What: LAN Airlines Airbus A319-100 en route from Iquitos to Lima (Peru),
Where: Lima
When: Dec 5th 2011
Why: While en approach to the Lima airport, the plane lost nosewheel steering.
The flight made a safe landing but was stranded on the runway had had to be towed.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Robert Ralph
What: Qantas/Eastern Australia de Havilland Dash 8-300 en route from Cairns,QL to Weipa,QL
Where: Weipa
When: Dec 6th 2011
Why: On approach to Weipa, the plane flew through a cloud and encountered disruptive turbulence.
While there were no reports of injury, the turbulence resulted in engine problems. The plane made a safe landing but the incident is under ATSB scrutiny.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Ricardo Rodrigues
What: SAA South African Airways Airbus A340-300 en route from Johannesburg (South Africa) to Perth,WA
Where: Perth
When: Dec 6th 2011
Why: After a normal flight, on approach to Perth, the plane was struck by lightning. Subsequently, pilots reported problems and began circling the airport. They did a flyby to observe the condition of the tires which were reported as having all “indications lost.” The plane eventually landed safely.
What: Air Canada flight en route from Toronto to Beijing
Where: Vancouver
Who: George Campbell of Conestogo and 38-year-old Paul Alexander Wilson
Why: The two, both apparently employed by RIM, (Research in Motion, the company that introduced the Blackberry in 1999), were suspended after their drunkenness aboard an Air Canada flight forced pilots to divert to Vancouver. The two alleged drunks were also held responsible in paying Air Canada over &70,000 in hotel fees and restitution for delaying the flight.
What: American Airlines flight
Where: LAX
When: Dec 6 2011
Who: Alex Baldwin
Why: Refusing to stop playing the game “words with friends,” Alex Baldwin was ejected from an American Airlines flight by an irate flight attendant. It was waiting at the gate (not in the air.)
He was rebooked on another flight, but not without attempting twitter revenge, badmouthing American Airlines, and also filing a complaint against a flight attendant who was like a “retired Catholic school gym teacher from the 1950’s.”
Baldwin is not the only individual we heard about this week who was removed from a plane due to conduct, but the others were taken to a mental unit or released into police custody.
What: Tiara Air Aruba Shorts 360-100 en route from Las Piedras Venezuela to Aruba
Where: Las Piedras
When: Dec 5th 2011
Who: 29 passengers, 4 crew
Why: Taking off from Las Piedras, the plane struck a donkey with its right main gear.
Pilots continued on to Aruba where they made a safe landing.
There were no injuries. Apparently the forecast for repair is better in Aruba than Las Piedras.
Actually, that’s one thing I never thought I’d need to say
Pictured: A Colombian Army Blackhawk
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Rogier Westerhuis
What: Colombian Blackhawk
Where: San Jeronimo mountains
When: Dec 3 2011
Who: 4 soldiers, 4 crew
Why: The chopper crashed in the San Jeronimo mountains. No one aboard was seriously injured. The team had been deployed to support a fight against FARC, a group of drug traffickers.
The chopper had just refueled and caught a crosswind. There was minor damage that is reparable.
What: Private Socata TB21 Trinidad TC en route from Durango to Aspen
Where: Silverton, CO
When: Dec 3 2011
Who: 4 aboard
Why: Forty minutes after leaving Durango for a Christmas party in Snowmass Village., the plane crashed into mountains near Silverton Colorado. Hampered by inclement weather, searchers had to deal with nearly a foot of snow between Saturday and Sunday in the mountains at 11,000 above sea level.
The bodies of Jenna Rich and Tyler Black were found and recovered, and are headed for autopsy.
The search continues for two more bodies. The four adult passengers have all been reported as deceased. Three of those aboard were employees of Alpine Bank, and the fourth aboard was a spouse.
The debris field of the crash covers more than a mile.
