What: Aires Bombardier Dash 8 en route from Medellin to Monteria
Where: Monteria
When: Mar 20th 2011, 20 min after takeoff
Who: 32 passengers 4 crew
Why: Twenty minutes into the 55 minute flight, one of the engines was shut down due to engine trouble. The pilot wanted to land at Caucasia but there was too much fuel, so flew on to the destination at Monteria with its longer runway (6280 feet)) with one engine down.
What: US Airways 737
Where: Charlotte-Douglas International Airport
When: March 28, 2011
Who: pilot
Why: Prior to takeoff, a small hole was discovered in the fuselage toward the back of the aircraft on the left side. The flight was cancelled, and the plane was taken out of service. The last flight had been Philadelphia to Charlotte. The cause of the hole has not been determined but the FBI is investigating if it might be a bullet hole that extends from the exterior into the cabin
What: Chart Air flight en route from Ngukurr to Katherine
Where: Katherine, Australia
When: March 29, 2011
Why: When the plane’s landing gear did not work properly, the plane circled the airport for 45 minutes. Passengers were “advised to call their loved ones.
Maybe the pilot was young or inexperienced. I don’t know. I do know that it is not all that rare for planes to have landing gear problems. Usually it is something that is handled fairly easily. Usually they foam the runway to prevent a fire, and the plane lands on its belly, usually after flying by the control tower to get visual confirmation on the status of the landing gear.
I’m not sure what I think about telling passengers to make that phone call. That pilot might have caused some unnecessary panic. There will probably be some negative consequences for some of these people who experienced flying on the plane and having the pilot practically promise them their goose was cooked and they were going to die.
Is this Chart Air protocol I wonder? In my opinion, however well-meant it is, it is not particularly a good thing for a pilot to induce panic and terror into one’s passengers.
We’ve been studying Ethiopia Flight 409 for a while, and now that the official investigation Progress Report is out, we have looked at it with quite some interest. The 28 page report is attached as a pdf at the end of this editorial, so if you haven’t seen it yet, we have it handy–
In some places, we find that the report corroborates some of the the points we made (or discovered in our research.)
According to the report:
“Instruments meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, and the flight was on an instrument flight plan. The accident occurred at night in dark lighting conditions with reported isolated cumulonimbus clouds and thunderstorms in the area.”
Their report also states:
The Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority reviewed the data from the Lebanese Meteorological Services that was collected on 25 January, 2010 after the accident. Meteorological data revealed some significant meteorological conditions in the area at the time of the accident. Relevant meteorological documents are included in the investigation file and will be analyzed during the investigation.
1.7.1 General meteorological situation
At the time of the accident, there was thunderstorms activity southwest and west of the field, as well as to the northwest on the localizer path for runway 16.
We had found a satellite photo of the area at the time in question and found something more turbulent than isolated cumulonumbus clouds. Here are the details we turned up
(thanks to Prof. Robert H. Holzworth
Departments of Earth and Space Sciences, and Physics
Director, World Wide Lightning Location Network )
WWLLN lightning strokes between (45,35.2) and (33.6, 35.7) coordinates on25 Jan 2010 between 00 and 06 UTC
.
