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El Dorado Airport: Avianca Airbus Skids off Runway


Avianca Airbus A318 en route from Bogota to Armenia-El Edén Airport was taking off when it veered right with its nose gear mired in the soft ground.

El Dorado Airport crews responded to the scene. The accident occurred during taxi prior to taking off. Flight 9847 had been scheduled to depart at 2:15 pm Saturday in Bogota to Armenia.

There were 83 people aboard the plane at the time of the incident, none of whom were injured.

Passengers were provided an alternative flight.

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Delta Bombardier Stuck in Texas

On March 11, 2013, Delta Flight 4302/Pinnacle Bombardier CRJ-900 en route to Atlanta had a runway overrun at Houston-William P. Hobby Airport.

There were 76 passengers and a crew of 4 when the pilot veered off the runway instead of taking off at 6″45 a.m..

The plane’s gear became mired in soft ground. The pilot reported a communications problem but got stuck while taxiing.

Passengers disembarked and were taken to the gate on shuttle buses and rebooked on alternative flights.

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Volga-Dnepr Airlines taxi-strike in Russia


On Feb 26, 2013, a Volga-Dnepr Airlines Antonov An-124 with sixteen aboard arriving from Ulyanovsk at Kaan International Airport was taxiing when its left wing struck a parked Tulpar Air Yakolev 42. You can see the damage it left.

The damaged UTAir, lsf Tulpar Air is a Yakovlev Yak-42D that was unmanned and parked at the time of the incident.

According to preliminary data, the culprit is the commander of the aircraft AN-124. The pilot apparently miscalculated the radius of the turn.

8 of the sixteen aboard were crew. No injuries were reported.

News reports say the pilot will be tested for alcohol.

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Planes Bump in the night at Miami International.

On January 17, 2012, at Miami International Airport at 5:45 pm, an Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus with 240 passengers aboard was taxiing when it struck an Air France 777-300 with 350 passengers at the gate. Impact occurred between Concourses J and H.

A passenger aboard the Air France plane said the impact felt like an earthquake.

The Aerolineas Argentinas flight hand just arrived from Argentina Passengers disembarked at the gate.

The Air France passengers disembarked, collected their luggage and had to reschedule.

The planes’ damage was limited to a wingtip of one (Airbus) and the tail of the Boeing. (Which is which has not been verified, but assuming it was the Airbus that was taxiing, i.e. moving, it is more likely to be the wingtip of the moving plane that struck the stationary Boeing at the gate.)

Damage to the planes was minimal. Damage to the patience of the Air France Passengers having to reschedule? Not so much.

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Pilatus Damaged During Taxi

December 19, 2012, Dalosto Aircraft Leasing LLC Pilatus PC-12/45 was taxiing at Chippewa County Airport when it hit a fence.

The four people aboard were not injured but the plane sustained some damage.

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 412CU Make/Model: PC12 Description: PC-12, Eagle
Date: 12/19/2012 Time: 0835

Event Type: Incident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Minor

LOCATION
City: SAULT SAINTE MARIE State: MI Country: US

DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT HIT A FENCE WHILE TAXIING AT CHIPPEWA COUNTY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
SAULT SAINTE MARIE, MI

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LA: Virgin Australia Towing Accident Strands Passengers


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

What: Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300 en route from Los Angeles to Brisbane
Where: Los Angeles
When: Oct 15th 2010
Why: While being towed to the gate, the plane’s wing struck a hangar which cause substantial damage to the wing.

Passengers were left without a flight and have experienced a delay in returning to Australia.

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Tarmac Fatality

What: Canadian North Airlines Boeing 737-200
Where: Calgary International Airport
When: Dec 21, 2009 6 a.m.
Who: 1 (non-flight) crew
Why: During a standard de-icing procedure engaged in flight preparation on a loaded passenger transport, a Servisair ground worker fell out of a cherry picker (bucket truck), striking the tarmac more than 8 feet down. He was not wearing his safety gear, and was discovered by another worker de-icing the opposite side of the plane. None of the 33 passengers on the flight witnessed the fall.

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Canadair Jet Slams VIP Lounge


RwandAir Canadair CL-600-2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-200LR registration 5Y-JLE. The plane in the incursion was registered 5Y-JLD
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Sean Mowatt

What: Jetlink Air (for RwandAir Express) Canadair CRJ-100ER en route from Kigali to Entebbe, Uganda
Where: Kanombe International Airport, Kigali Rwanda
When: Nov 12, 2009, 13:30
Who: 10 passengers including a baby, 5 crew
Why: After takeoff from Kigali Airport, Rwanda, the flight developed a problem with the throttle jamming, and returned to the airport. On landing, the plane moved from the parking spot, took off again at full power, dodged a Kenya Airlines plane about to take off, and took a right turn into the building where it drove into the VIP lounge inside the technical building , injuring 10. The flight crew was trapped in the cockpit. (Reports conflict–there may have been a fire, but if there was, it was quickly put out.) Ugandan passengers, including former finance minister Gerald Sendawula and managers of Picfare Industries. Chairman of Picfare Jobanputra Kishor was admitted him in the intensive care, then evacuated to South Africa. On the way to to King Faisal Hospital, the ambulance carrying the injured pilot ran into two motorcycles and a pedestrian, Vincent Ruvuna who died instantly.

One female passenger later died.

The Kenya Airways flight was cancelled, stranding 100 passengers.

Rwandair executive Jack Ekl said the plane auto accelerated. “The captain could not control it. The plane did not get airborne again, it taxied into the building…The captain was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.”

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Airbus Wingtip Grazes Congo Building


Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographers Daniel & Robert Fall

What: Air France Airbus A330-200 en route from from Paris to Brazzaville Congo
Where: Maya-Maya airport on the tarmac
When:
Who: Several dozen people were on board the plane,
Why: While taxiing into a parking position, the right winglet (a small vertical section at the tip of the wing) brushed a building just after landing. Although maintenance moved fast to say the plane was fine, the plane will be flown back to France but is banned from taking off with any passengers.

George’s Point of View

I’m not picking on Airbus. Just to prove it, I am going to admit that in this case, the lousy taxi job is probably not due to an innate Airbus flaw (unless massive vehicle size can be construed as a design flaw directly related to the relative ease of negotiating turns on a runway. Maybe the pilot or ground crew was just a ham-handed driver. Come to think of it, parking the 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood was no piece of cake either. )

No, I’m not picking on Airbus. With over 2,500 Airbus A320s flying around, (and who knows how many other Airbus models are still in service) incidents will happen.

But.. look at these statistics:
Airbus A300 – 17 crashes with a total of 1126 fatalities
Airbus A310 – 9 crashes with a total of 825 fatalities
Airbus A319/20/21 – 16 crashes with a total of 637 fatalities
Airbus A330 – 3 with a total of 235 fatalities

——-*——-

That’s a lot of fatalities. The number of deaths–almost 400 in June alone–this works out to a lot of misery spread around to a lot of families.

I’m not picking on Air France, either. Air France isn’t responsible for the Yemenia Flight 626 that crashed June 30th 2009 with 152 fatalities and one miracle survivor.

But even if I am not picking on Airbus, someone with lots of muscle (like all the citizens of France) should be doing just that.

Enough deaths. It is past time to fix the problem.

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Bumper Planes?


What: PA28 CHEROKEE
Where: CHANDLER, AZ
When: 01/08/2009
Who: 2 crew 2 passengers
Why: During taxi back to runway 22R. N4122T bumped N82044 in the run up area at Chandler Airport.