Landing

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    Airbus Emergency Landing in Greece


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Marco Toso

    What: Livingston Airbus A321-200 en route from Greece to Italy
    Where: Athens
    When: Sep 19th 2009
    Who: 211 passengers and 7 crew
    Why: When smoke was detected on board, the plane diverted to Athens and landed safely while an emergency crew waited. No source was given for the smoke but the plane is apparently back in service.

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    UK Small Plane Crash

    What: twin-tailed plane
    Where: a field in Tangley, near Andover,
    When: Sunday. 20, Sep 2009
    Who: Pilot and passenger killed
    Why: After witness heard big “bangs,” the plane crashed in the field. Air Accidents Investigation Board (AAIB) is investigating.

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    Helicopter Crash in San Pasqual Valley

    What: Robinson R-44
    Where: Rancho Guejito, east of Lake Wohlford between Valley Center and Ramona in the San Pasqual Valley
    When: Sunday, September 20, 2009
    Who: pilot and passenger
    Why: passengers were airlifted to the Palomar Medical Center

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    Everglades Crash

    What: Bull Gator Air, Inc. Piper-PA 32 en route from Gainesville to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport
    Where: west of U.S. 27 at the Broward-Palm Beach county line in the Everglades
    When: Sunday Sept 20
    Who: 4 aboard. One “confirmed” dead though there are presumably no survivors.
    Why: After the pilot radioed in for help, the plane crashed in the Everglades while en route. The cause is unresolved and the search is ongoing for passengers’ remains.

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    Homebuilt Emergency Landing

    What: privately owned experimental-class plane
    Where: Eastern Iowa Airport
    When: Sept 19 2009 9:30 A.M
    Who: pilot
    Why: After declaring an unspecified emergency, the pilot glided to safety in Cedar Rapids.

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    Bomb Threat on American Airlines and…Air France?


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Daniel Werner

    What: American Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Miami to Boston
    Where: Miami
    When: Thurs September 17, 2009
    Who: 168 passengers and six crew
    Why: After take-off, a bomb threat note was found on board. The plane returned to Miami where it was investigated. No bomb or explosives were found.

    George’s Point of View

    Ladies and Gentlemen of the aviation world, please consider this and bear with me as I traipse off into the world of conjecture.

    It is a mere day after someone left a note in the bathroom of the above-mentioned plane, and already that fact has been picked up by all the news services. An unsigned, unattributed note that could have been written by anyone on board, for all we know on toilet paper written in lipstick, by anyone from someone hoping to miss a dental appointment, to employees wanting the flight cancelled so they could go take their fatigued selves home to bed. And the threat made the news.

    Even the whisper of bomb threats make the news.

    So when I read now, months after the fact that there was an Air France bomb threat on a completely untraceable and unverifiable phone call on May 27 prior to the Air France flight 447 crash, I hear with very skeptical ears.

    If you followed the coverage after the crash, you’ll be aware of how many ears were pinned to the ground, listening for every hint of possible news. The media hounds pretty much sniffed out every findable trace of even faintly related information and posted it repeatedly, echoing across the internet and print media like (if you will pardon the cliché) ripples in a pond. So this leaves me two choices of thought regarding how to consider the tidbit of a so-called Air France bomb threat.
    1. It’s not true.
    2. It’s true but somehow remained unbroadcast in spite of the ravenous appetite for news coverage of everything Air France/Air France flight 447 related.

    1 is the end of the line for that thought process.
    2…well, we can think about a little. If it is true, where has that little nugget of information been? Why hasn’t a bomb threat listed in an obscure Indian blog in June become big news regarding the Air France crash?

    THis brings me to two more conclusions:
    1. it was true and that fact was suppressed.
    2. it is a rumor.

    1. If it is true and the fact was suppressed, then that’s a very bad thing; the only ones who would suppress such a news item would be someone who would be hurt by Air France’s business being damaged, namely Air France.

    If it is a rumor, then why would anyone spread such a rumor? Who would profit from the rumor? I only think of maybe two or three possibilities offhand. Any party fearing to be held responsible for the crash could float just such a rumor. OR any unscrupulous journalist, or media glutton with an appetite for attention of any kind. A paranoiac (or a writer) who sees plots or the possibilities of plots, without regard to reality. Or anyone in a competitive travel industry who might get a couple of extra travelers if a few borderline fliers turned their back on the convenience of air travel.

    Now I am not saying any of this is true; I am just saying that I am skeptical about the rumors of a threat to a different flight BEFORE the Air France Flight 447 crash coming out as a new development in news months after the crash.

    I’m just saying.

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    Winnipeg: Air Canada Airbus Emergency Landing


    Pictured: An Air Canada Airbus A319 in flight
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Nino Buda

    What: Air Canada Airbus A319-100 en route from Calgary to Toronto
    Where: Winnipeg
    When: Thursday Sept 17 12:03 pm
    Who: 121 passengers
    Why: While en route, the pilot experienced problems with the left engine and had an indicator light indicating further problems. After declaring an emergency situation, the pilot idled the left engine, and landed safely in Winnipeg a little over half an hour after declaring an emergency.

