Virgin America flight VX-108 made an emergency landing at at Los Angeles International Airport, California, on February 18th.
The Airbus A320-200 plane, heading from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles International Airport, had to return due to issue with retracting the landing gear.
The plane landed uneventfully. All 110 passengers and crew members remained safe.
The airline arranged a replacement plane for the passengers.
Xiamen Airlines flight MF-8106 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Nanchang, China, on February 17.
The Boeing 787-800 was heading from Beijing to Xiamen, China, when an oil indication prompted the crew to to shut down the right hand engine and divert for an emergency landing.
The plane landed safely. No injuries were reported.
American Airlines Flight 3047 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Waterloo, Iowa, on February 18.
According to the airline, the plane, en-route from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to Chicago, Illinois, had to be diverted after odor was reported in the cabin.
The plane landed safely. There were 26 passengers aboard at the time; none of them were harmed.
The airline arranged a replacement plane for the passengers.
ExpressJet flight 5166, operating as Delta Connection, made an emergency landing at Syracuse Hancock International Airport, New York, on February 19.
The plane took off from Burlington International Airport, Vermont, and was heading to Detroit, Michigan, when the crew noticed a mechanical issue and decided to divert.
The plane landed safely. All 49 people aboard remained unhurt.
The airline arranged a replacement plane for the passengers.
Accident to the Airbus A320-211, registered D-AIPX and operated by Germanwings, flight GWI18G, on 03/24/15 at Prads-Haute-Bléone
According to the BEA, they will release the final report on Germanwings 9525 on Sunday, March 13, 2016 during a press briefing. I plan to be there.
Although the public has not seen the final report, and indeed, as the investigation has not yet even been completed, the world already understands what happened aboard this tragic flight. What we really do not understand—and perhaps never will—is what drove Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to research cockpit door security and methods of committing suicide. We do not know what drove a depressed human being to impel the plane and all the lives in his safekeeping into the side of a French mountain, condemning every soul aboard that plane to death. We do not know the devils that hounded him into this cold-blooded act. We only mourn, perhaps, his loss of humanity, as we mourn alongside the grieving families who have been robbed of their loved ones and their rightful lives.
All passenger/families received a total of 8 million euros, divided equally among them. Media reports on what passengers received from Lufthansa varies.
In the German media, the Rheinische Post claimed officials of the German airline said families of the 144 passengers have obtained different compensation amounts. It is also reported that Lufthansa group has paid 11.2 million euros ($12.48 million) to the families. Additional “uncalculated” compensation in “property damages” is still coming from Lufthansa to the families.
This compensation…coming from Lufthansa, whose 2014 profit was declared “flat” at a mere $31.7 billion, announced in October of 2015 a nine-month net profit of €1.75 billion ($ 1.97 billion), up 262.7% from €482 million. The tragedy which destroyed 150 lives, and crippled all of their families appears to have left Lufthansa’s bottom line untouched.
Do we also mourn and grieve and condemn Lufthansa? The depth of the ethics and principals of this many billion dollar company—the largest airline in Europe—remains to be seen. We can ask ourselves if this is a high-principled company of good repute, of sterling honor. We need not conjecture long. A tangible answer will be obvious when these decisions are made. We will see where lie their priorities when we learn how they treat the families whose lives hang in the balance in their custodianship.
Atlas Air cargo flight 5Y-33 had to return and make an emergency landing at Miami International Airport, Florida, on February 17.
The Boeing 747-800 plane took off for Buenos Aires, Argentina, but had to return shortly afterwards after tire debris was found on the departure runway.
The perimeter road around the airport was closed for traffic while the plane, carrying 6 crew members, landed safely. No injuries were reported.
A Virgin Australia plane had to make an emergency landing at Brisbane International Airport in Queensland, Australia, on February 17.
The plane was heading from Sydney International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, California, when the airline received a bomb threat and decided to divert it for an emergency landing.
The plane landed uneventfully. Everyone aboard remained unhurt.
The authorities later confirmed that the threat was a hoax.