2010/01/25,00:26:01.675091, 33.7925, 35.3157, 18.6, 15 2010/01/25,00:32:36.535404, 33.6762, 35.3223, 2.6, 5 2010/01/25,00:35:33.147928, 33.8152, 35.3989, 17.1, 9 2010/01/25,00:36:46.386409, 33.7880, 35.4182, 6.3, 6 2010/01/25,00:37:57.880969, 33.7473, 35.4083, 12.9, 8 2010/01/25,00:38:56.307703, 33.8144, 35.4480, 6.7, 5 2010/01/25,00:39:52.170965, 33.8098, 35.4486, 22.5, 1 02010/01/25,00:47:07.877656, 33.7658, 35.5138, 16.3, 7 2010/01/25,00:47:08.129640, 33.7532, 35.5187, 6.8, 5 2010/01/25,00:51:28.917459, 33.7313, 35.4897, 15.8, 8 2010/01/25,00:57:16.994854, 33.7712, 35.5668, 6.2, 5 2010/01/25,00:57:17.172976, 33.8877, 35.6009, 3.1, 5 2010/01/25,00:57:16.970924, 33.8230, 35.5664, 9.2, 5 2010/01/25,01:05:02.878083, 33.6379, 35.5348, 10.9, 5 2010/01/25,02:58:51.961652, 33.6073, 35.3703, 2.3, 5 2010/01/25,03:00:31.235850, 33.6450, 35.3881, 5.8, 7 2010/01/25,03:02:45.342786, 33.6157, 35.3553, 4.5, 7 2010/01/25,03:30:07.101084, 33.6511, 35.3185, 17.5, 7 2010/01/25,04:06:25.411422, 33.8432, 35.3648, 10.9, 5 2010/01/25,04:07:31.723296, 33.9087, 35.3844, 7.0, 5 2010/01/25,04:13:12.295902, 33.9543, 35.4151, 17.0, 10 2010/01/25,04:29:17.203911, 33.9865, 35.4613, 20.7, 10 2010/01/25,04:33:22.703869, 33.9637, 35.3229, 7.6, 6 2010/01/25,04:35:07.805894, 33.8709, 35.3297, 13.3, 8 2010/01/25,04:46:45.611497, 33.9634, 35.4145, 12.9, 6 2010/01/25,05:19:51.913652, 33.6442, 35.4520, 19.5, 8 2010/01/25,05:35:10.788571, 33.9139, 35.2087, 9.5, 7 2010/01/25,05:56:25.149281, 33.6332, 35.6535, 14.0, 7
and the satellite photo:
The plane’s on board radar would have normally registered this unacceptable massive super cell in the area where the airplane hit the ocean and the pilot would have adjusted the flight path accordingly. This makes us question if the on board radar was intact and operable. The weather system pictured in the satellite photo is not weather a pilot would voluntarily fly into. So we were not surprised to see this included in the report:
1.17.1.6 Procedure for use of on-board Weather Radar
ET provided its SOP and Boeing procedure for the operation of the weather radar during departure. The procedure will be addressed during the analysis phase.
OTHER POINTS
Our investigation pointed out that when an aircraft fails, it is a crucial part of the research to look at timely Airworthiness Directives (issued before and after) on the type of plane involved and indeed, this has become part of the ongoing research:
1.16.4.1 Removal and Analysis of the Trim Tab section:
ADs were issued (Emergency AD, AD 2010-09-05, AD 2010-17-19) by the FAA respectively on March and August 2010 regarding trim tab control mechanism and this airplane (with serial number 29935) was found affected by these ADs.
Therefore, and in accordance with the Airworthiness Group recommendation, the Investigation Committee decided the removal of the trim tab control mechanism for further test and research.
This is not the final report. The final report is due out this summer. We are looking forward to seeing if it answers some of our questions.
What: Heliflite Inc/Aris Helicopter Sikorsky S-58ET
Where: El Segundo
When: March 13, 2011. 9:30 am
Who: pilot
Why: Earlier in March we talked about the Sikorsky that crashed while lifting an ac unit from atop the Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems warehouse in El Segundo. The injured pilot survived though he had to be extracted from the helicopter. Anthony Savedra, an employee of Excel Mechanical, pulled the pilot to safety. The helicopter capacity is 5000 pounds, and the unit that was being removed from the building was under 4500 lbs, but the helicopter apparently suffered an engine failure (the pilot said the engine when “offline”) while the operation was in progress. A witness in the video below said the helicopter made a popping noise on impact, and there was white smoke; then a few moments later, there was an explosion, and black smoke. The pilot escaped burn injuries.
The crash started a fire on two floors of the warehouse but no one was injured in the fire, because the accident occurred on a Sunday. Seventy firefighters put out the blaze within forty minutes.
While one should congratulate Ethiopian Airlines for securing a $765 million package deal to finance five 777s, I hope the banks checked more than just their credit history and their relationship with the banks.
In terms of technological adulthood, Africa is still in its infancy. The pressure put on even a fairly reputable airline company like this to keep up with maintenance and pilot training is immense. It is succeed, or else. Or else, they call the loan and repo the planes. Or else there is a catastrophe and people lose their lives.
