Pictured: A VivaAerobus Boeing 737-3B7
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Jorge Garcia
What: VivaAerobus Boeing 737-300 en route from Monterrey to Tijuana
Where: Chihuahua
When: Dec 18, 2009
Who: 80 passengers
Why: While en route, the plane developed cracks in its windshield, and diverted to Chihuahua, where it made a safe landing.
What: light aircraft
Where: Pretoria South Africa
When: Dec 18, 2009
Who: Pilot and passenger
Why: After takeoff, the plane failed to gain altitude and crashed into the ground in a ball of fire. Apparently the pilot tried to ditch in a stream.
There are no survivors.
The Blue1 BAE Systems Avro 146-RJ85 in an August flight over Stockholm
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Martin Djupenstrom
What: Blue1 Avro RJ-85 en route from Vaasa to Helsinki.
Where: Helsinki Finland
When: Dec 17th 2009
Who: 66 passengers 4 crew
Why: On approach to Helsinki, the flight developed fuel problems. Emergency measures were deployed, and the plane landed safely.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Max Bryansky
What: Air India Boeing 747-437 to Copenhagen
Where: Indira Gandhi International Airport
When: Dec 17, 2009 2:30 pm
Who: Prime Minister
Why: While on the tarmac, the Boeing 747 “Agra” was struck by a food delivery vehicle.
The plane involved in the incident was the Indian Prime Minister’s plane. Subsequent to the incident, the Prime Minister departed from Delhi on an alternate plane.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Gerry Hill
What: Flybe Dash 8-400 en route from London to Isle of Man
Where: Manchester
When: Dec 16th 2009
Who: 45 passengers
Why: While en route, the plane received a smoke alert, and diverted to Manchester, where they made a safe landing.
Passengers were provided hotel accommodations when the rest of the flight was cancelled.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Erezms
What: Transaero Boeing 737-400 en route from Moscow to Tel Aviv
Where: Tel Aviv
When: Dec 15th 2009
Who: 102 passengers and 7 crew
Why: On approach to Tel Aviv, twice the plane received re-directs, and in both cases, the flight made a go-around. (The approaches were made to runways scheduled with departing traffic.)
On the third approach, the plane landed safely.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Piotr Biskupski
What: Zenair CH-601 Zodiac
Where: Kie?p Poland
When: Dec 15 2009
Who: Pilot, a 68 year old Poznan resident
Why: The light plane flying from Poznan to Chelmno crashed for unknown reasons kilometers from its destination, probably during a landing maneuver. The pilot died on the scene.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Tiago Palla
What: Hifly Airbus A310-300 en route from Lisbon to Berlin
Where: Lisbon
When: Dec 15th 2009
Who: not available
Why: After takeoff, the plane developed a non-disclosed technical problem and returned to the airport. A replacement flight transported the passengers four hours later.
What: Robinson R44
Where: Moorabbin Airport, Australia
When: Dec 15, 2009, 10am
Who: pilot
Why: Pilot Geoffrey Edelsten was on his first solo, when the helicopter yawed quite violently to the left, to the right and into the ground. He sustained minor cuts.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Anton Harisov
What: Technoavia SM-92T Turbo Finist
Where: Korkino, 12km from Chelyabinsk Russia
When: Dec 13 2009, 11:02 am
Who: 8 on board
Why: The SM-92T plane was carrying one pilot and seven parachutists. According to the MOE, the aircraft performed a U-turn, then began to lose altitude and crashed into the ground in Chelyabinsk. The crash occurred immediately after takeoff from Kalacheva Airport.
All were fatalities.
The GU Emergency Operations Group were on site in the recovery operation.
1. Nikolay Dudkin, born in 1958, pilot
2. Bakgof Sergey, 1957, Instructor
3. Oleg Mashkin, born in 1962,
4. Alexander Pushkarev, born 1967,
5. Nabokina Denis, born in 1971,
6. Saitov Eugene, born in 1976,
7. Lomov Anastasia, born in 1984,
8. Litvinova Natalia, born in 1988
The investigation will focus on pilot error, equipment failure and weather conditions.
Pictured: A Cessna T210F Turbo Centurion landing in Africa
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Sven De Bevere
What: Cessna 210F
Where: Pueblo Nuevo, municipio Veroes, Yaracuy, Venezuela
When: Dec 11, 2009
Who: 4 on board
Why: Friday, the Cessna had been seen flying low over a clandestine airstrip, allegedly used for drug trafficking. The Yaracuy state Special Action Squad discovered the plane whose identification numbers had been tampered with. The area was cordoned off and a gun battle occurred. Four or five individuals were in the plane, and drums of chemicals which are currently being analyzed.
