What: US Airways Boeing 737-400 en route from Dallas to Charlotte. Where: Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport When: April 18, 2011, 1 pm Who: 94 passengers, 5 crew (also reported as 107 aboard) Why: After pilots smelled smoke in the cockpit, they diverted the flight to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport where they made a safe landing with local emergency responders as well as fire crews from Pelham-Batesville and Boiling Springs, and Greenville and Spartanburg EMS were on standby when the plane landed.
After the plane was grounded, passengers were taken by bus to Charlotte.
What: Donavia Boeing-737-500 passenger airliner flying from Rostov to Tel Aviv Where: Sochi, Russia Who: 99 passengers * also reported as 103 Why: The flight made a scheduled stop at Sochi, but after takeoff had undesignated problems in the air, and had to return to make an emergency landing. A replacement plane arrived to perform the remainder of the flight about six hours later.
The problem was due to cabin pressure from a leaking door seal.
What: United Airlines en route to San Francisco Where: LAX When: April 17, 2011 Why: After takeoff, the autopilot took control and would not relinquish it. The pilot had no control over the plane, but then was able to turn off autopilot and return to the airport.
The news release of this event does not mention the type of plane; but I am not surprised at first research that it appears to have been an Airbus A320. Fortunately, the pilot regained control, and there were no injuries. But this kind of problem with an airbus could have significance relating to all fly by wire aircraft, which have the capacity to lock out the pilot.
We need more information about this event. It should be published heavily, and we should be hearing some alerts and safety directives from Airbus.
What: United Nations – UN/Georgian Airways Canadair CL600 2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-100ER on the return trip from Kinshasa-N’Djili Airport (FIH) to Kisangani (FKI) and Entebbe (and back) Where: Kinshasa-N’Djili Airport, Congo When: 04 APR 2011 2 pm. Who: 4 crew, 29 passengers Why: On landing in Kinsasha, the United Nations plane encountered rainy weather and crashed at the end of the runway, breaking into several pieces. Witnesses say the plane encountered windshear at 65 feet and fell straight down. At least eight were thrown from the plane when it broke. There were 32 fatalities. There was one survivor. The crew was composed of Georgians.
The rain helped put out the fire, according to firefighters. The black box was recovered.
The lone survivor, Francis Mwamba, a Congolese journalist, was taken to Biamba Marie Mutombo hospital.
The plane was also reported as a Fokker.
Airzena Georgian Airways made this statement:
“Airzena Georgian Airways” regrets to confirm an accident occurred at Kinshasa airport, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo on 4 April, 10 at 13:00 GMT.The flight was operated under UN mission by aircraft of type CRJ-100 enroute from Goma to Kinshasa. The landing was performed in adverse weather conditions. The aircraft sufferred crash landing, broke up into parts and caught fire.
According to the currently available information crew and passengers died in the accident. The number is specified.
The accident is being investigated officially to determine its possible cause.
“Airzena Georgian Airways” is deeply shocked about the accident and expresses its condolences to the family members of the perished.
What: Qantas Boeing 737-800 Aukland to Sydney Where: Sydney When: Apr 13 2011 Who: 130 passengers Why: While en route, the plane reportedly had a fuel leak and an engine problem while over the Tasman sea. They made a “priority” landing in Sydney, with no injuries, although the fuel leak problem was mistakenly announced.
The problem was diagnosed as a fuel transfer valve, which was subsequently replaced.
Prior to landing safely in Sydney, the problem was announced on Twitter.
What: Rose Resources Oil & Gas Twin engine Beechcraft Baron 55 plane from Louisiana to Bixby Oklahoma Where: DeQueen airport Southwest Arkansas When: April 15, 2011 8:30 am Who: pilot Timothy Stanley Why: Encountering bad weather while en route, Stanley diverted to Dequeen Airport. He made a safe landing, and spent the night.
In the morning after taking off, while circling, the pilot lost control and crashed off of the east end of the 5,000-foot De Queen runway in a ditch. He died on the scene.
What: Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777-268ER en route from Washington to Riyadh Where: Greece When: April 14, 2011 Who: 240 Why: While en route, the plane indicated a fire aboard. The pilot diverted to Athens where they made a safe landing.
The plane had “dry ice” aboard, which gave the appearance of fire. Though from the accounts we have heard, we’re not sure if the smoke was visually detected, or if the ions from the offgassing of dry ice fooled a smoke detector.
What: Golden Wings Piper PA-32-260 Cherokee Six Where: Haifa Israel When: April 14, 2011 Who: 4 fatalities Why: On a training flight, the Piper developed unspecified engine problems, so that the pilot requested an emergency landing on the Air Force Technical School landing strip.