If all is ok when plane is leased but two years later airline gets a rap for bad maintenance or pilot training or any of the hundreds of other things that could happen, then the lease co or bank needs to step in and use their clout to demand changes/corrections, or face the consequences. Their contract should have teeth, with consequences that matter enough to the lessee to compel them to action, such as the right to repo that plane for maintenance or neglect issues, or pilot training issues, just as if the lessee were not making their payments. Lenders are pretty good at covering their investment by including clauses like this. Such a provision may already exist. The clause is not window dressing. It can be acted upon. Not for money’s sake. For the sake of lives.
Yes, lives are at stake here. Banks have a duty to monitor the lessee or buyer they entrust, and a duty as well to supervise not only the money but keep up with what is being purchased with the money. Entrusting a less than capable entity in ownership and maintenance of a jet worth millions is certainly dangerous instrumentality. Sufficient time should be allocated to responsible due diligence, beyond the loan/lease, to monitor not only timely payments but also if the company is living up to aggressive guidelines of maintenance and training.
These planes bought with this money, like all other airplanes but especially jets, are weapons of mass destruction. Even if they are not used in a deliberately terrorist act, inexperienced pilots and shotty maintenance can cause that plane to crash and become a weapon for those on board and for those on the ground.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Alan LebedaWhat: Trans Air Congo Antonov AN-12 en route from Brazzaville to Pointe Noire
Where: between the Roy and Kitoko area in Mvou-Mvou, Pointe-Noire, Congo
When: Mar 21st 2011 3:30pm
Who: 19 killed, 14 injured.
Why: The crew attempted an emergency landing on the sea but failed. The attempted landing was less than successful although there are reports that the pilot managed to get out of the plane before it stopped.
They were over a residential area and had been cleared to land when the Antonov AN-12 struck the residential neighborhood Mvou-Mvou. After striking buildings, the plane caught fire.
Although the plane was not permitted to carry passengers, it appears that there were 5 passengers aboard in addition to the 4 Russian crew members. Twenty buildings were destroyed (burned and covered in debris), including residences and a school. The ICAO had reported the plane TN-AGK as not airworthy in 2006. (It is certainly not airworthy now.) The plane is a total loss.
While some news reports say that the number of injured were passengers, other reports say that there were 9 aboard, and that the rest of the injured and casualties were in Mvou-Mvou at the time of the crash. The weather conditions were said to be “good” at the time. There was apparently a technical problem which caused them to attempt to ditch in the ocean, (or a technical problem preventing them from landing in the ocean). The cause of the crash is unresolved. It is being investigated.
Trans Air Congo is based in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo.
Pictured: Video clip
What: Banner plane
Where: North Myrtle Beach at Apache Pier
When: March 18 2011 1:30 pm
Who: pilot
Why: A pilot flying a plane dragging a banner ditched his plane in the surf off Myrtle Beach. 30 beachgoers rescued the helicopter pilot and a tow crew removed the plane’s wings to pull it on to the beach. The pilot survived and the damage to the plane appears to be minimal.
What: Helicopter over Dallas
Where: Regal Row and Empress Row
When: March 18, 2011, 9:30
Who: 3 passengers
Why: A helicopter a mile and a half from Dallas Love Field Airport had to make an emergency landing at the intersection of Regal Row and Empress Row when an air conditioning belt overheated.
There were no injuries.
What: Delta en route from Grand Rapids to Detroit
Where: Gerald R Ford International Airport
When: March 19 2011
Who: 55 passengers
Why: After departure from Grand Rapids, the plane developed smoke in the cockpit. The pilot returned to the airport where he made a safe landing. Passengers disembarked on the runway and were ported back to the terminal.
What: Aragon Fire Brigade government helicopter
Where: Camarena, near Teruel Spain
When: March 19 2011 13.30 am
Who: 7 aboard, 6 killed, 1 injured
Why: While en route to put out a fire outbreak in the area of ??Villel, 6 firemen died in a helicopter crash in Spain.
Two helicopters assisted in the recovery of the bodies and rescue of the injured. The one survivor was taken to Hospital Obispo Polanco of Teruel where he is intubated after suffering broken ribs and head trauma. Psychologists of the 112 Emergency Center are meet relatives and colleagues of those affected.