Click to view full size photo
Contact photographer Kostas D. Pantios
What: Olympic Air Aerospatiale ATR-42-300 en route from Athens to Naxos
Where: Paros
When: Dec 12th 2009
Who: not available
Why: On approach to Naxos, the crew made a final approach to Paros (situated on side by side islands.)
On advice from ATC, the pilots performed another go around, finding and landing on their planned destination.
View Naxos in a larger map
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Ricardo Morales
What: Empresa Aerocaribbean SA Boeing 737-200 en route from Caracas Venezuela to Santiago Cuba
Where: Santo Domingo
When: Dec 10th 2009
Who: 90 passengers and 9 crew
Why: While en route, the flight developed oil filter trouble in the right engine.
Gushing black smoke, the plane made an emergency landing in Santo Domingo where maintenance took care of the problem. In six hours, passengers continued to their destination on the same plane.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Yuda
What: Porter Airlines de Havilland Dash 8-400 en route from Montreal to Toronto
Where: Toronto
When: Dec 3rd 2009
Who: 52 on board
Why: On approach to Toronto, about ten minutes before landing, the crew received indication of a technical problem.
The flight made a safe landing with emergency standing by.
Friday, the Commissioner of the South African Civil Aviation Authority will be reporting the results of a SA Airlink safety audit being tendered to Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele due to the incident Monday when an Airlink plane overshot the runway at George Airport, allegedly due to poor pilot training. Three injuries were reported, including an ankle injury of the first officer. In another recent Airlink crash (Durban), the pilot died later of his injuries and 3 passengers were injured.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Kazuteru Sugawara
What: ANN All Nippon Network de Havilland Dash 8-400 en route from Osaka Itami to Niigata
Where: Itami Airport, Japan
When: Dec 8th 2009
Who: 22 on board
Why: After takeoff, the plane could not retract the gear. The crew decided to return to Itami Airport where it made a safe landing. Passengers were provided an alternative flight to Niigata.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Joachim Lippl
What: Beechcraft C90 King Air en route from Bremen to Egelsbach
Where: East of Egelsbach Germany
When: Dec 7, 2009
Who: 3 fatalities
Why: The plane took off from Bremin at 15.15 Bremin time. There were no indications of problems to ATC there although the pilot logged off at 16.13 to make contact with the ATC in Egelsbach. On approach to Egelsbach air field at 16.15, the flight crashed and burned in a wooded area about five kilometers east of the airfield.
The three passengers were businessmen.
Egelsbach is the largest private German airport used by business travelers and sports pilots.
What: Pipistrel Spider en route from Yarrawonga Airport
Where: Burramine nr Yarrawonga, Vic, Australia
When: Dec 6, 2009
Who: Two brothers
What: Ted and Alan Berryman were to fly Ted’s ultralight on a local scenic circuit, but did not return to the airport at 9 as was their plan. A search found their badly damaged ultralight Pipistrel Spider (“trike type”, tandem 2 seater”) near Bruces Road, Burramine on the morning of the 7th. Both occupants have been confirmed dead.
Pictured: Donavia Boeing 737-4Q8
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Fabio Lorenzato
What: Donavia Boeing 737-400 en route from Chulman to Novosibirsk
Where: Chulman
When: Dec 4th 2009
Who: not available
Why: Flight rejected fast takeoff and was cancelled.
04 December 2009
The new owners of Gatwick Airport, Global Infrastructure Partners, promised to kick-start a new era of competition between London’s airports and pledged more efficient operations and a better passenger experience following completion of the acquisition.
GIP is bringing a transition team to support Gatwick’s management, to apply modern process management best practice to improve Gatwick’s operations for airlines and deliver better services for passengers.
Check-in, security and better-focused investment are among the first priorities identified by the new owners, who pledge to make Gatwick the airport of choice for passengers in London and the South East.
Sir David Rowlands, the newly-appointed Chairman of Gatwick’s Board, said: “Gatwick is now a major independent airport company and from today, for the first time ever, it is competing directly with Heathrow, Stansted and Luton, as well as with our other airport, London City, in a competitive London airports market.
“Gatwick will be competing vigorously against all London airports for point-to-point, short-haul and long-haul routes and passengers.
“Our plan is to gain a competitive edge by modernising Gatwick, providing more efficient operations for airlines and a better experience for passengers and to do this as cost effectively as possible.
