Cause

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    Royal Thai AF Skids Off Bangladesh Runway

    What: Royal Thai Air Force – RTAF ATR-72-212A
    Where: Bangladesh
    When: April 30, 2012 8:51
    Who: 7 crew 8 passengers
    Why: A Royal Thai Air Force ATR-72-212 sustained damage on landing in Bangladesh when it skidded 350 yards off the runway and into a concrete wall, damaging the cockpit and wings.

    Capt Wing Commander Chakkapol Hirranrattana, Wing Commander Surasak Sukbang and Flight Lt Pitchaya Burrangratchahirarun sustained minor injuries but everyone walked out of the plane. The plane has been judged a total loss.

    The investigation team is led by Flight Operation Inspector Squadron Leader (retd) Masud Akhtar Khan.

    Thai officials aboard are in the care of Dhaka’s Thai embassy.

    Kurmitola fire station’s said they rushed to the scene at 9:25 but “…airport authorities said that no help was required as the situation had been under control.”

    The flight has been described in the media as an official visit and a flight training mission under the command of Wing Commander Surasak Sukbang, Squadron 603 commander.

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    DC-10 with Faulty Reverser Returns to Calgary


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Andre Oferta

    What: Kelowna McDonnell Douglas DC-10 en route from Calgary to Hamilton
    Where: Calgary
    When: Apr 29th 2012
    Who: 3 crew
    Why: A flight from Calgary to Hamilton returned back in Calgary after an engine was shut down with a faulty “thrust reverser” part.

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    Saudi Arabian Airlines Lands On Nose


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Ian Clarke

    What: Saudi Arabian Airlines/Onur Air Airbus A300-600 en route from Madinah to Jeddah
    Where: Jeddah
    When: May 1 2012
    Who: 10 crew
    Why: Pilots had an indication of unsafe nose gear and landed without nose gear at Jeddah at 12:55. Emergency crew (reported as “civil defense but that could have been a translation error” sprayed the runway. The crew disembarked via slides. There were no injuries reported.

    The flight was “a special flight from the western town,” with ten crew and no passengers. We assume a ferry flight.

    The video shows mobile stairs that are up for the post flight check-up, but notice the steep angle of the slide at the rear of the plane.

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    Airbus Bird Strike Delays Air India Flight


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Nishant Gambhir

    What: Air India Airbus A321-200 en route from Kozhikode to Dubai
    Where: Kozhikode
    When: Apr 30th 2012
    Who: 148 passengers and 6 crew
    Why: Taking off out of Kozhikode India, the Airbus ingested a bird in the right engine, and bending the blades. Pilots dumped fuel, before making a safe landing back in Kozhikode. A replacement jet was provided.

    A second Air India flight made an emergency landing in Kozhikode after suffering an oil leak.

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    Emergency Landing in Verona


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Manuel Mueller

    What: Lufthansa/Air Dolomiti Avion de Transport Regional ATR-72-500 en route from Verona (Italy) to Munich
    Where: Verona
    When: Apr 28th 2012
    Who: 34 passengers and 4 crew
    Why: While taking off from Verona, the plane lost a nose wheel.

    Pilots returned to the airport making a safe landing after they burned off fuel. Emergency services on standby in the event of a possible fire intervention were not needed.

    A replacement plane was flown in to transport passengers.

    According to initial investigations, the plane may have broken a pin that affixes the wheel.

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    Croatia Jet Lands in Zagreb Minus Engine


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Petar Meznarek

    What: Croatia Airlines de Havilland Dash 8-400 en route from Vienna to Zagreb
    Where: Zagreb
    When: Apr 29th 2012
    Who: 58 passengers
    Why: The plane was on approach to Zabreb when the engine temperature became hot.

    The left engine was shut down. Pilots made a safe landing. Croatia spokesman Davor Januši? said that the passengers were not at any time in danger.

    The jet was temporarily withdrawn from service but back in rotation after ten hours and some replaced parts.

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    More PIA High Drama over Karachi


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

    What: PIA Pakistan International Airlines Avion de Transport Regional ATR-42-500 en route from Karachi to Bahawalpur
    Where: Karachi
    When: Apr 27th 2012
    Who: Belligerent Passenger, 52 aboard
    Why: While en route, economy class passenger Javed Ansari had words with a flight attendant. Those words included threats that sounded like hijack attempts to someone. The passenger told authorities that he “hurled a threat after a quarrel with attendants Sadaf Mansoor and Mehreen Fatima, but had no intention to hijack the aircraft.” Ansari was offloaded in Karachi and escorted away by Airport Security Force commandos and handed off to police. The flight was delayed almost three hours.