The President of Aragon, Marcelino Iglesias, and the Minister for the Environment, Alfredo Bone have traveled to Teruel. The initial fire which called out the fire helicopter has been controlled.
We haven’t heard yet the make of the helicopter, or the names of those involved. The world is always worse off after we lose our heroes in tragic circumstances.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Propfreak
What: AM Transporte Aereo Militar Xian MA-60 en route from La Paz to Rurrenabaque
Where: Rurrenabaque Bolivia
When: Mar 18th 2011
Who: 33 aboard
Why: On landing at Rurrenabaque the landing gear failed to deploy. The flight performed a belly landing with no injuries reported. Minor damage on the plane. The gear problem may have been due to a hydraulic leak but the circumstances are under investigation.
March 20 is the date the search starts again, more on that below.
So yesterday, Thursday, was Airbus’s turn in court–
Today, Friday, Air France has been called in its turn before a judge in France to get its hand slapped. Or get in preparation to get its hand slapped, in ten years or so. Anyway, Air France is also on the mat.
Or, as they call it in France, (to be purists here) Mise en examen
This is a criminal investigation. It is a matter of FRENCH LAW. As it was explained to me, “Every air accident is also a criminal matter, and a judge is appointed to oversee the investigation and follow up including charges if any to be filed.”
So what was the problem with the flight? It crashed. It killed lots of people No one knows for sure why. (Though to some of us it seems obvious.) No black boxes, right? But we’re not idiots. We have plenty of information about what was going on. Not everything, of course, but we have the messages sent by the plane’s computers. They reflect faulty readings which are believed to be the result of faulty pitot tube readings and a series of system failures. We would have a rounder picture of events if the black boxes, which hold crucial information were not misplaced somewhere in the Atlantic. They think they know where it is, (or at least they say they know or say they think they know) based on drift and whatnot (heavy on the whatnot.) But millions have been spent finding this needle in a stack of needles under the ocean, in a submarine mountain range. Nearly 30 million dollars has been spent on the search for the black boxes so far. The cost of the new search is shared by Airbus and Air France and will cost 12.5 million.
What about the details about the mise en examen preliminary manslaughter charges filed Thursday against Airbus? They were filed in French court by Judge Sylvie Zimmerman over the 2009 deaths of 228 people aboard Air France Flight 447. Fatal accidents automatically prompt criminal probes running concurrent with civil investigations, but a couple of points which may not be obvious to Americans not versed in French Justice are that the charges may be issued pending further investigation, and may hinge on the black boxes which have not been found and may never be found; AND the dual investigation slows things down. That may be one item that delayed the Concord trial 10 years after the accident. You’ve seen pictures of a guy walking around with a tiny ankle-biting dog chewing on the hem of one pants leg? Well, instead of a chihuahua, picture the entire french justice system. Might tend to slow down ones progress, do you think?
So Air France will be in court Friday, ie today. Watch the news, because what we saw yesterday about Airbus, we’ll see today about Air France. I hope the families are getting some satisfaction from this, because it is going to be a long (long long long) time before they feel like they’re actually being heard, not herded into obscurity.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Josh May
What: Yas Air Ilyushin IL-76TD en route from Tehran Mehrabad to Aleppo
Where: Diyarbakir
When: Mar 16th 2011
Who: crew of freight flight
Why: Told that the plane was carrying nuclear weapon parts, the flight was escorted to Diyarbakir Turkey by Turkish F-16 fighters.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Urs Zimmermann
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Tsuyoshi Hayasaki – AroundWorldImages
What: Swiss Airbus A320-200 en route from Zurich Switzerland to Madrid, Spain
What: Swiss Airbus A320-200 en route from Zurich Switzerland to Moscow Domodedovo Russia
Where: Zurich
When: Mar 15th 2011
Why: To save space, lets call these planes Swiss Airbus Spain and Swiss Airbus Russia …
Swiss Airbus Spain was taking off when ATC had them abort the takeoff.
Swiss Airbus Russia was taking off simultaneously, and they were allowed to continue.
An an ILS calibration flight was measuring runways 14 and 16 in the area at the same time. Russia was on one of the runways being measured, but not Spain.
Swiss Airbus Spain stopped with hot brakes, and takeoff was delayed for three hours. Russia was allowed to continue.