On return to the airport, the pilot attempted an emergency landing but brushed treetops on approach, and crashed. A flight instructor 65-year-old f David Bechor, and three students including Mustafa Amin Darawsheh and Moshe Bensel were killed in the crash.
Witnesses say the plane “dropped like a stone…a loud blast…explosion and black smoke”
When the rescue teams arrived, the plane was engulfed.
What: Air France Airbus A330-200 en route from Caracas Venezuela to Paris Where: Caracas When: Apr 13th 2011 Who: 207 passengers Why: Unable to retract the landing gear, the plane circled for three hours to burn off fuel and made a safe landing in Caracas.
No doubt the situation caused significant anxiety. Any time an Air France flight originating in a South American country has a problem en route en route to Paris, the passengers in crisis must inevitably remember what happened to Air France Flight 447 and wonder if they too will become innocent victims, and statistics lost at sea.
What: Delta twin-engine McDonnell Douglas MD-90, en route from Tampa, Fla to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Where: Rochester When: April 13, 2011 4 pm Who: 143 passengers 6 crew Why: While en route, passengers felt vibrations, and smelled smoke before the pilots made an emergency diversion at the Rochester airport. They landed with the fire department on standby.
An engine was judged to be faulty and is being replaced while at the Rochester airport. Most of the stranded passengers finished the last leg of their trip on buses provided by Delta, though some rented cars.
What: Bedrock Investments LLC single-engine Cessna 150 training flight Where: Corona Airport, California When: April 12, 2011 Who: Flight instructor and student pilot Why: Whoever was flying lost control during takeoff and crashed into the hanger at Corona Municipal Airport. Both aboard were injured, one seriously enough to be evacuated to the hospital while unconscious. The hanger door is damaged, and the plane is a total loss.
What: Atlantic Airlines British Aerospace ATP en route from East Midlands to Cardiff Where: Cardiff When: Apr 9 2011 Who: Crew Why: On a cargo flight from East midlands, on landing in Cardiff the plane blew out tires. The tire damage closed down the runway for several hours. No indication is made if it was a fast or overweight landing, or what may have contributed to the tire situation.
What: Delta MD 80 en route from New York to Ft Lauderdale Where: Raleigh Durham NC When: April 11, 2011 9:30 pm Who: 94 passengers 5 crew Why: While en route, a noxious electrical smell developed. Crew complained of illness and diverted to Raleigh Durham NC where they made a safe landing.
What: Bell 206 helicopter crash en route from Bintangor, Sarikei to Dataran Sibu Where: Dataran Sibu When: April 11, 2011 Who: Captain Sahimi Razali Why: The helicopter Captain Razali was piloting crashed after three delegates disembarked. The helicopter was ten feet off the ground when he lost control of it and was pinned in the wreckage. He sustained undesignated injuries and died at Sibu hospital. His helicopter was a third of the units carrying a delegation to Dataran Sibu.
Do we know more than we did before the investigations? No, we do not. Because after almost 9 months, we still haven’t heard the official investigation of the Air Blue Airbus that crashed in Margalla Hills on July 28, 2010. And this is not one of those cases where the blackboxes disappeared. The black boxes on this flight were located and sent to France for processing.
What: AirBlue Airbus A321-200 en route from Karachi to Islamabad Pakistan Where: Margalla Hills about 10nm north of Islamabad When: Jul 28th 2010 Who: 146 passengers and 6 crew Why: While on approach to Islamabad in poor weather conditions during monsoon rain and low visibility, radio contact was lost (at 09:45) and the plane impacted the terrain.
Helicopters flew into the mountainous area, which is difficult to access. Initial reports were that there were no survivors then helicopters were reported to have flown five survivors to hospitals. Six bodies have been recovered including the pilot but there are no survivors (in spite of the video report.)
Scheduled 14 CFR Non-U.S., Commercial operation of Airblue
Accident occurred Wednesday, July 28, 2010 in Islamabad, Pakistan
Aircraft: AIRBUS A321, registration: AP-BCB
Injuries: 157 Fatal.
On July 28, 2010, Airblue flight 202, an Airbus A321 with IAE V2500 engines, registration AP-BCB, impacted terrain in the Margilla Hills during approach to runway 12 at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (OPRN), Islamabad, Pakistan. All 150 passengers and 7 crewmembers onboard were fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed. The flight was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan (OPKC) to OPRN.
What: Twin engine Cessna en route from New Orleans to McComb Mississippi Where: McComb Mississippi When: April 10 2011 4:07 am Who: 2 women, one man Why: The plane struck trees before hitting the ground four miles from the airport. Witnesses reported an explosion and flames. Dr. Taylor Pickett and Laura Pickett, and Jacqueline Ham were killed in the crash. They were returning from Louisiana where they saw a friend perform music in New Orleans. The crash is under investigation. The deceased leave behind four children.
