Cause

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    BMI Airbus Loses Cabin Pressure


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

    What: BMI Airbus A319-100 en route from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Berlin
    Where: Amsterdam
    When: Sep 29th 2011
    Why: The flight was over Amsterdam when the air conditioning system began to lose cabin pressure.

    The flight descended to a safe level and continued on to Berlin. A replacement jet was procured to complete the next leg of the journey.

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    CASA Crashes in Indonesia: Wreckage Pinpointed

    What: PT Nusantara Buana Airlines CASA C-212 North Sumatra and Aceh
    Where: Bahorok, Indonesia
    When: Sept 29, 2011
    Who: 15 passengers, 3 crew
    Why: 18 passengers on an Indonesian flight are missing after a flight is reported to have lost contact with ATC and crashed. The flight took off at 7:18 am, and was to land at 8:00, normally less than one hour. All aboard are being reported as fatalities.

    The pilot was American.

    The PT Nusantara Buana Airlines plane is reported to have crashed in a mountainous area, at a midpoint in its route. Search and rescue teams have been deployed. Though some reports say rescuers have found the wreckage, other reports say the wreckage is in difficult terrain and has not been reached.

    There were 4 children and 14 adults aboard the flight. A local villager reported seeing the plane smoking and circling and passengers are presumed dead, but the report was accompanied by a photo of another crash site, so the source is dubious.

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    Emergency Landing in Multan Pakistan

    What: PIA Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from Islamabad to Karachi
    Where: Multan Pakistan
    When: Sep 27th 2011
    Who: 118 passengers
    Why: While en route, the one working generator failed. The captain announced to the passengers that they were having technical problems.

    The crew diverted to Multan and made a safe landing; the flight landed with subdued lighting. One main generator was completely non-operational.

    Passengers were rebooked on an alternative flight.

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    Air Canada Turbulence Injures 9


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

    What: Air Canada Airbus A330-300 en route from Toronto to Montreal
    Where: Montreal Canada
    When: Sep 25th 2011
    Who: 257 aboard, 9 injured
    Why: On approach to Montreal, the Air Canada flight encountered turbulence.
    Six members of the cabin crew were injured in the turbulence. Three passengers were injured.

    On landing in Montreal, there was a 105 minute delay, after which the cabin crew could not work. Alternative crew members, presumably worked the next leg of the flight to Brussels

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    Hydraulics Fumes on Aserca Airlines


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

    What: Aserca Airlines Douglas DC-9-30 en route from Puerto Ordaz to Caracas
    Where: Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela
    When: Sep 26th 2011
    Who: 90 passengers
    Why: Four hours after the Aeropostal hard landing emergency at Puerto Ordaz, another emergency occurred, this one a take-off.

    A Douglas DC-9-30 took off from Puerto Ordaz and filled with smoke.

    The smoke came from a high pressure hydraulic leak. The pilot returned to Puerto Ordaz and made a safe landing with emergency services on standby. No injuries were reported.

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    3 Minute Flight, after Smokey Lav


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

    What: Chautauqua Airlines /Continental Airlines/Embraer ERJ-145 en route from Hartford to Cleveland
    Where: Hartford
    When: Sep 26 2011
    Who: 49 passengers and 3 crew
    Why: After taking off from Hartford, smoke was observed in the bathroom.
    Pilots were in the air from 9:42 am to 9:45 am.

    The pilots made a safe landing, with emergency services on standby. Passengers evacuated without injury on to the runway, and were bussed to the terminal. The location of the plane did cause some airport disruption and delay.

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    Nepal: Chopper Crashes; Buddha Air Suspends Flights

    What: Mountain Air Helicopter
    Where: Mallarani Hill, Pyuthan
    When: Sept 25, 2011
    Who: Pilot Kumar Chalise, Shyam GC of Gulmi, Jitendra Jhankri and Hirababu Karki of Kathmandu
    Why: The chopper was on a medical evacuation mission when they had to make an emergency landing.

    Mallarani Hill is in Nepal, the country where the Buddha Air crash occurred yesterday,on the same day as this chopper emergency landing. Another source says the helicopter “made a crash landing at Okharpauwa of Nuwakot due to technical problems.”

    Buddha Air, no connection to Mountain Air other than operating in the same country, suspended domestic flights in mourning for the Buddha Air Crash on Sunday. The victims of the crash will be returned to their families on Monday, Sept 26, 2011, following their autopsy at Tribhuvan University. A committee of 5 has been assigned by Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation to report on the crash within 90 days.

