Air Berlin flight AB-2266 (callsign BER344E) made a safe landing at Málaga Airport, Spain, on February 5th.
The Airbus A320-200, flying from Munich Airport, Germany, lost communication with ATC mid-air. The plane could contact back the ATC after around 10 minutes.
The plane landed safely.
No injuries were reported.
A privately owned Socata TB20 crashed in Cerro de los Rabadanes, Cuenca, Spain. All four aboard were killed after what was possibly a bird strike. The bird has been identified as a vulture. All people aboard were reported to be family members: a couple and their 25 and 22 year old daughters. The plane crashed in difficult terrain while en route to Oteros Pajares (León). The recovery team is finding the location a challenge.
Aegean Airlines flight A3 688 had to divert and make an emergency landing at Palma de Mallorca Airport in Mallorca, Spain, on January 10.
The plane was heading from Athens, Greece, to Madrid, Spain, when it was diverted due to a terror threat. According to the airline, “Aegen was notified by the Athens International Airport, today, Sunday 10 January, for additional security check to a passenger on the scheduled Aegen flight A3 688 from Athens to Madrid…Considering this information, Aegen has instructed the commander of the flight to land on the nearest airport.”
The plane landed safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
“All the additional security checks were conducted for the aircraft and the passengers, as provided by regulations. The security checks revealed no issues and the aircraft departed from Mallorca to its final destination Madrid,” the airline said.
Iberia Airline flight IB-6025 had to return and make an emergency landing at Madrid Barajas International Airport, Madrid, Spain, on December 16.
The Airbus A340-300, flying from Madrid, Spain, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, had to return due to an engine problem. The crew decided to shut down an engine mid-air.
The plane landed safely.
All passengers aboard remained safe.
TAM Airlines flight JJ8065 had to return and make an emergency landing at Barajas International Airport in Madrid, Spain, on December 15.
The Boeing 777 took off for Sao Paulo, Brazil, but had to return shortly afterwards due to a bomb threat.
The plane landed uneventfully. Everyone aboard remained safe.
A Spanish military helicopter crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, around 280 nautical miles from its destination on Gando air base, Gran Canaria Island, Spain, on October 22.
The Super Puma helicopter, carrying a captain, a lieutenant and sergeant, went down after taking off from Mauritania. Authorities said the chopper had been involved in military exercises in Dakar, Senegal and stopped at Mauritania for refueling.
All 3 crew members went missing after the crash. A search operation is underway.
The cause of crash is being investigated.
Eurowings flight 4U-592 made a hard landing at Palma de Mallorca Airport, Spain, on October 20.
The left side engine access door of the Airbus A330-200 opened right after taking off, making it hard for the crew to continue the flight. The plane was flying from Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany, to Palma, Spain, at the time.
The plane with 182 people aboard laded uneventfully.
Everyone aboard remained safe.
A micro-light plane made a crash-landing in an orange orchard near the runway of Seville Airport, Spain, on August 23rd.
The aircraft crash-landed after the pilot lost consciousness mid-air and his wife, with “no notion” of flying a plane, had to take charge.
The flight was heading towards Coria del Rio from Trebujena, at the time.
The pilot lost his life while his wife sustained serious injuries.
An Airbus A400M Atlas Cargo plane crashed near San Pablo airport in Seville, Spain on May 9.
The military aircraft was attempting an emergency landing when it crashed into a pylon.
There were 6 people aboard the aircraft at the time; 4 of them were killed while the others were injured.
Authorities said the aircraft was on a test flight and was scheduled to be delivered to Turkey in June.
Pasadena, CA — (ReleaseWire) — 04/02/2015 — As an advocate (not a lawyer) of fair compensation for the victims of plane crashes, I have been closely following the story behind the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 and the now notorious 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. As is always the case, a team of expert investigators will dig out the facts to determine the most likely scenario behind the crash. That careful investigation will take a year at the very least. In this Germanwings accident, the one factor that stands out already is the role played by the pilot’s state of mind in what appears now to be his deliberate collision course with the French Alps. It is now common knowledge that the plane disintegrated on impact with the Massif des Trois-Évêchés. Imagine how horrified the families were when the transcript of the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) was quickly leaked by tabloids. Journalists have been shouldering each other out of the way to get to the front of the line, “scooping” each with another “leaked” nugget. A girlfriend’s interview. A medical report here. A video there. TV commentators and newspapers from CNN and the venerable New York Times to the most scurrilous tabloids are spouting “the facts” faster than investigators can have gotten to the information. Tweeting the news as I do results in loads of source-checking, and plenty of on-going head-scratching moments while weeding out wild supposition masquerading as news in sources one would normally consider impeccable. When one source says “the plane is blue,” another says “the plane is red.” Sometimes I can determine which is the truth, but sometimes I have to leave it to readers to puzzle out.
