United Airlines

  • | | | | | |

    Atlanta Emergency Landing with Jammed Nose Wheels


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

    What: United/Shuttle America Embraer ERJ-170 en route from Atlanta,GA to Newark,NJ
    Where: Newark
    When: Feb 27th 2012 6:20 p.m
    Who: 69 passengers and 4 crew
    Why: While on approach to Newark, the crew received a gear disagreement msg, and aborted their approach. Fire and other rescue crews were on the scene; ground crews sprayed the plane with foam fire retardant.

    While circling, the crew attempted to fix the problem and performed a flyby. The flyby indicated that the nose gear was not down. ATC is recorded as saying “You got no nose gear… Door might have opened. Saw a little bump.”

    The pilots replied “Even if you see that nose wheel down, we’re not going to know it’s completely down and locked. I would like to go ahead and declare an emergency at this time. And request fire rescue when we get there, assuming we stop on the runway.”

    The pilots landed on the second approach and performed a belly landing.

    As the plane filled with smoke, passengers evacuated via slides and were bussed to the gate. They were well prepared; passengers were alerted to the impending rough landing when the plane was 45 minutes out.

    Note: “Examination found that the nose wheels were found turned perpendicular in the wheel well, impeding extension.” The problem may have originated with the hydraulics.


  • | | | | |

    Fake Cigarette Leads to On Board Assault


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

    What: United Boeing 737-800 en route from Portland to Houston
    Where: Portland
    When: Feb 21st 2012
    Who: 1 unruly passenger
    Why: Twenty minutes after departing, the flight was back in Portland dropping off Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan, after he had taken a swing at a flight attendant, and hit several passengers prior to being subdued and handcuffed. The Saudi Arabian passenger was yelling profanities, and chanting about Osama bin Laden and his hatred of women.

    A relative says Abunayyan suffers from schizophrenia. The cousin, Fahad Alsubaie who was accompanying Yazeed said he was escorted off the plane too, and that the disruption began after a flight attendant confronted the two for sitting together.

    Last Sunday Abunayyan led police on a slow-speed chase in the Southern Oregon town Sunday, ramming two police cars and nearly hitting a pedestrian, charged with drunken driving and assaulting an officer and was released on bail Monday. The cousin was there too, trying to stop the car by taking the keys.
    Abunayyan said that the “other person inside me” was driving.

    Continental bans the use of electronic, simulated smoking materials

  • | | | | |

    Overrun in NY


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer o Ralph Duenas

    What: Trans States Airlines Embraer ERJ-145 en route from Chicago O’Hare,IL to Rochester,NY
    Where: Rochester
    When: Feb 22nd 2012
    Who: 42 passengers and 3 crew
    Why: The flight made a fast landing on the wet runway in less than ideal conditions, overrunning the edge of the runway.

    There were no injuries. Passengers disembarked and were driven to the gate; the plane had to be towed, which closed the runway. The plane had minor damage.

  • | | | |

    Emergency Landing in Bangladesh

    What: United Airways ATR en route from Dhaka to Chittagong
    Where: Hazrat Shah Amanat International Airport
    When: Feb 20, 2012 8:20pm
    Who: 50 aboard
    Why: The pilot was en route to Chittagong when the plane developed a problem with one of the engines. On advice from ATC, the pilot was able to land safely ten minutes early.

    Examination has not uncovered the engine problem.

    A replacement jet has been provided for the return flight.

    ATC adviced

  • | | |

    Sacramento Bird Strike

    What: United Airlines Boeing 737-800 en route from Sacramento to Houston
    Where: Sacramento
    When: January 21, 2012 6:00 a.m.
    Who: 0 injuries
    Why: On takeoff, the plane suffered a bird strike which damaged an engine. The plane landed, and passengers disembarked. Passengers were provided alternatives, but the United Airlines Boeing is out of commission until repairs can be made.

  • | | | | |

    United Airlines/Star Gear Complication Returns Flight to Taipai


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

    What: United Boeing 777-200 en route from from Taipai to Tokyo
    Where: Taipei
    When: Jan 3rd 2011
    Who: 270 aboard
    Why: After the flight took off, the nose gear doors failed to close.
    Pilots circled for an hour and returned to make a safe landing.

    There were no injuries. The flight was cancelled.