What: Emirates en route from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai Where: Chennai When: April 10, 2011 Who: 465 passengers Why: While en route, the plane had a technical failure resulting in smoke in the cockpit. The crew diverted to Chennai where they made a safe landing. Passengers were provided alternative transportation to Dubai. However, the passengers overnighted in Chennai as the problem could not be solved within the crews “max duty time.”
The NTSB report says there was no smoke, no burning and wonders why the CVR and data recorder were turned off before the incident. (Procedure for the ECAM indication is to shut down certain electrical systems.) Pilots were acting on “autothrottle-related message” followed by an avionics smoke warning message that was accompanied by “instructions to land” but apparently neither the pilots and crew (who “reportedly received automated warnings and detected smoke in the cockpit) actually smelled smoke. Furthermore some news articles have talked about passengers being treated for smoke exposure which was more likely injury occurring on an emergency slide.
What: United Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from New Orleans,LA to San Francisco,CA
Where: Louis Armstrong Airport
When: April 4 2011 7:20 a.m. after a 13 minute flight
Who: 100 passengers 5 crew
Why: After takeoff, the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit, and returned to the airport. The pilot reported losing all instruments, and landed on backup power, blowing out a tire and running off the runway. Passengers evacuated via slides.
What: Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777-200 en route from London to Jeddah Saudi Arabia Where: Rome When: Apr 6th 2011 Who: 232 passengers Why: While en route, an engine developed problems and was shut down. The pilots diverted to Rome and made a safe landing. The engine indicated that it was overheated; but the mechanism was faulty. Repairs were performed, after which the flight was continued.
What: Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 en route from Sacramento to Kahului Where: Sacramento When: April 9, 2011, 10:20am Who: 169 passengers Why: After takeoff from Sacramento, a bird was ingested into the plane’s engine, causing engine trouble. The flight returned to Sacramento where it made a safe landing. A replacement flight was scheduled for the afternoon.
Recent bird include the Skywest/Delta Canadair CRJ 700 (Portland-Salt Lake City) strike on April 6 2011, the GOL Linhas Aereas Boeing 737-800 (Salvador-Aracaju) strike on April 3, and the Air France Boeing 777 strike in Paris (Paris-HongKong) on Mar 24.
What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 en route from Oakland,CA to Denver,CO Where: Oakland When: Apr 5th 2011 Who: 103 passengers Why: After take-off, the plane indicated a slat problem. The crew returned to Oakland and made a safe landing. It was replaced by another 737, which flew passengers to Denver.
What: United Nations/Georgian Airways Canadair CL-600-2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-100ER en route from Kinshasa-N’Djili Airport (FIH) to Kisangani (FKI) and Entebbe (EBB), Uganda and back. Where: Kinshasa-N’Djili Airport (FIH) Congo When: 04 APR 2011 2 pm local time Who: 29 passengers 3 crew Why: On the final leg of the flight, the plane crashed in rainy weather. The pilot attempted a landing in heavy rain, and broke in two. There were some who initially survived who were taken to Biamba Marie Mutombo hospital in the town of Masina, which is fifteen minutes from the Kinshasa airport. Twenty UN workers were aboard. The plane ignited on contact.
One person survived the crash according to a UN Farhan Haq spokesman.
* A second source said the plane was a Fokker 834.
What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-3H4 en route from Phoenix to Sacramento Where: Yuma International Airport, AZ When: 01 APR 2011 Who: 118 aboard Why: A hole burst through the top of this Boeing while en route. The plane suffered decompression, descended to a safe level (when an attendant was injured) and made an emergency landing in Yuma.
The hole has opened a witch hunt on aging Boeings in search of the kind of metal fatigue that would result in a hole during operations now that the aluminum skin has been known to separate at the lap joints, where panels are spliced together. Although the incident did not result in death, it is being taken as a “warning.” 175 Boeing 737 are slated for examination, and maintenance programs (Southwest, FAA, Boeing) are being re-evaluated to take this into account.
Discussion of lap joint and the 3 rows of rivets. The skin separated at the lower rivet line. Pre-existing fatigue existed on the fracture surface. (Multi site damage.) The decompression happened 18.5 minutes after take-off, and no pre-indications. The flight crew immediately declared emergency.
On April 4, 2011, a United Airlines Airbus 320-232 with 109 passengers and crew aboard returned to the airport about 20 minutes after take-off due to electrical difficulties and smoke in the cockpit. On landing, the crew described a loss of anti-skid braking and nose-wheel steering and passengers had to exit via slide. (The right front slide failed.) Dan Bower is investigator-in-charge of the NTSB team including reps of Federal Aviation Administration,United Airlines, the Air Line Pilots Association, theAssociation of Flight Attendants, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and an Airbus rep appointed by the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) of the Government of France.