    Xinhua news reported that Urdu TV channel ARY News said Ansari followed the attendants into the cockpit and asked the captain to divert the flight. This was reported as a foiled hijack attempt, where the pilot tricked the hijacker by claiming the plane had to return to Karachi for an emergency landing. Ansari says he was “joking.”

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    United Visual Landing Without Instruments, Boston


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

    What: United Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Chicago to Boston
    Where: Logan International
    When: Oct 23, 2012
    Who: 144 passengers, 5 crew
    Why: The pilot was on approach to Logan when he noticed a problem with his instruments.

    The pilot informed ATC of instrument failures and pressurization issues. ATC cleared a holding pattern, until the pilot performed a visual landing.

    The pilot taxied to the Terminal C gate at 12:42 pm. Below is the pilot’s audio.

    Pilot audio

    Pilot’s audio provided by http://www.liveatc.net

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    Emergency Landing in Multan


    What: Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 737 en route from Islamabad to Multan
    Where: Multan
    When: April 25, 2012
    Who: 45 passengers
    Why: On descent to Multan, the plane indicated an error. On a visual confirmation on flyby, ATC indicated that the wheels were down, but this disagreed with the cockpit alert. The pilot circled to burn fuel, then made a safe landing with emergency services on standby.

    The plane was serviced, and continued the next leg of the flight carrying 118 passengers to Karachi.

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    SAS OSLO-Newark Diverts to Bergen Down One Engine


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Andreas Wessel

    What: SAS Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A330-300 en route from Oslo to Newark,NJ
    Where: Faroe Islands
    When: Apr 22nd 2012
    Who: 264 passengers
    Why: While en route, the plane developed engine problems in one engine. Pilots shut it down, and diverted to Bergen Norway. Pilots made a safe landing in Bergen over an hour later, and passengers were delayed eight and a half hours.

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    Cityhopper Hops Back to Amsterdam Minus One Engine


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer John Gregory

    What: KLM Embraer ERJ-190 en route from Amsterdam to Birmingham
    Where: Amsterdam
    When: Apr 21st 2012
    Why: While en route, a leak in the right engine was detected. Pilots shut down the affected engine and returned to Amsterdam where they made a safe landing.

    KLM Cityhopper received delivery of the plane on April 1 2010. It has CF34-10E6 engines. (GE)

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    Gear Struts Pierce Wing on 19 Year old Boeing

    What: Shaheen Air International Boeing 737-400 en route from Islamabad to Karachi
    Where: Karachi
    When: Apr 22nd 2012
    Who: 122 passengers and 6 crew
    Why: On landing in Karachi, the main gear failed, and the gear perforated the wing.

    Passengers disembarked on to the runway. No injuries were reported.

    If we were to speculate (which we shouldn’t do) we would say this could be either due to a hard or fast landing and/or a mechanical failure.

    The first flight of this Boeing 737-4H6 was Sept 21, 1993. On October 28 1993, the plane was delivered to Malaysia Airlines as 9M-MQC. It was stored 09/2011 as N829AR (Bank of Utah) and delivered to Shaheen Air on January 21, 2012.

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    Helicopter crashes into houses in Antigua, 4 Injured


    What: Bell 206L helicopter
    Where: Antigua, Guatemala
    When: April 15, 2012
    Who: Four injured
    Why: A helicopter flying over Antigua for aerial photography crashed into two houses at 9:30 in the morning.

    No residents were at home at the time of the crash. Three Guatemalans and one American were injured in the crash. The American broke his tibia and fibula. The injured were taken to National Hospital. The American was identified only as Michael; the others were Juan Carlos Menendez, 40, Andres Turcios, 32, and Octavio Gordillo, 52.

    The helicopter was broken in two by the impact. The translation of an unverified newspaper report said that the pilot had been flying low when a bird hit the rotors.