  • | | | |

    United Airlines Emergency Landing in Wisconsin

    [nokia-maps template=”nokia.blue.place” sizes=”{‘width’: ‘auto’,’height’: ‘370’,’label’: ‘Auto’}” placeId=”840dpcm4-a46ee2b1271748de83b8b4ac98241564″ ]
    What: United Airlines Michigan to Chicago
    Where: Green Bay
    When: Dec 1 2011
    Who: 21 passengers
    Why: After takeoff, the flight developed problems with the landing gear. Pilots diverted to Green Bay where they made a safe landing at Austin Straubel International Airport.

    Passengers were provided alternate flights from Green Bay.

  • | | | | | | |

    Denver to Toronto Returns after “pop” and smoke


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Je89 W.

    What: United Airlines/Shuttle America Embraer ERJ-170 en route from Denver,CO to Toronto
    Where: Denver
    When: Nov 23rd 2011
    Who: 68 passenger
    Why: While climbing out of Denver, passengers and crew smelled smoke in the cabin.

    A newscast said that passengers heard a “pop” before the pilots turned around and returned to the Denver airport.

    They made a safe landing. Passengers disembarked on the runway and were provided an alternative flight.

  • | |

    Bomb Threat Calls for Marriage Counseling

    What: China United Airlines flight en route from Beijing to Urumqi
    Where: Jiayuguan Airport in Gansu province
    When: Oct 13, 2011
    Who: Mrs. Wang
    Why: Apparently 27 year old Mrs Wang wanted to make her husband worry, so she made a fake bomb and said it was aboard the flight, which diverted to Jiayuguan Airport. There was no actual bomb, which investigators discovered, and the plane was sent on its way after the inspection.

    Mrs. Wang was detained. Her husband was not aboard the plane.

  • | | | |

    The Guam Question: What Happened on Flight 001?


    United/Continental flights to Guam have been laden with issues. Landing gear problems and other issues abound; and it happened again on Sunday, the fifth time in a month.

    This was aother emergency landing, although officially they are saying there was no incident. There was a nose gear problem reported, however; and the safe landing was made in spite of it.

    Airport rescue services were on hand when the flight landed, prepared to handle the Landing gear malfunction, which turned out to be a landing gear indicator malfunction.

  • | | | | | |

    Another United/Continental Emergency over Guam International Airport


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Yunjin Lee – Korea Aero Photo

    What: United/Continental 767-400 en route from Honolulu to Guam
    Where: Guam International Airport
    When: Oct 2, 2011
    Who: 247 passengers
    Why: Would you believe it? On approach to Guam (again) there was a problem with a United/Continental flight.(We’ve reported three or four of them in the past couple of weeks.) This approach to Guam International Airport was aborted because the plane indicated a problem with the landing gear. Pilots circled, as they dealt with the issue. A flyby resolved the question of if the landing gear was down (it was visibly engaged);

    The pilots were able to land safely, fortunately with an indicator malfunction rather than a gear malfunction.

  • | | | |

    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.

  • | | | |

    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.

  • | | | | | | | |

    Hard Landing in Ottawa, Roughing it on United Airlines


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

    What: Trans States Airlines Embraer ERJ-145/United Airlines en route from Chicago to Ottawa
    Where: Ottawa International Airport
    When: Sep. 04 2011
    Who: 44 passengers, 3 crew
    Why: On landing in Ottawa, the plane slid, and veered off the side of the runway, with collapsed main gear struts.

    On Apr 28th 2011, an Embraer ERJ-145 landed in Moscow with collapsed main gear.

    Last year, another plane with the same airline also skidded off the runway into soft ground.

    Sunday’s passengers describe coming down from a dark cloud to land in rain.

    The landing is under investigation.

    In George’s Point of View

    I do not know if this runway is incorrectly graded for drainage, or if the ERJ-145 has a special problem with main gear struts or struts in hard landings.

    I do know I fly 100,000 miles on United in order to keep my status as a 1K member.

    I do not know if the maintenance of the aircraft is as terrible as the typical maintenance of United plane interiors. If so, then we have huge problems. The refurbished planes of two years ago already look worn out. The galleys are grimy looking the toilets are terrible.

    I could say bad things about the food, the lav hot water is not hot enough to meet standards required by most states for food workers, (where I have never seen Waterless Hand Sanitizers and for sure, NEVER have seen a food preparer or server wear gloves.)

    Is United maintenance absolutely out of control? Maybe this stretches to other airlines, economizing on staff and maintenance due to the times.

    I fly Delta, American, Virgin, they have some of the same issues, but, I see these problems in the United flights, no matter which direction I am headed.

    Who knows yet if this incident is runway or plane, pilot training or just an old plane that needs better maintenance. But whatever truths the investigation reveals, the fact remains that no one steps up to the plate until something bad happens.