What: American Airlines Boeing 757 en route from Dallas to Los Angeles
Where: Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport
When: Dec 4, 2011, 10:00 a m
Who: 175 aboard
Why: The flight was en route when it developed problems with one of its engines. Apparently it ingested something in one of its right engines (or “encountered an unknown obstacle”) disabling the right engine.
The pilots made a safe landing in Lubbock. We assume alternative arrangements were provided for the stranded passengers.
What: WESTJET en route from Vancouver to Toronto
Where: Thunder Bay, Ontario
When: December 3, 2011 5 pm
Who: 118 passengers
Why: A Westjet Boeing 737 was en route when a Portuguese passenger made what seemed to be bomb threats.
The flight diverted to Thunder bay. The passengers disembarked, and the disturbed passenger, a former mental patient, was taken into custody and hospitalized.
The plane was examined and no explosives were found. Passengers were able to resume their flight on December 4.
What: Qatar Airways en route from Doha to Bangalore
Where: Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad
When: December 2, 2011
Who: 240 passengers
Why: While en route, the pilots received information of bad weather in Bangalore.
They decided to divert to Hyderabad, and made a 5 a.m. emergency landing.
Passengers were provided alternate transportation to Bangalore.
Last week, an Emirates flight from Bangkok to Dubai diverted to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport to make an emergency landing due to what was reported as a “technical snag” which may have been hydraulics, or 3 generators off line depending on which rumor you wish to believe.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Christian Schürmann
What: Emirates Boeing 777-300 en route from Colombo Sri Lanka to Male, Maldives
Where: Male
When: Dec 2nd 2011
Why: On landing in Male, the plane’s tires burst.
Passengers disembarked on the runway, as the plane was disabled. No explanation was given regarding the tires. (We assume a too fast landing, but one should never assume.)
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer DJ Reed – OPShots Photo Team
What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 en route from Albuquerque,NM to Oakland,CA
Where: Oakland
When: Dec 1st 2011
Who: 95 passengers and 5 crew
Why: On approach to Oakland, the plane flew through ten seconds of turbulence that injured the cabin crew.
The pilots made a safe landing half an hour later, after which two members of the crew were hospitalized.
Another victim is laid to rest in the ongoing saga of Air France Flight 447. This victim is neither Brazilian nor French. Among those whose remains were recently recovered and identified, Harpist Fatma Ceren Necipoglu was returned to Turkey on November 22, 2011, nearly two and a half years after the June 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447.
When she went to the Rio Harp Festival to perform two recitals, she never expected to be returning as a memory.
After a ceremony at Sisli’s Tesvikiye Mosque, Necipoglu was laid to rest. She was a 1999 graduate of the Department of Harp in Louisiana State University’s School of Music and piano and harp lecturer at the Anadolu University.
What: Caribbean Airlines flight BW 62 en route from the Bahamas
Where: Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St. James.
When: Dec 1, 2011
Who: 79 passengers
Why: The flight took off normally but had to divert back to the airport after developing problems. Some passengers were provided hotel accommodations. The connecting sector of flight BW 62 to Kingston was cancelled.
The official statement was posted here.
The widow of John Goble was awarded $10 Million for wrongful death after the chopper he was in was flown between two electrical towers, striking the power lines. The vintage 1951 military helicopter was en route to an aircraft and classic car show in Riverside, CA. The crash occurred on Nov 7, 2009, over two years ago.
Goble co-founded Sectra North America, the North American unit of Linköping, Sweden-based PACS firm Sectra, in 1997, and had served as its president ever since. Prior to that, Goble was medical marketing manager for Hewlett-Packard’s workstation division.
Two million was awarded in compensation for lost wages; the remainder was for loss of companionship. The pilot owned Classic Rotors, a vintage aircraft museum.
A case against Goble and the utility company involving the surviving family of another deceased passenger, James Jantz, is still pending.
What: Wittman W-10 Tailwind (Built by John R. Wing) practicing touch and go
Where: Fulton, 1 mile SW of Oswego County Apt.- KFZY, NY
When: Dec 1, 2011, 2:30 pm
Who: pilot
Why: After practicing touch and go the pilot crashed in a wooded area called Old Incinerator Hill, off Whitaker Road, near the line between Fulton and Volney, a mile sW of Oswego County Airport.
