Cause

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    Thomas Cook Airlines Airbus Grounded for Engine Vibration


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Karl Nixon

    What: Thomas Cook Airlines Airbus A330-200 en route from Belfast to Orlando
    Where: Norfolk
    When: Jul 10th 2009
    Who: 265
    Why: En route, an engine started vibrating and had to be shut down. The crew decided to divert to Norfolk,VA

    George’s Point of View

    Another Airbus.

    Shutting down the engine is standard operating procedure, and at the same time, it is a near fatality because the pilot had to shut down that vibrating engine while the plane was still over the Atlantic Ocean, 60 miles from land. Can you imagine what was going through this Airbus pilot’s head as he made the decision to shut down that engine? No doubt he was thinking about last month’s two latest Airbus tragedies: Air France flight 447, or perhaps the Yemenia Airlines Airbus.

    I know how overdramatic this sounds. Pilots shut down engines all of the time. it’s the very reason they fly with more than one. Just in case. Pilot training covers how to fly on the remaining engines. But this is just July 2009. Even the most well -trained Airbus pilot has last month’s story of Air France flight 447 in his mind, especially when he’s flying something that fails over the ocean.

    This Thomas Cook Flight wasn’t experiencing a subtle problem. It wasn’t some subtle, quiet control panel error that could be handled as passengers flew along blissfully unaware and uninformed. In interviews of passengers, they are quoted as describing the engine as “vibrating” or “clackity.” No doubt there were 530 sweaty palms on that plane.

    This was one of at least 5 airbus events we heard about today–and it is not in fact, even a complete listing. Hopefully at least the pilot gets serious credit for getting these people safely on the ground.

    Who in the world is going to intercede and demand that Airbuses (every model) get checked from A-Z BEFORE they take off ‘in every part of the globe’? Vero?

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    Airbus in trouble Lands at San Fran Airport

    What: Northwest Flight Airbus 330 en route from San Francisco to Tokyo
    Where: SFO
    When: Thursday, 09 July 2009
    Who: 194 passengers
    Why: The flight took off without issues but developed a problem in one of its engines When the engine compressor failed, the flow of air to the engine was disrupted, and the flight had to return to the airport for a safe landing.

    George’s Point of View

    What a surprise, it’s another Airbus. An A330.

    Thank God, the ending is a happy one.

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    Tailstrike on Landing Disables Russian Airbus

    What: Rossiya Airbus A320-200 en route from Hurghada Egypt to Saint Petersburg Russia
    Where: Saint Petersburg
    When: Jul 7th 2009
    Who: 176 passengers 6 crew
    Why: On landing, the airbus had a tail strike, which disabled the plane. Substantial damage occurred to the tail. Russian press released that there were no injuries. The plane was taken out of service for repairs.

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    Birdstrike in Baltimore

    What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from Baltimore to Providence
    Where: BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport
    When: Jul 7th 2009
    Who: 135 on board
    Why: On takeoff, the plane flew into a flock of birds. About 40 small birds were found on the runway after the incident. The plane landed shortly after the bird strike. The plane was sent to be examined; and another plane was provided about 5 hours later to resume the flight.

    George’s Point of View

    The birds are at it again.

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    Qantas Airbus Nosegear Fails at Heathrow


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Alasdair Mulhern

    What: Qantas Airbus A380-800 en route from Singapore to London
    Where: London Heathrow
    When: Jul 4th 2009
    Why: The first approach was aborted due to a nose gear issue. After landing, nose gear steering failed, and the plane was towed. However, repairs were made so that on the return flight, the delay was only about two hours.

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    Airbus with Smoke in Cabin Lands in India


    Pictured: A Kingfisher Airlines Airbus
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Steve Brimley

    What: Guwahati- Kolkata Kingfisher Airbus A320-200 en route from Guwahati to Kolkata
    Where: NSC Bose International Airport (Kolkata Airport is also known as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport)
    When: Jul 7th 2009
    Who: 117 passengers (alternately reported as 170)
    Why: 125 km from landing at Kolkata, smoke was reported in the cabin coming from a galley. The plane landed safely and passengers debarked normally.

    A newspaper report claims there was a false alarm from a cockpit indicator reporting a fire in the cargo belly. No plane registration number was given for either report, though, so it conceivably could have been sloppy reportage of two separate KingFisher Airbuses at the same airport.