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    Small Plane Crashes into Guatamalan Zoo, 3 fatalities, Zookeeper Burned


    What: Piper PA-23-250 Aztec for sightseeing tour of city
    Where: Aurora Zoo, Guatemala City
    When: April 21, 2012
    Who: 3 fatalities
    Why: The Piper took off from La Aurora International Airport and crashed into the Aurora Zoo beside the Esquilandia playground. The pilot of the aircraft, Alex Quezada, 35, Oscar Calderon, 22, who was the co-pilot, and Christian Werner, 20 were killed in the crash. One employee of the zoo, Carlos Aspuac, was hospitalized at Roosevelt Hospital with second and third degree burns. Hundreds of visitors were evacuated from the zoo.

    The DAC says the plane was having mechanical problems. Witnesses report seeing the plane “rocking” and emitting black smoke, before it crashed.

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    No Survivors in Bhoja Inaugural Karachi to Islamabad Flight Disaster

    Update: The investigation team formed to probe into Friday’s plane crash on Monday (April 23) visited the site and collected evidence.

    What: Bhoja Air Boeing 737-200 en route from Karachi to Islamabad
    Where: Islamabad
    When: Apr 20th 2012
    Who: 121 passengers and 6 crew
    Why: The plane (reported as #AP-BKC a 27 year old Boeing) took off from Karachi, impacted the ground 3-6 miles from Islamabad while on approach and burst into flames in a rural location(Hussain Abad village) near Chaklala Air Base. No survivors were found, and ten houses on the ground were affected. The plane lost contact with the control tower minutes before landing. There was no distress call. There are conflicting reports that the plane was on fire and was not on fire before it impacted the ground. Some reports say the plane was struck by lightning. There was a thunderstorm at the time of the accident. The fire/fireball after the crash does not appear to have engulfed the entire debris area, according to photos of the scene.


    Debris from the crash is said to cover a large muddy area. The area has not been cordoned off; reporters and others are swarming over the crash site.

    This is reported to be the first Bhorja flight on this route. The jet left at 17:00 and was due to arrive at 18:50.

    The flight data recorder has been recovered along with 110 bodies (so far.)

    The number of people listed as passengers varies from 127 to 130 aboard.

    The METAR
    OPRN 201400Z 23020KT 3000 TSRA FEW025CB SCT030 BKN100 20/16 Q1011.0/29.85
    OPRN 201300Z 23020KT 4000 TS FEW025CB SCT030 BKN100 25/15 Q1009.3/29.80

    Trans:
    METAR for Benazir Bhutto International Airport, issued on the 20th of the month at 13:00 Zulu Time. Wind from 230° at 20 knots (37 km/h). Visibility 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), thunderstorms in area. Clouds few at 2,500 feet (760 m), cumulonimbus clouds present. Broken clouds at 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Temperature 25°C, dewpoint 15°C. Altimeter setting 1009.3 hPA / 29.80 inHg


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    Delta Bird Strike Emergency Landing at JFK


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Alex Khan

    What: Delta Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from New York to Los Angeles,CA
    Where: New York
    When: Apr 19th 2012
    Who: 172 passengers and 7 crew
    Why: After taking off from JFK, the plane had a bird strike. A bird was ingested by a right engine, which caused an engine failure. Pilots informed ATC.

    Passengers feared the worst as they saw the birds, heard the impact and smelled the smoke, but the cool headed pilot was able to make a visual landing while flying on one engine.

    Matthew Kroll, told reporters”We were taking off and two seconds off the ground, the whole plane shutters and you hear this low growl. Then you smell the smoke in the cabin. People were relatively calm because it happened about three second after take-off. Everyone saw what happened and you could smell it. It was more dead bird than smoke. The pilot came out and said we have to circle back. It took about four minutes and we were back on the runway.”

    The bird strike was taped by a passenger and has been incorporated into the reports below:

    video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

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    Incapacitated Pilot Circles Gulf

    Updated with audio clip

    What: Lee H Aviation Inc. Cessna 421C en route from Slidell, La., to Sarasota, Fla.
    Where: Gulf of Mexico
    When: April 19 2012
    Who: pilot
    Why: The plane took off normally from Slidell at 6:43 a.m., but en route lost contact with ATC and began flying in circles over the Gulf of Mexico.

    Around 8:45 a.m, two F-15s that flew in to check on the plane found it flying between 25,000 and 35,000 feet with the windshield iced over. The pilot remained unresponsive. The plane landed “softly” intact and right side up in the water around 12:10 p.m., approximately 120 miles west of Tampa. The pilot was unconscious or incapacitated.

    The 87-foot cutter Coho was scheduled to respond as well as a HC-144 plane from Mobile, Alabama and a MH-60 helicopter in Clearwater.