  • |

    United Airlines Launches Paperless Flight Deck With iPad

    FIRST NETWORK CARRIER TO INTRODUCE PAPERLESS AERONAUTICAL NAVIGATION CHARTS; MOVE ENHANCES EFFICIENCY, SAVES FUEL, IMPROVES SAFETY

    CHICAGO, Aug. 23, 2011 — United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) today announced that it is converting to paperless flight decks and deploying 11,000 iPads to all United and Continental pilots. The electronic flight bags (EFB) replace paper flight manuals, and as a first for major network carriers, provide pilots with paperless aeronautical navigational charts through an iPad app. Distribution of iPads began earlier this month, and all pilots will have them by year end.  

    “The paperless flight deck represents the next generation of flying,” said Captain Fred Abbott, United’s senior vice president of flight operations. “The introduction of iPads ensures our pilots have essential and real-time information at their fingertips at all times throughout the flight.”

    Navigational Charting App Breaks New Ground

    The iPads are loaded with Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck, the industry’s premier app featuring interactive, data-driven enroute navigation information and worldwide geo-referenced terminal charts. The enhanced full-color, high-quality information display ensures the right information is displayed at the right time.

     

    “We are proud to partner with United Airlines on a project of this magnitude with Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck,” said Mark Van Tine, president and CEO of Jeppesen. “Jeppesen and United share a long and storied history that includes development of numerous innovations for the aviation industry. We look forward to continuing this partnership in integrating our digital mobile solutions that increase efficiency, reduce costs and optimize operations.”    

     

    Saving 16 Million Sheets of Paper and 326,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel a Year

    Each iPad, which weighs less than 1.5 pounds, will replace approximately 38 pounds of paper operating manuals, navigation charts, reference handbooks, flight checklists, logbooks and weather information in a pilot’s flight bag. A conventional flight bag full of paper materials contains an average of 12,000 sheets of paper per pilot. The green benefits of moving to EFBs are two-fold—it significantly reduces paper use and printing, and, in turn, reduces fuel consumption. The airline projects EFBs will save nearly 16 million sheets of paper a year which is equivalent to more than 1,900 trees not cut down. Saving 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 3,208 metric tons.

     

    iPad Improves Efficiency and Safety

    With iPad, pilots are able to quickly and efficiently access reference material without having to thumb through thousands of sheets of paper and reduce clutter on the flight deck. United and Continental pilots’ work will be streamlined as they can immediately download updates on iPad to their electronic flight materials, rather than waiting for paper updates to be printed and distributed. In addition, by eliminating bulky flight bags loaded with paper, pilots will have less to lift and carry through airports and onboard the aircraft, reducing the risk of injury while on duty.

  • | | |

    Vegas Diversion

    What: United Airlines en route from New York to Los Angeles
    Where: McCarran International Airport
    When: July 23, 2011 1:30 pm
    Who: 111 passengers
    Why: While en route, a light indicated a mechanical emergency, leading the crew to divert to Los Angeles. They made a safe landing at McCarran International Airport.

    Firefighters said there was a problem with the cooling equipment.

    The plane’s departure was delayed.

  • | | | | |

    United Airlines Omaha-bound Engine Shut Down


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

    What: United Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from San Francisco to Boston
    Where: Omaha Nebraska
    When: June 29, 2011, 8:20 pm
    Who: 181 passengers, 6 crew
    Why: While en route to Boston, the plane developed a fuel leak in its right engine. The engine was shut down.

    The pilot made a safe landing in Boston within 20 minutes.

    Passengers were provided an alternative flight.

  • Stranded Friday, United Airlines Unglitched Saturday

    Stranded Friday, June 17, 2011 is over.

    United Airlines flyers will be glad to know that the network connectivity problem that led to all UA flights being grounded is fixed. Stranded Friday only lasted 5 hours though repercussions won’t be confined to those 300 minutes. Long lines appeared, with stranded passengers stuck overnight, on an international scale.

    United and Continental merged in May 2010 but Continental was able to continue operations.

    Ticket agents were mystified and besieged. Everything is online, including check-in, so there was no choice but to stop everything.

    The five hour interruption in service will be affecting schedules for up to a week in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. For affected passengers, during the duration of the event, their information disappeared, and they were stranded.

    31 flights cancelled, 105 flights delayed

    Ironically, the United Airline ticket refund request is an online function. During the event, announcements were made that rescheduling of affected flights will not incur additional charges.