I have been working Wrongful Death cases for some forty-seven years now. I am a consultant to attorneys across the globe who represent the families of Wrongful Death victims. Each investigation is exactly the same in terms of the emotional impact of the accident. Devastating. Whether the case may or may not end up in court, whether or not the accident catches the media’s attention, every aspect is always impossibly difficult for the families. Some accidents seem similar because they share a factor, whether it be similar weather conditions, mechanical difficulties, or a particular flaw in a particular model of plane.
Some aviation accidents personify extremes. Consider that while there is always some degree of speculation as to an accident’s cause, MH370 brought as many conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork in this past twelve months as Amelia Earhart’s disappearance has in the past 87 years. Everything seems plausible when people are desperate for an explanation. Because in this age of cell phones and satellites, there is simply no explanation for a plane to vanish, MH370 has become the “poster child” for speculation. I expect MH370 will continue to spawn new theories and will endure as a mystery until, at some point, the wreckage will be found and examined.
If I were comparing MH370 and Germanwings 9525, I could write a whole piece examining the conflict of government transparency vs. individual confidentiality, but that was not my intent today. I was just thinking of aviation safety, and how 9/11 became the catalyst for upgraded multifaceted flight deck security. One outcome of 9/11 is the impregnable, indestructible cockpit door, the brain child of countless engineering hours, security and scientific research. Passengers since 9/11 have flown safe in the knowledge that no intruder could again gain entry to the cockpit and overpower the pilot thanks to redundant enhanced security precautions and a door designed to keep the dangerous people out. Now there’s a cockpit voice recording that appears to show that same safe cockpit door is the barrier that kept the PIC from being able to save everyone aboard. Captain Patrick Sondenheimer died trying to get that door open.
The impregnable cockpit door, the terrible irony of Germanwings Flight 9525.
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Security measures were taken by aviation designers after 911 to ensure a safe cockpit door in the A320,resulting in a door designed to stop intruders and protect the pilot within.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, flight crews no longer have keys to open the cockpit door. The door remains locked during flight. When entry is requested on the outside keypad, a buzzer goes off. The pilot can toggle the switch and unlock the door.
The CVR now seems to indicate that copilot Andreas Lubitz locked out the Pilot In Command, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer. There is audio record of him attempting to get through the invincible door.
A Vueling flight had to return and make an emergency landing at El Prat airport in Barcelona, Spain, on March 26.
The Airbus A320 took off for Munich, Germany, at around 6 a.m. However, just minutes later, the captain reported a burning smell on board and requested an emergency landing.
The plane landed back uneventfully. All 137 passengers aboard remained safe.
The airline accommodated the passengers in an alternate flight.
Ryanair FR8321 had to make an emergency landing in Barcelona, Spain, early on March 19.
The plane was en-route from London Stansted to Valencia, Spain, when a fire extinguisher went off in the cockpit, forcing the pilots to use oxygen masks. The pilots then reported the situation and requested an emergency landing at Barcelona Airport.
The plane landed uneventfully. Passengers remained seated while an engineer replaced the faulty fire extinguisher.
The flight resumed shortly afterwards.
A Greek F-16 jet crashed during NATO training in Spain at around 3:20 p.m. on January 26.
The plane went down shortly after it took off from a training center in Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, during a NATO exercise.
According to a statement released by the defense ministry, “The plane lost power, crashing into the parking area for planes, crashing into various planes that were parked there.”
Ten people, including 2 Greek and 8 French nationals, were killed in the accident while 21 others were injured. Five of the injured were shifted to La Paz Hospital’s specialist burn unit in Madrid.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, “This is a tragedy that affects the whole NATO family.”
A helicopter crashed after its blades brushed a mountain near Picos de Europa range in Leon province of Spain on August 24.
The accident happened when the helicopter was on a rescue mission for a mountain climber, with 4 members of Spain’s rural Civil Guard police aboard.
According to local government, 2 pilots and a winch operator was killed in the accident while the fourth member escaped the accident as he had already descended to the ground for helping the climber.
On July 5, 2014, an Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340-300 (LV-FPV) headed from Barcelona,SP (Spain) to Buenos Aires,BA (Argentina) was taxiing for departure as a UTAir Boeing 767-300(VQ-BSX) en route from Moscow, Russia to Barcelona was on approach. As the video shows, it looks like a close call. The UTAIR saw the Airbus on the runway, and less than ten seconds from touchdown pulled up and performed a go-around, making a safe landing fifteen minutes later.
The Airbus took off twenty minutes later. The incident is under investigation, and it has not been determined if this was an Air Traffic Control error or if the Argentinian plane was there without clearance. The airport and ATC say that there was sufficient clearance for landing, and neither Aerolineas Argentinas nor UTAIR filed a safety report.
On Jul 7th 2014,an investigation was opened into the runway incursion.
A Ryanair airlines plane en route from Majorca airport in Palma, Spain, to Memmingen, Germany, had to return and make an emergency landing on the morning of May 29.
Flight FR8551, with 148 passengers on-board took off from Palma Son Sant Joan airport at 6:43 a.m. However, shortly after take-off, a fire warning in the undercarriage of the aircraft turned on. The captain then asked for permission to return and make the emergency landing at about 7:20 a.m..