Image of A320 InteriorOn January 18, 2016, a TAM Linhas Aereas Airbus A320-200 was on a scheduled flight from Brasilia to Aracaju Brazil when the pilots decided to return to Brasilia. They made a safe landing and were in the air ten minutes short of an hour. Incident investigations always take time. So it was a couple weeks later, on Feb 5th when the BEA reported this notice. (Note that the BEA is Le Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la Sécurité de l’Aviation, France’s Governmental aviation authority.) The BEA reported Brazil’s CENIPA notice why the pilots decided to return.
The Airbus was climbing. Cabin crew told the flight crew that passengers and cabin crew were suffering from significant hypoxia. Hypoxia means inadequate oxygenation of the blood, or deficiency in the amount of oxygen delivered to the body tissues. Web MD says this about hypoxia:
“When your body doesn’t have enough oxygen, you could get hypoxemia or hypoxia. These are dangerous conditions. Without oxygen, your brain, liver, and other organs can be damaged just minutes after symptoms start.”
“Hypoxemia (low oxygen in your blood) can cause hypoxia (low oxygen in your tissues) when your blood doesn’t carry enough oxygen to your tissues to meet your body’s needs. The word hypoxia is sometimes used to describe both problems. Symptoms can vary from person to person, the most common hypoxia symptoms are Changes in the color of your skin, ranging from blue to cherry red, Confusion,Cough, Fast heart rate, Rapid breathing, Shortness of breath, Sweating, Wheezing. If you have symptoms of hypoxia, call 911.”
On the Tam flight in question, the flight crew manually released the passenger oxygen masks. After returning to Brasilia, the incident was rated serious. CENIPA is investigating. CENIPA’s acronym is in Portuguese: Centro de Investigação e Prevenção de Acidentes Aeronáuticos. CENIPA is a unit of the Brazilian Air Force that investigates aviation accidents and incidents in Brazil.
The flight under investigation was JJ-3538 flown by the Airbus registered as #PR-MAA on a standard flight from Brasilia,DF to Aracaju, SE in Brazil.
BEA reports on BEA2016-0061 Serious incident, Brasilia Federal District, on 18 January 2016, AIRBUS – A320, PR-MAA; click to enlarge image
Virgin Atlantic flight VS-25 had to return and make an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport in London, United Kingdom, on February 14.
The Airbus A340-600 took off for John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, but had to return shortly afterwards after the first officer became sick due to a laser strike.
The plane landed safely. There were 252 passengers and 15 crew members aboard at the time; all of them remained injured.
A Cessna 210 crashed near the intersection of Jack Rabbit Lane and OSR East in Robertson County, Tennessee, on February 16.
The plane was en-route from Arlington to College Station, Texas, when it lost engine power and went down on the Circle X Ranch.
There were three people aboard at the time; two of them, including James Guinn, 54, and his wife Kay, sustained non life-threatening injuries while the third passenger, identified as Melinda Guinn, 76, of Arlington, remained uninjured.
FlyDubai flight FZ-811 made a safe landing at Abha Regional Airport, Abha, Saudi Arabia, on February 13th.
The Boeing 737-800, flying from Dubai, UAE, was about to reach when the crew noticed 2 missiles coming from the direction of King Khalid Airbase, Abha.
Small Planet Airlines Airbus A320-200 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Lyon, France, on February 13.
The plane, performing flight TLB-718 on behalf of Atlantique Air Assistance, was heading from Chalons Vatry airport, France, to Tlemcen, Algeria, when the crew reported a cracked windshield and requested an emergency landing.
The plane landed safely. No injuries were reported.
Emirates flight EK-522 had to make an emergency landing in Karachi, Pakistan, on February 14.
The Boeing 777-200, en-route from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, was diverted after the crew needed to shut down its left hand engine.
The plane landed uneventfully. There were 170 people aboard at the time; all of them remained unhurt.
The airline arranged a replacement plane for the passengers.
Westjet flight WS-3240 made an emergency landing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on February 9th.
The crew declared emergency after receiving several caution messages about the aircraft’s electrical systems. The plane was en-route from Terrace, British Columbia, to Calgary, Alberta, at the time.
The plane landed safely. All 31 people aboard remained unharmed.