A near miss may be a near collision, but a close call is a close call. And this was a close call.
The ICAO audit for Nigeria comes up in May (a whole lot of initials here — NAMA (Nigerian Airspace Management Agency), NCAA, FAAN, NCAT (Nigerian College of Aviation Technology), NIMET (Nigerian Meteorological Agency), and AIB (Accident Investigation Bureau)— and before all of that, the US American Transportation Security Administration (ATSA) is in phase two of auditing Nigerian airports.
Arik Air, United Airlines, and Delta Airlines will be audited for safety as well, as they are the three carriers which fly to the US. Now that Nigeria has Category “ONE” status and can fly to the US, the FAA will continue strict safety auditing in order to maintain that safety status.
In Montreal, Canada from 24-26 May 2011., the ICAO will be hosting an Enhancing Runway Safety symposium. The official event sponsors are Airbus, Airports Council International (ACI) and Boeing. In April of 2010, the ACI World Director General, declared support for the African States such as Nigeria who adopted the Abuja Declaration, which demonstrates the determination of African nations to contribute to the development of a new global aviation security strategy.
Great press, but what happens next? Africa has a long way to go to establish true aviation safety standards.
What: Orange County Sheriff’s Office helicopter
Where: intersection of South Orange Blossom Trail and Holden Avenue, Orlando
When: March 13, 2011
Who: Pilot and crew
Why: While en route, the helicopter began making a strange sound. The crew decided to land, and made an emergency landing at the mall. The helicopter originated at Orlando Executive Airport.
Four pilot impersonators, including Air India Captain JK Verma and Indigo’s Parminder Kaur discussed in the video below, were caught flying without proper licenses which has led to a countrywide pilot probe, seeking more fake pilots and shady flight schools. It has been discovered that bogus certificates were used to endow pilots with licenses. Sham pilots were found to be flying for Air India. Pilot Arjun Giare was caught cheating on in US pilots and his US license cancelled, but is currently flying for Air India. Discrepancies were found in certificates from a school in Delhi, the Chinmaya Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School in Vasant Vihar. Some flying schools appear to be sanctioning fake pilots; it is not known if this school is one of them.
The falsified documents have forced the India’s aviation authorities to examine 4000 pilot licenses for irregularities. Although the director general of civil aviation, Baharat Bhushan said that fake licenses are few, how can he know this is true before the investigation? There is a documented history of corruption, including 57 pilots who were being prosecuted for drunkenness on duty.
With no disrespect for the decedents who are not here to defend themselves, for the sake of those passengers who lost their lives, this is just a question that requires examination:
What about the licenses of Captain Zlatko Glušica, and first officer H.S. Ahluwalia—the pilots in the Air India Express Flight 812 crash in May of 2010—were they legitimate? Plato said, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” We can not be children and avoid the truth. We can not be afraid of knowing. For the sake of those who are now lost, and in the interest of justice, we need to shine the light of truth into that May 2010 cockpit, and in fact all cockpits where a pretender may be placing lives at risk..
What: Air Canada Jazz Canadair CRJ-200 en route from Halifax, NS to St. John’s
Where: Halifax
When: Mar 14th 2011
Who: 42 passengers and 3 crew
Why: After takeoff, the cabin was temporarily obscured by some kind of haze.
The pilots returned to Halifax and made a safe landing. Passengers were booked on other flights. The plane was taken for maintenance to locate the source of the problem. Responding to haze is frequently termed “abundance of caution.”
Haze can be an air conditioning problem, an electrical power source problem, but most frequently in icy weather, de-icing fluid can get into an air intake, causing a “vanishing” mist.
Sendai Airport in Northern Japan was inundated by a tsunami and remained shut down.
Narita, which focuses on long international flights, was partially re-opened today.