    The pilot may have lost consciousness due to hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen.


    Pilot’s audio provided by http://www.liveatc.net

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    Lufthansa Diverts to UFA, Passengers Wait and Wait


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

    What: Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 en route from Shanghai to Frankfurt
    Where: Ufa
    When: Apr 18th 2012
    Who: 311 passengers
    Why: While en route, the cabin developed smoke which was reported as an unusual odor. Pilots diverted to UFA and made a safe landing. No fire was found. There’s no indication of how Lufthansa is handling passengers, baggage or compensation for inconvenience, but we hear passengers were in for a long wait.

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    Virgin Australia Fuel Imbalance Lands Team in Brisbane


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer John Richard Thomson

    What: Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 en route from Coolangatta/Gold Coast,QL to Melbourne,VI
    Where: Coolangatta
    When: Apr 15th 2012
    Who: Essendon Football Team
    Why: The flight was en route when a problem developed with the fuel. Pilots diverted to Brisbane and made a safe landing. Emergency services met the plane on the tarmac. Virgin’s public statement said the problem was a minor maintenance issue.

    The football team won against the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday night but ended up stranded in Brisbane. The spokesman for Essedon said “There was definitely no emergency. It’s probably been overplayed a bit.”

    The flight was cancelled.

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    Malaysia Airlines Engine Fails over Kuala Lumur


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Charles Polidano

    What: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 747-400 en route from Kuala Lumpur to London
    Where: Kuala Lumpur
    When: Apr 17th 2012
    Who: 351 passengers, 21 crew
    Why: After taking off from Kuala Lumpur, the engine exploded.

    Or at least that’s what passengers felt when they heard a backfire or some other kind of explosion from one engine, and saw sparks and flames.

    Pilots dumped fuel and returned to Kuala Lumpur where they made a safe landing.

    A replacement jet was provided.

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    Cessna Lands on Model Runway


    What: single-engine Cessna en route from North Carolina to Long Island NY
    Where: Heckscher State Park in East Islip, Long Island NY
    When: April 15, 2012, 4 pm
    Who: pilot and student
    Why: Pilot David J. Jensen and a student were in the single-engine Cessna when it developed engine problems. The pilots made a safe landing on a Heckscher State Park runway normally dedicated to model planes.

    The plane was not allowed to take off from that runway, and was dismantled for removal.

    The incident is under investigation.

    Plane makes emergency landing on L.I.: MyFoxNY.com

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    Virgin Airbus Emergency Landing in London


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Mark McGrath

    What: Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300 from London to Orlando,FL
    Where: London
    When: Apr 16th 2012
    Who: 299 passengers and 13 crew
    Why: The flight had taken off from Gatwick when the crew reported an indication of a cargo fire. Pilots returned to the airport, and made a safe landing on flat tires. (Flat tires can result from a heavy or fast landing.)

    Passengers were evacuated by slide from the plane directly on the runway, at which time some scrapes and bruises occurred.

    No heat or fire was found in the plane. It is not uncommon for de-icing fluid burning off an engine may set off an alarm.

    In George’s Point of View


    Better safe than sorry! A safe landing is a good landing. Good job by the pilots.

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    Southwest Emergency Seattle-Saint Louis Diversion to Omaha


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Klaus Ecker

    What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from Seattle to Saint Louis
    Where: Omaha
    When: Apr 14th 2012
    Who: 11 injured
    Why: While en route, the plane lost cabin pressure, oxygen masks deployed, and pilots decided to divert to Omaha where they made a safe landing. However on arrival, eleven passengers needed medical attention. Nine of them were treated at the airport with minor injuries, but continued the flight.

    A replacement Southwest jet completed the last leg on Saturday.

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    London-bound Boeing Suffers Lightning Strike


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Tiago Palla

    What: United Boeing 777-200 en route from San Francisco to London
    Where: San Francisco
    When: Apr 12th 2012
    Who: 195 passengers aboard
    Why: After taking off from San Francisco, the left side of the United Boeing 777 was struck by lightning. Passengers described the flash of light and the big bank. Oxygen masks deployed. No one was injured. Weather suspended other flights taking off from that airport until the storm blew through.

    Pilots informed ATC, and dumped fuel before returning to land safely. The plane remained on the runway as officials inspected the aircraft. Passengers were put up in local hotels and scheduled to take an alternate flight Friday afternoon.