Witnesses heard the engine sputtering before it went down in a heavily wooded area. Part of the wreckage was found fifteen feet up, in a tree.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Felix Heilmann
What: Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter en route from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to Singapore
Where: Singapore
When: Dec 2nd 2011
Why: The freighter flight was landing on runway two, but drove off the runway.
The excursion caused the runway closure for more than an hour, although the plane did not require towing. There were no injuries.
[nokia-maps template=”nokia.blue.place” sizes=”{‘width’: ‘auto’,’height’: ‘370’,’label’: ‘Auto’}” placeId=”840dpcm4-a46ee2b1271748de83b8b4ac98241564″ ]
What: United Airlines Michigan to Chicago
Where: Green Bay
When: Dec 1 2011
Who: 21 passengers
Why: After takeoff, the flight developed problems with the landing gear. Pilots diverted to Green Bay where they made a safe landing at Austin Straubel International Airport.
Passengers were provided alternate flights from Green Bay.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Aquadman
What: Wizzair Airbus A320-200 en route from Bucharest Romania to Milan Italy
Where: Bucharest
When: Nov 30th 2011
Who: 157 passengers
Why: We haven’t heard about falling parts in a while.
The airbus was en route over Bucharest when an engine access panel fell off.
Oops.
The pilots returned to the airport within twenty minutes. I wonder where the access panel ended up. Who forgot to fasten it? Inquiring minds want to know these things. There’s more to this story than what we’ve seen.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Andre Wadman
What: Skyworks Dornier Do-328 from Berne Switzerland to Hamburg
Where: Hamburg
When: Nov 30th 2011
Who: not available
Why: After landing in Hamburg, maintenance ground crew found that the “left main gear outboard door” had not made the flight with the rest of the plane. The plane was ferried back to Berne.
What: American Airlines Boeing 767-200 flight from New York City to San Francisco
Where: Buffalo Niagara International Airport
When: Nov 27, 2011
Who: 713 passengers
Why: After having taken off from JFK, the flight developed smoke in the cockpit.
Pilots diverted to Buffalo, where they made a safe landing. No injuries were reported.
American Airlines routed another plane in to pick up the passengers. In the meantime, passengers were put up overnight in a hotel.
On an unrelated note, the CEO of American Airlines, CEO Gerard Arpey, stepped down. After a meeting in NY on Monday, the company is filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Operations of the airline will continue as usual, and frequent fliers will not be affected. However, some jobs will be cut. American Eagle also filed for bankruptcy, delaying its spin off from American.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Teemu Pesonen
What: Flybe Avion de Transport Regional ATR 72-500 en route from Vaasa Finland to Tallinn Estonia
Where: Pori Airport, Finland
When: Nov 28, 2011
Who: 11 passengers
Why: The Flybe flight was en route when the pilots discovered smoke in the cockpit.
Pilots made an emergency landing. A replacement jet was sent to the town Pori.
The source of the smoke was a faulty printer in the cockpit.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Sebastian Sowa
What: China Eastern Airlines Airbus A330-200 from Osaka Kansai (Japan) to Shanghai (China)
Where: Osaka
When: Nov 28th 2011
Who: 245 people on board
Why: The pilot was positioned for takeoff, and then took off without waiting for clearance.
A chopper on approach was near the runway at the time.
The airbus continued to Shanghai.
An investigation is ongoing.
What: Helisika Agricultural Ltd. Aérospatiale AS 350B2 Ecureuil
Where: Viaduct Harbour, Auckland, NZ
When: Nov 23, 2011
Who: 1 pilot
Why: After setting a pylon for a christmas tree, the chopper’s roter struck a cable, and crashed the chopper.
Pilot Greg Gribble was hospitalized and released.
Te Wero Bridge has been closed to pedestrians until the investigation is complete.