None of the passengers and crew members were injured. A spokesperson for Spain’s aviation authority AENA said, “The airport activated the emergency procedure and the plane landed. There was no fire and no incident involving any passengers. The plane is being examined.”
A small aircraft crashed in Cañada de Praes area of Pilar de la Horadada, Alicante province, Spain, on May 10.
The small plane was going to Murcia from Vinarós when it started to lose altitude. The pilot decided to make an emergency landing at a large piece of land.
The plane flipped over onto its roof while landing. Both the people on board, the pilot and a passenger, managed to get out of the wreckage without any injuries, except for minor cuts and bruises.
The local police and Guardia Civil reached at the scene of the accident.
A London-bound British Airways flight had to divert and make an emergency landing in Spain, after a 31 year old passenger went into labor.
The flight originated from Nigeria, and was on its way to Heathrow Airport in London when a Nigerian passenger gave birth in the plane’s business class, at an altitude of 36,000 feet. The pilot then diverted the plane to Palme de Mallorce, the capital of Spanish autonomous community, Balearic Islands. The mother and baby boy were rushed to Son Espases hospital.
Ujunwa Eneh Ozeh, hailing from Nigerian capital city Abuja, was 26 weeks pregnant and was accompanied by her 1 year old daughter, Nnedinma.
Ozeh and her newly born child, named Michael, are in stable condition. According to hospital authorities, the mother will be discharged on Monday, however, Michael will be kept in the intensive care unit till his original due date in August.
A Rabat to Paris flight is usually two and a half hours long.
But on a Ryanair flight from Rabat, Morocco, to Paris a passenger became sick and the crew diverted to Madrid. Because of noise restrictions, the crew had to land in Nantes instead of Paris, and had to overnight there.
Somewhere between Rabat and Nantes, passengers angry at being in the plane for seven hours, took food and drinks and were hostile to the flight crew.
Personnel in Nantes said the Ryanair passengers were behaving in an “animal and barbaric fashion.” Apparently police were called but nothing was done.
A hotel was provided in Nantes. The passengers did finally make it to Paris via bus.
On December 13, 2013, a Norwegian Air Shuttle Boeing 737-8JP in Las Palmas Airport, Gran Canaria had boarded. The Danish captain announced over the intercom that “we have become bombhotade and must vacate the planet directly,”
The airline’s staff who received the message prior to departure. After the threat was placed against the plane, it was evacuated and searched, as were the passengers. The announcement came when they were already on the runway.
Passengers were admitted into the terminal. Baggage and the plane were examined.
No bomb was found.
The plane was rebounded at 20:40 and went on its way from Las Palmas Airport to Stockholm without further delay.
On November 12, 2011, the Iberia Airbus A321 had been approaching Tenerife South airport at high speed just before it landed on the same runway that a Jet2 Boeing 757-200 was departing did so because of a premature take-off clearance to the 757.
The 757 was airborne over the runway as the A321 touched down at an unexpectedly fast approach. Although the A321’s airspeed had decreased constantly through the descent, its ground speed was 210kt. Expected airspeed is in the 180-203kt range.
The planes were separated by at least 4,100ft.
The incident has been attributed to the tower controller’s “improper handling” of the take-off clearance to the 757.
Photographer Frederico Cavalcante
A Lufthansa Airbus A321-131 #D-AIRE en route from Barcelona to Frankfurt Airport had taken off when the left engine developed problems.
The flight returned make a safe landing in Barcelona.
The problem may have been a bird strike.
Emergency services were on standby as the plane landed. An alternative flight was arranged. None of the 200 aboard were injured.
On April 16, 2013, an Air Europa Airbus A330-202 #EC-JPF was en route from Madrid-Barajas Airport to Caracas-Simón Bolívar International Airport in Venezuela.
However, the flight took off after an Aéromexico tail strike, and ran over fuselage debris which punctured a nose gear tire.
Pilots circled the airport, and returned to Barajas where they made a safe landing at 19:30 with emergency services on standby.
On March 19, 2013, an Aeroclub de Muchamiel Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee Warrior en route from Spain’s MUTXAMEL airport had three people aboard when it suffered some kind of mechanical problem, possibly engine failure.
A fourteen year old girl, Belen, along with her father, Jose Antonio Perez, and uncle Ricardo died in the crash at 12: 37.
The uncle was the pilot and flight instructor.
The plane crashed in Paraeta Espí, in an olive grove 500 meters from the town called Ibi. On impact, the cabin broke in two, and left a debris field with a hundred yard radius.
Local residents reported the crash to authorities. The Guardia Civil (local police) arrived on the scene. The bodies were removed by four in the afternoon and taken to the Forensic Anatomical Institute of Alicante for autopsies.
Eyewitnesses say the plane had been circling and flying very low as if looking for somewhere to land, and the pilot dodged cottages when it came down.