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    Russia: Leaky Flight Turns Back

    I would have to say that this Nordavia (Russia to Turkey) flight had good reason to turn back. I’d be just as alarmed as the flight crew was. From the sound of it, the passengers were lucky if nothing else fell off this plane. I would say that this is one Boeing which was, as they said in the old West, “rode hard and put up wet.” I hope the leaky door seal was the least of their worries.

    MAINTENANCE!

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    Sightseeing Flight atKatmandu ends in Fatal Buddha Air Crash, 19 lost

    What: Buddha Air Beech 1900D performing flight U4-103 from Kathmandu to Kathmandu
    Where: Bisankunarayan Village, Kathmandu
    When: Sep 25th 2011
    Who: 16 passengers and 3 crew
    Why: On the flight were 2 Americans,3 Europeans, 10 Indians, 1 Japanese, and 3 Nepalese crew. The plane encountered foggy, rainy conditions on approach to Katmandu after a sightseeing flight. On approach, the flight lost contact at 7:31 local time, struck the roof of a house, and crashed into Kot Dada Hill.

    Problems with rescue efforts were compounded by heavy rain. Only one individual was retrieved alive by rescue personnel, but that person died.

    The black box has been recovered. A three person investigative team has been commissioned by the Nepalese government.

    The Japanese tourist:
    Uejima Toshinori

    The ten Indian tourists included 8 from Trichy:

    M. Maruthachalam,
    M. Manimaran,
    A.K. Krisunan,
    V.M. Kankasabesan,
    T. Dhansekaran,
    Kattoor Mahalingam,
    Meenakshi Sundaram
    K. Thyagarajan.

    One of these two Indian passengers was employed in Katmandu by the UN
    Pankaj Mehta.
    Chaya Mehta

    The passenger who died in the hospital was a man from Nepal:
    Nirajan Karmacharya

    The flight crew:
    Captain J.B. Tamrakar
    co-pilot Padma Adhikari
    air-hostess Ashmita Adhikari.

    The two Americans:
    Andrew Wade
    Natalie Neilan

    Two passengers from Nepal:
    Jagjan Karmacharya
    Sarda Karmacharya

    WEATHER
    This is a report for Kathmandu Airport, Nepal. The report was made 8 hours and 30 minutes ago, at 11:50 UTC. The wind was blowing at a speed of 4.6 miles per hour (2.1 meters per second) from south/southwest (210°). The temperature was 68 °F (20 °C), with a dew-point at 64 °F (18 °C). The atmospheric pressure was 29.85 inHg (1011 hPa). The relative humidity was 88.3%. There were scattered clouds at a height of 1500 feet (457 meters) and a few cumulonimbus clouds at a height of 2500 feet (762 meters). The sky was overcast from a height of 9000 feet (2743 meter) The overall visibility was 13123 feet (4000 meter). Currently showers of light rain.
    METAR: VNKT 251150Z 21004KT 4000N -SHRA SCT015 FEW025CB OVC090 20/18 Q1011 NOSIG CB TO SE AND NW

    (VFR) (IFR)
    Altimeter: 29.85
    Visibility: 2.5 miles
    Wind: 4 knots (210°)

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    Avoiding Bird Strike Lands Brake Fire


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Tales De Lass Graciano

    What: Azul Linhas Aereas Avion de Transport Regional ATR-72-100 en route from Sao Jose do Rio Preto to Campinas
    Where: Sao Jose do Rio reto, Brazil
    When: Sep 24th 2011
    Who: 67 aboard
    Why: The pilot was on the runway for takeoff and rejected takeoff due to birds on the runway, which resulted in a brake fire.

    Emergency services put out the fire. Passengers were evacuated, resulting in one injured passenger.

    Passengers were booked on alternative flights.

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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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    Quito Runway Overrun


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

    What: Tame Embraer ERJ 190 en route from Loja to Quito Ecuador
    Where: Quito Ecuador
    When: Sep 16th 2011
    Who: 97 passengers, 6 crew
    Why: Landing in Quito in rain halfway down the runway, the jet hydroplaned past the end of the runway to the perimeter wall. Nine hundred feet past the end of the runway.

    There were four injured. The incident is under investigation. The nose section appears to be smashed. The airport does not have collapsing concrete runway arresting systems.

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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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    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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    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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    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