“We intend Gatwick to become the airport of choice for airlines and passengers in our target market.”
GIP also announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer for Gatwick, Stewart Wingate, who takes over immediately from managing director Andy Flower, who is leaving the company. Mr Wingate was previously Managing Director at Stansted, Chief Executive Officer at Budapest Airport and a former General Manager at Black & Decker.
Mr Wingate said: “Our immediate priority is to get Gatwick’s processes right, especially security and check-in. We are also reviewing the investment programme to ensure that every pound Gatwick spends is focused on delivering for airlines and passengers.
“It will take some time for our changes to take effect, but within months passengers will begin to feel that their journey through Gatwick is getting easier, and in a year or so they will start to notice physical improvements too. Gatwick will become the airport of choice, setting the benchmark for service in London.
“We will focus on improving efficiency as it is critical that Gatwick improves on its position as one of the most cost-competitive primary airports in Europe.”
Gatwick Airport Limited (Gatwick) is the company licensed to operate Gatwick Airport by the Civil Aviation Authority. Gatwick is wholly-owned by Ivy Bidco Limited (Ivy), a company formed to undertake the acquisition of Gatwick. Ivy is ultimately controlled by funds managed by Global Infrastructure Management, LLC, part of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).
GIP, a $5.64 billion independent investment fund, invests worldwide in infrastructure assets. It targets investments in air transport infrastructure, ports, freight rail, power and utilities, natural resources infrastructure, water distribution and treatment, and waste management. GIP has offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and Sydney and an operations team in Stamford, Connecticut.
GIP has a 75% ownership interest in London City Airport. Its other UK investments are Biffa Limited, a waste management company and Great Yarmouth Port Company. GIP also has investments in other infrastructure businesses in the United States, India and Argentina.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Florian Kondziela
What: Qantas Airbus A380-800 en route from Singapore to London
Where: London
When: Dec 4th 2009
Who: not available
Why: While landing, the Airbus developed a problem with the nose wheel steering and had to be towed off the runway. The plane was grounded in London waiting for spare parts, anticipating the return flight to be delayed less than half a day.
Pictured: Yakovlev Yak-18T
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer George Canciani
What: Restored Yak 18T en route to Kingaroy
Where: Crows Nest, Australia
When: December 3, 2009
Who: PILOT Neil Dunn, 56, and 13 year old passenger
Why: The pilot encountered engine trouble at 10.45am. The bush area (north) that was in their flight plan would have had nowhere to land.
Referring to the electrical wires Dunn had to dodge to make the emergency landing in his paddock, the amazed farmer said, “I don’t know how they’re not dead.”
Pictured: A Batavia Air Boeing 737-4Y0
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Roger Shen
What: Batavia Air Boeing 737-4Y0 en route from Bali Indonesia to Kupang, Indonesia
Where: Ngurah Rai in Bali, Indonesia,
When: 03-DEC-2009 11:45 AM
Who: 148 passengers and six crew, 6 injuries
Why: The plane had been carrying 148 passengers from Surabaya, East Java to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. The flight had stopped overnight in Bali because El Tari Airport (the destination) was closed due to another incident. Passengers were already wound up, because they’d spent the night actually in the airport–with no overnight compensation or accommodations.
The plane was about to take off when passengers, believing the plane was on fire screamed and rushed the exits, forcing the door open and jumping from the plane. Six were injured leaping from the plane (which was not on fire) without any ramps.
Passengers had seen normal exhaust smoke when the pilot started up the engines.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Joachim Eichner
What: Air Europa Boeing 737-800 en route from Trondheim Norway to Las Palmas Spain
Where: Trondheim
When: Dec 2nd 2009
Who: 170 passengers,
Why: While en route, an engine developed problems and the crew had to shut it down. The plane returned to the airport where passengers debarked safely.
Never take for granted or underestimate the value of having more than one engine.
What: Mercy Flight enroute Buffalo to ECMC from Orleans County
Where: A mile from Buffalo Niagara
When: Dec 2 2009
Who: Pilot Shawn Hayes, 2 flight crew nurses and a patient
Why: After Pilot Shawn Hayes reported “a drop” in one of his engine, he headed for the airport. ATC halted takeoffs for 5 minutes allowing Hayes to land anywhere but he didn’t make it to the airport. With one engine running, the pilot made a safe emergency landing.
Flight nurses transported patient by ambulance.
Hayes is a 23 year former military pilot.
<
