jets with multiple engines are built to fly without one, in case of emergency; but personally I can relate more to the anxiety of the passengers than the confidence of pilots in their machines. Though one has to admit, knowing a pilot confident in his plane is flying is more comforting to a passenger than a pilot who is hysterical.)

    Pilots explained the situation to the passengers. Forty minutes later landed safely in Grand Junction.

    Passengers were provided hotel accommodation, $150 for another flight, and another flight was provided within ten hours. The incident is under investigation.

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    Air India Emergency Landing in Kolkata

    What: Air India plane en route from Guwahat to Kolkata
    Where: NSCB International airport
    When: Sept 9 2011
    Who: 105 passengers
    Why: On approach to the airport, the plane developed issues with the landing gear, and declared an emergency.

    Rescue services were on standby as the pilot landed the plane. No injuries were reported.

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    Update: Aerocon Found in Bolivian Amazon Jungle, One Survivor


    One of the SA-227’s in the Aerocon fleet.
    CP-2548 is missing. (CP-2527 is pictured )

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

    Minor Vidal, the sole survivor was found in the Amazon jungle. Minor said “I did not eat anything, nothing, just drank my urine when I was thirsty. The first night I slept on the plane and two nights in the jungle. I did not understand why the plane was flying so low. Then there was a heavy blow. I do not remember more. When I awoke, I saw the airplane game, could not move. I stayed in my seat, I was in the back of the plane. The next day [Wednesday], I went and did my blood with an arrow on a shirt to get me. They were all dead. I walked day and night to be found by the patrol.”

    Colombian Oscar Valencia, the William Lara Ecuador and Bolivian indigenous leader Eddy Martinez died in the crash.
    What: Aerocon Swearingen SA-227 Metroliner en route from Santa Cruz to Trinidad Bolivia
    Where: Trinidad
    When: Sep 6th 2011
    Who: 7 passengers, 2 crew
    Why: On final approach to Trinidad, the pilots lost contact with ATC.
    The instrument approach to the airport requires overflying North and then turning back. (See the airport chart below.)

    The last contact was reporting the flight was “in the procedure turn” but the flight did not land on the runway, and went missing in a mountainous area.

    Rescuers reached the crash site in the afternoon of Sept 8 and confirmed that there were survivors.

    The wreckage of the plane was located 30km north-east of the city of Trinidad, in the Amazon jungle province of Beni. Chacon reported on thursday that a helicopter crew had seen the plane “completely destroyed” in a difficult-to-reach jungle region.

    Six bodies were recoverable immediately when the wreckage was found. Two bodies trapped in the wreckage required rescue teams and equipment.

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    TWO Pia Bomb Hoaxes

    What: PIA Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A310-300 en route from Lahore Pakistan to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
    Where: Kuala Lumpur
    When: Sep 7th 2011
    Who: 176 passengers
    Why: While en route, Pakistan International Airlines received an email there was a bomb aboard the flight.

    The plane landed safely in Kuala Lumpur. No bomb was found.

    What: PIA Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777-300 en route from Lahore (Pakistan) to Manchester,EN
    Where: Istanbul
    When: Sep 7th 2011
    Who: 378 passengers
    Why: While over the black sea, the airline received an email claiming bombs were planed on the flight. The pilots diverted to Istanbul, where the flight was inspected and no bomb was found.

    After immediate evacuation, both planes underwent thorough examination.

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    Door Switch Oops Rolls Nippon Flight


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

    What: All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-700 en route from Okinawa to Tokyo Haneda
    Where: Hamamatsu
    When: Sep 6th 2011
    Who: 2 crew injured
    Why: While en route, the co-pilot accidentally activated the rudder trim switch instead of the door mechanism.

    The plane descended 6000 feet and rolled, injuring a couple of flight attendants. The first officer—2400 hours— leveled off, and was able to admit the captain who was stuck outside the cockpit, waiting to get in.

    The flight continued without incident.

    In George’s Point of View

    If there is a problem, it comes out, eventually. My pilots tell me that after there is some kind of incident, we need to keep an eye on new incidents, reports, recalls, and especially advisories, directives and safety alerts. There can always be a relationship, no matter how obscure it seems at first glance.

    You know how everyone has been looking at Air France Flight 447 with a new eye, ever since examination into the Air France Flight 471 on July 22 apparently fooled the autopilot into quitting with a swift descent. And Airbus investigators looked at this event twice because you have two the same plane types doing something similar?

    Well, on the surface, this Nippon incident reminds me of Ethiopia Flight 409. It only reminds me because I saw a line drawing of the route of the plane as it spiraled out of control. It also was a 737.

    I’m not calling the situation identical. Certainly if one of the pilots were locked out on a bathroom break—not that a pilot would do this on takeoff!—it would turn up on the voice recorder.

    What if on Ethiopia Flight 409, someone had needed admission into the cabin?

    It just makes me wonder if it is possible that the cabin crew accidentally activated the rudder trim switch. The Ethiopian Airlines plane had just taken off; it would not have been high enough to drop 6000 feet before recovery.

    I know this thought is right out of the blue, and probably has no basis in anything but my wild imagination, but I am told by my pilots that although the switches are dissimilar, the door unlock switch is right next to the rudder trim. So, is it possible the trim switch could have been inappropriately engaged by accident on Flight 409?

    Some airlines rectify this by requiring a third party to open the door if someone leaves the cockpit, but I have to wonder if this could be a design problem.