  • | | | | |

    United Airlines Smoke in Cockpit

    What: United Airlines/Skywest Canadair CRJ-200 en route from Lincoln,NE to Denver,CO
    Where: Lincoln Nebraska
    When: June 6 2011, 7 am
    Who: 53 passengers 3 crew
    Why: On takeoff from Lincoln Airport, the crew detected smoke in the cockpit.

    Pilots returned immediately to Lincoln and made a safe landing. Maintenance examined the plane. Takeoff was delayed for 9 hours.

  • | | | | |

    On Board Fisticuffs over Washington DC


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

    What: United Airlines Boeing 767 en route from Chantilly Virginia to Ghana
    Where: en route
    When: May 29 , 2011
    Who: 144 passengers
    Why: After passenger one reclined his seat into passenger two’s lap, passenger two objected
    and slapped passenger one in the head. Apparently passenger one retaliated. This escalated into a fight, which had to be broken up by passenger 3 and a flight attendant.

    The fight that erupted between passengers resulted in a fighter escort from Andrews Air Force Base being sent in to shadow the flight on its return/diversion to Washington.

    No one was arrested and no charges were filed, but police did meet the UA flight on its arrival. The flight was delayed for eighteen hours.

  • | | |

    Turbulence Injures Attendent

    What: United Airlines /Shuttle America Embraer ERJ-170 en route from Chicago to Newark
    Where: Detroit
    When: Apr 23rd 2011
    Why: While en route, the flight encountered severe turbulence that injured a flight attendant. The pilot diverted to detroit and made a safe landing. It is not clear if the flight attendant was hospitalized in detroit, only that undesignated injuries occurred.

  • | |

    Airbus 320 Reboot Confounds United Airlines Pilots

    United Airlines pilots guilty as charged again, in that Airbus 320 that had to make an emergency return to New Orleans on April 4. A pilot in command should know he can’t skip procedures on the checklist (especially an Airbus checklist) or else there are consequences. In this case, the emergency restore didn’t work.

    Ok, lest anyone accuse me of being incorrectly legal instead of correctly tongue-in-cheek, no one was “charged” with anything.

    On April 4, 2011, the United Airlines Airbus 320-232 (N409UA), serial number 462, left Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and returned 20 minutes after take-off due to electrical difficulties and an indication of smoke in the cockpit.

    But the NTSB investigation points to pilot error. And as far as I am concerned any error that does not result in damage, but does result in amended procedures is a good thing. What has happened as a result of this pilot error is a revision to the pilot checklist that pilots have to follow when they are handling electrical malfunctions. The malfunction was not really the pilots however. There was a faulty fire-warning sensor, but the reboot procedures just made it worse since in the reboot procedure, a generator didn’t get turned back on.

    Consequences the pilots had to deal with as a result of the absent generator included a blank screen for the copilot, steering issues with the jet’s nose gear and antiskid protection for the brakes, and the intercom.

    It must have been a pretty exciting 20 minute ride for the passengers, as it ended on emergency slided.

  • | | |

    New Orleans: Smokeless Emergency Landing Examined

    The NTSB report says there was no smoke, no burning and wonders why the CVR and data recorder were turned off before the incident. (Procedure for the ECAM indication is to shut down certain electrical systems.) Pilots were acting on “autothrottle-related message” followed by an avionics smoke warning message that was accompanied by “instructions to land” but apparently neither the pilots and crew (who “reportedly received automated warnings and detected smoke in the cockpit) actually smelled smoke. Furthermore some news articles have talked about passengers being treated for smoke exposure which was more likely injury occurring on an emergency slide.

    What: United Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from New Orleans,LA to San Francisco,CA
    Where: Louis Armstrong Airport
    When: April 4 2011 7:20 a.m. after a 13 minute flight
    Who: 100 passengers 5 crew
    Why: After takeoff, the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit, and returned to the airport. The pilot reported losing all instruments, and landed on backup power, blowing out a tire and running off the runway. Passengers evacuated via slides.

    Read more

  • | | | | | | |

    NTSB TEAM Investigating New Orleans Emergency Landing

    On April 4, 2011, a United Airlines Airbus 320-232 with 109 passengers and crew aboard returned to the airport about 20 minutes after take-off due to electrical difficulties and smoke in the cockpit. On landing, the crew described a loss of anti-skid braking and nose-wheel steering and passengers had to exit via slide. (The right front slide failed.) Dan Bower is investigator-in-charge of the NTSB team including reps of Federal Aviation Administration,United Airlines, the Air Line Pilots Association, theAssociation of Flight Attendants, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and an Airbus rep appointed by the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) of the Government of France.


