Endeavor Air flight 9E-5336 suffered wing damage at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, on February 25th.
The incident happened after the plane bound for Dulles International Airport, Virginia, was cleared to line up for departure.
The plane returned to the apron.
Authorities believe the wing damage was caused by the jet blast from another aircraft.
KLM flight KL-565 had to return and make an emergency landing in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on January 16th.
The Boeing 747-400 plane took off for Nairobi, Kenya, but had to turn back after a loose part was observed on a wing.
The plane landed back safely. All 376 people aboard remained unharmed.
Southwest flight 987 made an emergency landing in San Antonio, Texas, on December 13.
The plane was heading from Austin to Valley International Airport, Harlingen, when the crew noticed that a part of the wing was missing and decided to divert.
The plane landed uneventfully. There were 109 passengers and 5 crew members aboard at the time; all of them remained unhurt.
The airline arranged a replacement plane for the passengers.
Monarch Airlines flight ZB654 had to return and make an emergency landing at Manchester Airport, London, at around 11:30 A.M. on October 18.
The Airbus A321, flying to Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport, Spain, had to return due to a technical issue. According to the passengers, a piece of the wing was seen hanging off.
The plane landed safely.
All 154 passengers aboard remained unhurt.
Fatigue cracking not as a result of stress but because of a manufacturing issue causes widespread concern. The wing problem may cost Airbus a hundred million euros. Airbus will have to compensate airlines for the (estimated) five days time planes will be out of service for remediation.
The SINGAPORE AIRSHOW AVIATION LEADERSHIP SUMMIT, held in conjunction with the Singapore Airshow, is a collaborative effort by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), Experia Events Pte Ltd, International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Ministry of Transport (MOT).
The airshow brings together aviation stakeholders, including Airbus CEO Tom Enders, who had damage control on his mind. Airbus is under fire for the wing cracks found on Airbus A380 jets. Between inspection and repairs, the cost is anticipated to be $1.23 million per aircraft, for up to $32 million euros.
Qantas Airways grounded one A380 for a week after finding 36 separate cracks in wing parts. Other A380s have demonstrated similar cracking above and beyond the normal degradation and microfissures that inspections often find as a result of heavy usage.
Tom Anders of Airbus told airshow attendees that “…we will fix it (wing problem) as quickly as possible. This is unfortunate, this is us. We screwed that up. Whatever the cost, we will fix it”
They have to fix it. EASA has ordered Airbus to check all A380 superjumbo planes. Meanwhile, Airbus is trying to turn media attention to their ramped-up assembly line.
According to Airbus, A380 wing cracks (“non-critical wing rib-skin attachments on a limited number of A380 aircraft”) are a non-issue because they “do not make the planes unsafe.”
The plan is to use scheduled 4-year maintenance checks called “D-Checks” to screen planes for signs of cracking.
We are just curious if this was a manufacturing error or a design flaw. And even if it is not a safety issue, the idea of just waiting around till a scheduled check seems chancy at best.
Cracks have been found on Airbus A380 wings by Singapore Airlines and Qantas.
The cracks occurred on the wing ribs of their Airbus A380s. Qantas discovered the problem while repairing a Royce Trent 900 engines blowout in 2010.
Airbus says they know the origin and have developed an inspection and repair procedure for scheduled four-year maintenance checks.
The problem has been found on at least five planes.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association says Airbus A380s should be grounded, that flying with them is gambling with people’s lives, that it is risky to wait for a 4 year maintenance check. Airbus counters that the cracks are “on non-critical wing attachments” and pose no threat.