Haneda, Tokyo’s other airport, closed for much of the day
Flights incoming to Tokyo were cancelled due to the quake and tsunami, and some diverted to U.S. Air Force’s Yokota Air
Nasa Images
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-111849-
/O.CON.PHEB.TS.W.0001.110311T1649Z-000000T0000Z/
BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 12
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
648 AM HST FRI MAR 11 2011
TO – CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII
SUBJECT – TSUNAMI WARNING SUPPLEMENT
A TSUNAMI WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME – 0746 PM HST 10 MAR 2011
COORDINATES – 38.3 NORTH 142.4 EAST
LOCATION – NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN
MAGNITUDE – 8.9 MOMENT
MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER
——————- —– —— —– ————— —–
KWAJALEIN MH 8.7N 167.7E 1134Z 0.70M / 2.3FT 16MIN
CHRISTMAS KI 2.0N 157.5W 1459Z 0.52M / 1.7FT 18MIN
MANUS PG 2.0S 147.4E 1426Z 0.92M / 3.0FT 36MIN
PAGO PAGO AS 14.3S 170.7W 1556Z 0.35M / 1.2FT 14MIN
LUGANVILLE VU 15.5S 167.2E 1537Z 0.54M / 1.8FT 52MIN
VANUATU 17.8S 168.3E 1532Z 0.69M / 2.3FT 20MIN
DART 55012 15.8S 158.5E 1517Z 0.04M / 0.1FT 52MIN
DART 46404 45.9N 128.8W 1440Z 0.11M / 0.3FT 18MIN
KAPOHO HI 19.5N 154.8W 1408Z 0.06M / 0.2FT 14MIN
HONOLULU OAHU 21.3N 157.9W 1329Z 0.68M / 2.2FT 32MIN
HILO HAWAII 19.7N 155.1W 1357Z 1.32M / 4.3FT 24MIN
KAHULUI MAUI 20.9N 156.5W 1340Z 1.82M / 6.0FT 28MIN
LAHAINA HI 20.9N 156.7W 1335Z 0.50M / 1.6FT 64MIN
MILOLII HI 19.2N 155.9W 1350Z 0.67M / 2.2FT 12MIN
BARBERS PT HI 21.3N 158.1W 1323Z 0.65M / 2.1FT 06MIN
HONUAPO HI 19.1N 155.6W 1340Z 0.04M / 0.1FT 32MIN
HALEIWA HI 21.6N 158.1W 1329Z 1.09M / 3.6FT 38MIN
MAKAPU`U HI 21.3N 157.7W 1312Z 0.49M / 1.6FT 52MIN
KAWAIHAE HAWAII 20.0N 155.8W 1330Z 0.85M / 2.8FT 56MIN
HONOKOHAU HI 19.7N 156.0W 1345Z 0.44M / 1.4FT 10MIN
DART 51407 19.6N 156.5W 1322Z 0.17M / 0.6FT 44MIN
NAWILIWILI KAUAI 22.0N 159.4W 1311Z 0.64M / 2.1FT 26MIN
HANALEI HI 22.2N 159.5W 1306Z 0.85M / 2.8FT 28MIN
TERN FR. FRIGATE US 23.9N 166.3W 1224Z 0.37M / 1.2FT 16MIN
MALAKAL KOROR PW 7.3N 134.5E 1142Z 0.10M / 0.3FT 40MIN
LEGASPI PH 13.1N 123.8E 1049Z 0.26M / 0.8FT 58MIN
DART 46403 52.7N 156.9W 1128Z 0.09M / 0.3FT 60MIN
DART 52402 11.7N 154.2E 0932Z 0.29M / 0.9FT 22MIN
DART 46408 49.6N 169.9W 1030Z 0.14M / 0.5FT 18MIN
DART 21414 48.9N 178.3E 0927Z 0.18M / 0.6FT 24MIN
MIDWAY 28.2N 177.4W 1054Z 1.26M / 4.1FT 12MIN
YAP FM 9.5N 138.1E 0951Z 0.18M / 0.6FT 92MIN
WAKE US 19.3N 166.6E 0928Z 0.38M / 1.2FT 14MIN
SAIPAN US 15.2N 145.7E 0916Z 0.66M / 2.2FT 30MIN
TOSASHIMIZU SHIKOKU 32.8N 133.0E 0751Z 0.93M / 3.0FT 64MIN
OMAEZAKI HONSHU JP 34.6N 138.2E 0660Z 0.99M / 3.2FT 72MIN
DART 21418 38.7N 148.7E 0619Z 1.07M / 3.5FT 06MIN
LAT – LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
LON – LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
TIME – TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
AMPL – TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
IT IS …NOT… CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
PER – PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.