    What: United Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from New Orleans,LA to San Francisco,CA
    Where: Louis Armstrong Airport
    When: April 4 2011 7:20 a.m. after a 13 minute flight
    Who: 100 passengers 5 crew
    Why: After takeoff, the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit, and returned to the airport. The pilot reported losing all instruments, and landed on backup power, blowing out a tire and running off the runway. Passengers evacuated via slides.

    After landing, passengers were taken to the Hilton.

    TRANSCRIPT OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER, PILOT CONVERSATION
    UA 497: Clear for takeoff runway 19, thank for you very much.
    UA 497: We need to vector back to the airport, we got a smoke issue with the airplane.
    N.O. Approach: Turn right 030 (degrees) and maintain 4,000 (feet.)
    UA 497: 030 4,000. And we’d like the longest runway please.
    N.O. Approach: There are men and equipment on the runway – they’re going to try to get them off now. Descend at pilot’s discretion. Maintain 2,000.
    UA 497: We are declaring an emergency and please roll equipment for our landing please.
    N.O. Approach: We are unable for (runway) 10, can you take (runway) 19?
    UA 497: ..no..
    N.O. Approach: Roger, we are clearing the runway now.
    Airport operations: How much time do we have?
    New Orleans Tower: I’d say they are about 11 miles to the west.
    Airport operations: Tower, we can start trying to pull them off, but I don’t think we will get them all off in time.
    N.O. Approach: United 497, Say souls on board and fuel remaining.
    UA 497: 106 souls on board, fuel remaining 32,400 pounds.
    N.O. Approach: They are still trying to get all the vehicles off the runway and 19 is still available if you like….
    New Orleans Tower: … working as fast as they can (unintelligible) There is a bunch of equipment on there they’re tying to get off now.
    UA 497: You need to clear it for us.
    New Orleans Tower: I understand, sir. We’re getting them off as fast as we can.
    N.O. Approach: Turn right heading 140, main 2,000 ….cleared ILS runway 10 approach.
    New Orleans Tower: Can you verify the vehicles are exiting?
    Airport operations: We are attempting to get the vehicles off right now, I’m removing the cones also.
    New Orleans Tower: OK, cause I haven’t seen any of the vehicles move and the aircraft is ten to the northwest and they have to have runway 100.
    N.O. Approach: United 497, Turn right heading 180.
    UA 497: um…. We only have one… um … (Alarms sounding in background.)
    N.O. Approach: United 497 say again sir?
    New Orleans Tower: We need three minutes to get the runway clear.
    UA 497: (alarms blaring) We’ve lost all our instruments right now and we’re going to need (directions)
    N.O. Approach: United turn left heading, 20 degrees left
    N.O. Approach: Just continue left turn, I’ll tell you when to stop.
    UA 497: (unintelligible) What vector are we from the airport?
    N.O. Approach: Right now sir you are on the 330 degree heading from the airport. Northwest of the airport for runway 19er. If you continue on this present heading you’ll set up on the shoreline for 19.
    UA 497: Shoreline for 19.
    N.O. Approach: I can set u up there or I can vector you, what’d you need?
    UA 497: That’s fine.
    N.O. Approach: (unintelligible…)You got the water, right?
    UA 497: Yeah, we got the water and we’re going to stop here about 600 feet.
    N.O. Approach: Roger that. The airport’s currently at your 1 o’clock and five miles.
    UA 497: 1 o’clock and five miles roger.
    New Orleans Tower to fire crews: Fox-6, next arrival runway 19er is our aircraft. And the aircraft is approximately 3 miles northwest runway 19er.
    N.O. Approach: If you start your right turn now I can set you up on final.
    UA 497: Start turn on final.
    New Orleans Tower to fire crews: The aircraft is over the shoreline around two miles out. You do have permission to proceed on to the runway after he lands.
    N.O. Approach: Make a right turn. The airport is off to yoru right side,
    N.O. Approach: 497, clear to land 19er. You’ll be able to make it sir? Winds 180 at 16, gusts to 20, Clear to land. Runway 19er.
    New Orleans Tower to fire trucks: Fox-5, this is our aircraft touvh ing down bow.
    New Orleans Tower: Follow the aircraft down the runway.
    New Orleans Tower: We’re going to need runway 10 operational. Runway 19er is fouled at this time.

  • | | | |

    Unruly United Airlines Passengers Trip Cut Short


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

    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.