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    American Airlines Emergency Landing in Lafayette


    Pictured: American Airlines MD-80
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Andy P. Jung

    What: American Airlines MD-80 Flight 1243 en route from Ft. Lauderdale to Dallas
    Where: Lafayette’s Regional Airport
    When: 11:35 a.m. Monday
    Who: 151 on board
    Why: In the cabin, passengers experienced smoke and fumes en route; the pilot diverted to Lafayette because of a suspected electrical problem.

    Passengers were provided three options: ticket-exchange, rent a car for the rest of their trip or wait for the replacement MD-80.

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    Comoran Crash Update:

    Now that the beacons have been heard, French Navy Divers at Comoros have begun following up the search. On the 12th, their search will be assisted by underwater robotic technology.

    Only one survivor was found, 12 year old Bahia Bakari; and she has gone back to France to her father. Her mother was killed in the crash, and Bahia sustained a broken collarbone.

    The entire island is in mourning; plus there is some local disquiet because the plane that crash had been considered unfit to fly in French and European airspace, but was still allowed to fly to Comoros. (Even though the average income is $300 a year, they are not second class citizens.)

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    Indonesian Crash Update


    View Geplak in a larger map

    Earlier post


    Pictured: Indonesian C-130 Hercules licensed as A-1326. The plane in the crash was registered as A-1325.
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Peter de Jong

    What: Indonesian Air Force civilian Lockheed L-100-30(P) Hercules, en route from Jakarta to Madiun’s Iswahyudi Airport [WIAR] (Indonesia) (The Lockheed L-100 is the civilian version of a C-130 Hercules)
    Where: Magetan, East Java. Geplak 325 miles east of Jakarta.
    When: May 19 6:20am local time
    Who: 98 passengers (troops and their families) and 11 crew. On May 22nd, aviation authorities reported recovering 101 bodies. 15 survivors were taken to local hospitals. The exact number aboard is unclear. The flight manifest is reportedly inaccurate. (Some overlap with passengers and crew numbers. The reports range from 99 to 113 passengers and 13 or 14 crew members.) Ten children were on board the flight. Two were killed on the ground..
    Why: The plane was about to land at Iswahyudi military airbase. Witnesses claim the plane split apart in the air, (one of the wings fell off when the plane was still in the air) and exploded.

    The plane skidded through a rice paddy, a stand of trees and into four houses in Geplak. 9 people were in the houses, of whom two are reported dead.

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    Lufthansa Airbus Flight Cut Short


    Pictured: Lufthansa A330
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Gerhard F. Schmidt

    What: Lufthansa A 330 en route from Frankfurt to Addis Ababa
    Where: Frankfurt International Airport
    When: Friday July 3
    Who: not available
    Why: After some technical fault was experienced, the plane made an emergency landing at Frankfurt; however on landing, the plane’s nose gear tires burst and caught on fire.

    The incident was reported by News Yemen and since we only have one reference on this event, we are awaiting corroboration to verify that the incident is not being confused with the (July 3) Monarch Airlines Airbus A320-200 that was diverted to Munich after smoke was detected in the cabin, or the (July 2) Air One Airbus A320-200, flight AZ-2970 from Milan to Palermo that returned to Milan when smoke filled the cabin or the (July 2) Air Arabia Airbus A320-200 flight from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates that diverted to Kolkata with engine failure.

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    Pakistan Bird Strike


    Pictured: One of Shaheen Air’s 12 Boeing 737s
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Steve Brimley

    What: Shaheen Airlines Boeing 737-200 en route to Karachi
    Where: Benazir Bhutto Shaheed International Airport
    When: Saturday
    Who: not available
    Why: A bird strike right after take-off caused the pilots to request an emergency landing. No one was injured, and the flight took off after a delay of four hours.

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    Airbus Engine Fails during PreFlight


    Pictured: Airbus similar to the one in the incident
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Ruud Brinks

    What: Air France Airbus A320-200 en route from Paris Orly to Toulouse
    Where: Paris
    When: Jul 3rd 2009
    Who: not available
    Why: Prior to takeoff, during engine acceleration, the left engine failed. The flight was cancelled, and a replacement aircraft was required.
    No more details were available.

    George’s Point of View

    At least THIS one wasn’t the Pitot tubes.