NOTE – DART MEASUREMENTS ARE FROM THE DEEP OCEAN AND THEY
ARE GENERALLY MUCH SMALLER THAN COASTAL MEASUREMENTS.
EVALUATION
A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONG
COASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION
SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.
A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE
CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD
COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE
INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS
CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST.
TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT
RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI
WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL
QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE
CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED
BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH
TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.
THE ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME IN HAWAII OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS
0307 AM HST FRI 11 MAR 2011
MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS WARRANT.
…SP…
Click to view© Anatoliy Uvarenko
What: International Aviation Training Center Tecnam P2006T
Where: Kiev Ukraine
When: Mar 11, 2011
Who: 4 aboard, 4 fatalities
Why: The plane owned by International Aviation Training Center fell in a tailspin and crashed near Vasilkova. It was a new plane, and the cause of the accident has not been determined. It is however, the second problem this plane has had. On its first flight it apparently had to return after 20 minutes due to problems.
What: Comair flight en route from Atlanta to Charleston
Where: Lexington Bluegrass Airport
When: Mar 10, 2011
Who: passengers include 9 Marshall assistant football coaches
Why: After visiting Texas Christian University and Mississippi state, Marshall coaches reunited in Atlanta with the intent of returning to Atlanta on the same plane.
Prior to takeoff, that plane developed unknown issues and the flight was delayed as a replacement plane had to be brought in.
Then, while en route, the replacement plane developed a problem with the landing gear. The pilot diverted to Lexington Bluegrass Airport and made a safe landing.
While they apparently endured the flight with aplomb and some extra prayers, there was no outward panic, but one can only guess how the coaches felt. With two problems on two separate planes, they were no doubt remembering the fatal 1970 plane crash that took Marshall’s football team. Is Marshall University cursed or what? If I went to Marshall, or especially played football for Marshall, I’dt be thinking about alternative transportation.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Paul Carlotti
What: Air Canada Airbus A319-100 en route from Toronto to Winnipeg
Where: Sault Ste Marie
When: Mar 8 2011
Who: 125 aboard
Why: While en route, the plane was over Canada when the displays quit. The loss of the displays is being attributed to an electronic power failure. (Wonder if there was a short or if it was something else?) The displays were only offline for less than a minute, and subsequently began flashing error messages. Pilots continued on to Winnipeg and managed to land safely. The plane was taken out of commission in order to have an Airbus inspection to determine what exactly was going on.
Flying an Airbus without electronic displays is, I think, tantamount to suicide. I am surprised they didn’t divert somewhere and land immediately. Is it not somewhat risky to continue flying an airbus when the display connections are flakey? This same sort of thing happened on a BMI Airbus A321. Apparently catastrophic failure in rough conditions is not unheard of. In fact, rough conditions are not required to cause the need for a reboot. The term for “rebooting” an airbus that has lost its electronics is called “recycling,” a common enough thing that there is recognizable pilot humor regarding it.
What: Desert Sand Aircraft Leasing de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 100
Where: SW of Clayton County Airport-Tara Field, GA
When: 08 MAR 2011
Who: 2 fatalities
Why: The Desert Sand Aircraft Leasing flight piloted by 37-year-old Bryan Hedrick crashed at 11:45 am on March 8, 2011 on a post maintenance flight run. The maintenance was done by National Aerotech Aviation, and the maintenance flight was headed toward Tara Field when the plane went down for an unknown reason, and landed upside down, with the tail leaning on a tree, the right wing off and twisted, and the left wing folded back.
Both the pilot and passenger Oriel Roberts died in the crash.
photo: Pictured a Hawker Sidley HS 125
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Giovanni Verbeeck
What: King’s Aviation Hawker Sidley HS 125 registration 5N-BNR
Where: Bauchi Airport, Nigeria
When: 08 MARCH 2011
Who: Nuhu Ribadu, presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria
Why: On landing at the airport, the plane struck goats on the runway.
The plane owned by Wings Aviation incurred some damage. No one aboard the flight was injured, but the director of media and publicity of the Nuhu Ribadu Campaign Organisation is calling the invasion of goats on the runway a sign of sabotage.