What: United Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from New Orleans,LA to San Francisco,CA Where: Louis Armstrong Airport When: April 4 2011 7:20 a.m. after a 13 minute flight Who: 100 passengers 5 crew Why: After takeoff, the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit, and returned to the airport. The pilot reported losing all instruments, and landed on backup power, blowing out a tire and running off the runway. Passengers evacuated via slides.
After landing, passengers were taken to the Hilton.
TRANSCRIPT OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER, PILOT CONVERSATION
UA 497: Clear for takeoff runway 19, thank for you very much.
UA 497: We need to vector back to the airport, we got a smoke issue with the airplane.
N.O. Approach: Turn right 030 (degrees) and maintain 4,000 (feet.)
UA 497: 030 4,000. And we’d like the longest runway please.
N.O. Approach: There are men and equipment on the runway – they’re going to try to get them off now. Descend at pilot’s discretion. Maintain 2,000.
UA 497: We are declaring an emergency and please roll equipment for our landing please.
N.O. Approach: We are unable for (runway) 10, can you take (runway) 19?
UA 497: ..no..
N.O. Approach: Roger, we are clearing the runway now.
Airport operations: How much time do we have?
New Orleans Tower: I’d say they are about 11 miles to the west.
Airport operations: Tower, we can start trying to pull them off, but I don’t think we will get them all off in time.
N.O. Approach: United 497, Say souls on board and fuel remaining.
UA 497: 106 souls on board, fuel remaining 32,400 pounds.
N.O. Approach: They are still trying to get all the vehicles off the runway and 19 is still available if you like….
New Orleans Tower: … working as fast as they can (unintelligible) There is a bunch of equipment on there they’re tying to get off now.
UA 497: You need to clear it for us.
New Orleans Tower: I understand, sir. We’re getting them off as fast as we can.
N.O. Approach: Turn right heading 140, main 2,000 ….cleared ILS runway 10 approach.
New Orleans Tower: Can you verify the vehicles are exiting?
Airport operations: We are attempting to get the vehicles off right now, I’m removing the cones also.
New Orleans Tower: OK, cause I haven’t seen any of the vehicles move and the aircraft is ten to the northwest and they have to have runway 100.
N.O. Approach: United 497, Turn right heading 180.
UA 497: um…. We only have one… um … (Alarms sounding in background.)
N.O. Approach: United 497 say again sir?
New Orleans Tower: We need three minutes to get the runway clear.
UA 497: (alarms blaring) We’ve lost all our instruments right now and we’re going to need (directions)
N.O. Approach: United turn left heading, 20 degrees left
N.O. Approach: Just continue left turn, I’ll tell you when to stop.
UA 497: (unintelligible) What vector are we from the airport?
N.O. Approach: Right now sir you are on the 330 degree heading from the airport. Northwest of the airport for runway 19er. If you continue on this present heading you’ll set up on the shoreline for 19.
UA 497: Shoreline for 19.
N.O. Approach: I can set u up there or I can vector you, what’d you need?
UA 497: That’s fine.
N.O. Approach: (unintelligible…)You got the water, right?
UA 497: Yeah, we got the water and we’re going to stop here about 600 feet.
N.O. Approach: Roger that. The airport’s currently at your 1 o’clock and five miles.
UA 497: 1 o’clock and five miles roger.
New Orleans Tower to fire crews: Fox-6, next arrival runway 19er is our aircraft. And the aircraft is approximately 3 miles northwest runway 19er.
N.O. Approach: If you start your right turn now I can set you up on final.
UA 497: Start turn on final.
New Orleans Tower to fire crews: The aircraft is over the shoreline around two miles out. You do have permission to proceed on to the runway after he lands.
N.O. Approach: Make a right turn. The airport is off to yoru right side,
N.O. Approach: 497, clear to land 19er. You’ll be able to make it sir? Winds 180 at 16, gusts to 20, Clear to land. Runway 19er.
New Orleans Tower to fire trucks: Fox-5, this is our aircraft touvh ing down bow.
New Orleans Tower: Follow the aircraft down the runway.
New Orleans Tower: We’re going to need runway 10 operational. Runway 19er is fouled at this time.
What: Alitalia Airbus A321-200 en route from Palermo to Rome Fiumicino Italy Where: Palermo When: Apr 3rd 2011 Who: 150 passengers Why: While en route, the crew encountered an undesignated technical problem.
The crew returned to Palermo where they made a safe landing. The Airbus was flown to Milan for examination and repair.