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    Airbus 321-200 engine problem in India


    View from an airbus similar to the one in the incident
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Nitin Sarin

    What: Air India Airbus A321-200 en route from Kochi to New Delhi
    Where: Nagpur
    When: Jul 3rd 2009
    Who: 151 passengers and 6 crew
    Why: When the engine shut down amid-flight, the plane diverted to Nagpur where it made an emergency landing without any known injuries. Technical details regarding the engine problem have not been released.

  • Air Arabia Emergency Landing

    What: Air Arabia flight from Chittagong to Sharjah
    Where: emergency landing at the Kolkata airport
    When: 10.20 pm
    Who: 159 passengers and eight crew
    Why: When one of the plane’s two engines quit, the crew requested an emergency landing at Kolkata.

    No injuries were reported.

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    Hawaiian Airlines: Hilo Emergency Landing

    What: Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767-300 en route from Los Angeles,CA to Honolulu
    Where: Hilo Hawaii
    When: Jun 30th 2009
    Who: 237 passengers
    Why: En route to Hawaii, an engine indicator light indicated a problem with an engine oil filter. After the engine was “idled” down, the plane diverted to Hilo and made a low speed approach, landing safely at 11:30 am.

    Passengers were flown to Oahu on alternate transportation.

    According to Hawaiin Airlines public report, examination of the plane revealed that the indicator was faulty.

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    Cabin Fumes Diverts Airbus to Daytona


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Timothy Redfern

    What: Spirit Airlines Airbus A319-100 en route from Chicago to Ft Lauderdale
    Where: Daytona Beach
    When: July 1 2009
    Who: 143 on board
    Why: When a burning smell filled the cockpit, the plane diverted to Daytona Beach. Passengers debarked normally; some individuals who experienced shortness of breath were taken to Halifax Medical Center.

    Passengers stated that the smoke was not visible but it made their eyes water, and smelled like rotten eggs.

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    Cleveland ATC: A Close Call

    What: Expressjet Embraer ERJ-145 en route from Cleveland to Kansas City Missouri
    Where: Cleveland Ohio
    When: June 26 2009
    Who: not available
    Why: Runway Incursion aborted. While at the controls, an air traffic control trainee scheduled the Expressjet and a CommutAir de Havilland Dash 8-200 on a collision course. The Expressjet pilot perceived the danger in time to avert the incident.

    The same trainee caused a similar incident between an Expressjet and a Southwest flight on June 3.

    George’s Point of View

    The trainee in question had very little experience. I am more critical of the training process than the trainee. What preparation was there ahead of time? That question is not answered for us. Perhaps this incident is proof that a training system is working, since a collision did not happen. Or perhaps it is an indicator that training methodology needs to be revamped. (Do air traffic controllers train on simulators? I don’t know.)

    What will we learn from this event? What will the ATC trainers learn?

    If I had been a fly on that console, I’d have quizzed that trainee on what he learned from his mistakes. One does not have to make mistakes to learn, but to progress, one must learn from ones mistakes.

    Skill, like character is forged like steel from iron, in trial by fire. How else does an expert become one without the benefit of experience?

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    Yemen Airbus Crash


    The government sent a rescue crew 8 hours after the crash. The rescue plane was found 17 kilometers from land. A child–either a 5 year old boy or a 15 year old girl–was apparently found alive. Two french ships and a french airplane were already engaged in searching before Yemen sent a ship and military plane.

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    Yemenia Air Airbus Crashes, 154 missing in Indian Ocean


    View larger photo here
    Contact photographer Iam Lim
    What: Yemenia Air Airbus 310 flight 626 en route from Yemen’s capital Sanaa to Moroni
    Where: Indian Ocean near the Comoros archipelago
    When: Monday June 29, 2009
    Who: 142 passengers, 11 crew.
    Why: The exact location of the crash was unknown, but investigators began looking five to 10 kilometres from the coast along the “landing approach.” Rough weather is hampering the search.

    An unidentified boat found the plane which did go down in the Indian Ocean, so close to the coast that villagers saw the crash occur. Wreckage was found about six minutes from the airport where it was due to land. (The nationality of the boat is not known; apparently Comoros does not have the resources.)

    And a ship has already found the wreckage.


    Yemin call center: for more info contact the call center at 00967 1250800 or the emergency No 00967 1 250833 or call center 00967 1 250800 #IY626

    George’s Point of View

    Another Airbus!