Jetstar Airways flight JQ-1 had to return and make an emergency landing in Melbourne, Australia, on January 6th.
The Boeing 787-8 plane took off for Honolulu, Hawaii, but had to turn back due to failure of an anti-ice system.
The plane landed safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
Envoy Air flight MQ-3612 had to return and make an emergency landing at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, on December 8th.
The plane took off for Wichita Falls, Texas, but had to turn back due to a problem with the anti-ice system.
The plane landed back safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
KLM flight KL-1641 had to return and make an emergency landing in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on January 19th.
The plane took off for Florence, Italy, but had to turn back due to the failure of anti-ice systems.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Michael Brazier-Aviation-Images
What: Air France Airbus A340-300 en route from Paris to Bogota
Where: Guadeloupe
When: Mar 11th 2012
Who: 224
Why: While en route, a valve of the anti-ice system failed. Pilots diverted to Guadeloupe, where they stayed long enough to make repairs, before continuing on to Bogota less than four hours late.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Kazuchika Naya
What: ANA All Nippon Airways Airbus A320-200 en route from Oita to Tokyo
Where: Oita Japan
When: Mar 2 2012
Who: 85 passengers, 6 crew
Why: The All Nippon Airways flight had taken off when the anti-ice system on the left engine failed.
The pilots returned to the airport.
Passengers were provided an alternative flight to Tokyo.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Ryan Hothersall
What: Qantas Boeing 737-800 en route from Sydney to Brisbane
Where: Sydney
When: Jul 26th 20
Why: While en route, the anti-icing system of the 737 failed. The flight diverted to Sydney and made a safe landing–after having experienced the same problem on the 25th.
It would be interesting to know the details of the system failure. Around this time last year, Air France Flight 447 went down in mysterious circumstances; it is speculated that the pitot tubes froze over, and that the fly by wire Airbus (unlike this Qantas Boeing) was rendered uncontrolled.
So if this was a frozen pitot tube situation where the pilots were able to make a safe landing in a Boeing, one wonders if aspects of Airbus fly by wire should be re-considered.
But this is food for thought only, as I do not have the exact details of the anti-ice system failure.