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    King Air Landing Gear Failure in NM

    What: Chartered King Air en route from Ruidoso N.M to Vernal
    Where: Ruidoso N.M
    When: Sept 6
    Who: Bob Williams, Mikki Ramussen, Cindy Thomson, AudieWilliams, Kaye Williams, Linda Conde, Juan Carlos Sanchez.
    Why: After the pilot determined there was a problem with the landing gear, he was directed to return to Ruidoso to make an emergency landing.

    Instead of 3 landing gear, only one was down. Eventually all 3 of them were down when the plane landed; however on landing the gear collapsed, forcing the plane to a belly landing.

    No one was injured but the plane was totaled. The Charter company provided a replacement flight the next day.

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    Beechcraft Fireball Spares Pilot

    What: Twin-engine Beechcraft King Air en route from Hayward Executive Airport to San Carlos
    Where: HAYWARD, Calif.
    When: Sept 16 12:25 p.m
    Who: Pilot
    Why: Witness say after a sputtering take-off, the plane plane’s right wing got low, and the plane had barely got off the runway when it clipped the back of a commercial building just off the airfield. Coming down, the plane was described as a “70 foot fireball”. The pilot was the only one aboard, and he walked away.

  • Glider Casualty in California


    Contact Photographer Steve Nation

    What: Schweizer SGS 1-34
    Where: Skylark Field Lake Elsinore, California
    When: 12-SEP-2009 2:50 pm
    Who: William R. Klesse
    Why: While being towed, the glider pilot lost control, and received received serious injuries.

    The pilot was transported to Inland Valley Medical Center and died within hours.

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    Extra Baggage Causes Emergency Landing


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Ole Simon

    What: Iberia Airbus A340-600 en route from San Jose to Madrid
    Where: Santo Domingo
    When: Sep 14th 2009
    Who: passenger identified as Maurer David Charles experienced a medical emergency
    Why: In flight, the passenger became ill, necessitating an emergency landing, and immediate trip to the hospital where it was found by ex ray that he had swallowed bags of drugs.

    The passenger is facing criminal charges.

    George’s Point of View

    What is it that they say…Crime doesn’t pay? They’re right.

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    Mumbai: Kingfisher Airbus Landing Gear Fails


    Pictured: A Kingfisher Airlines Airbus
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Steve Brimley

    What: Kingfisher Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Mumbai to Bangalore
    Where: Mumbai
    When: Sep 15th 2009
    Who: 98 passengers
    Why: Shortly after takeoff from Mumbai, the gear failed to retract. The plane returned to the airport for a safe landing, where passengers debarked–also safely–to board alternative transportation.

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    Stuttgart: Fokker Foam Landing


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Bernd Sturm

    What: ContactAir Fokker 100/Lufthansa en route from from Berlin Tegel to Stuttgart
    Where: Stuttgart
    When: Sep 14th 2009
    Who: 73 passengers including Franz Muentefering and 5 crew (6 injury/issues)
    Why: After lowering the gear on approach to Stuttgart, the plane indicated an unsafe gear indication. The main gear would not lower; and after a holding pattern and attempts to resolve the issue, the plane made a belly landing on foam. Passengers debarked via slides.

    Franz Muentefering, chairman of Germany’s Social Democratic Party was on board, en route to an election rally.

    Five passengers were treated for shock, one flight attendant was hospitalized, but only one passenger was injured.


    Video in German

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    Air Europa Lineas Aereas Boeing Engine Problem over Barcelona


    Pictured: An Air Europa Boeing over Barcelona
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Rui Miguel

    What: Air Europa Lineas Aereas Boeing 737-800 en route from Barcelona to Madrid
    Where: El Prat airport, Barcelona
    When: Sep 13th 2009 12.35
    Why: After takeoff, the indicator light for engine failure lit, a noise was heard and the plane experienced what is described by passengers as a “tremor.” After the safe landing at El Prat, the airport of origin, passengers continued on another plane to Madrid.

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    Small Plane Crashes Gated Community

    What: Beech A-30 Bonanza en route from Asheville Regional Airport
    Where: crashed into Kenmure subdivision, a gated golf community
    When: September 10, 2009
    Who: 1 fatality: pilot Larry Youngblood
    Why: In foggy conditions, the plane apparently hit several trees, and landed between two house with its wings torn off. The NTSB is investigating.

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    Charlotte Bobcats Co-owner dies in Plane Crash

    What: private Cirrus SR22 en route from South Carolina to Teterboro, N.J
    Where: Rock Hill airport property just off S.C. 161 in South Carolina just across the state line from Charlotte
    When: 7:15 a.m. Friday
    Who: Pilot and co-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats 49-year-old William “Skipper” Beck of Charlotte, N.C
    Why: Shortly after takeoff, the plane returned, but when attempting to land, crashed and caught on fire. Debris remained at the north end of the runway. Rock Hill airport doesn’t record radio transmissions so there’s no record of whether or not Beck made radio transmissions prior to the crash.

    Beck had 390 flight hours, and the plane had 93 hours in the air.

    Luke Schiada is the lead ntsb investigator assigned to the crash.

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    Climber Rescue in Japan Goes Wrong


    Contact Photographer Shimizu Brothers

    What: Gifu Prefecture Bell 412 EP Ambulance/Rescue helicopter en route from Gifu Airbase.
    Where: Takayama, about 240 kilometers west of Tokyo.
    When: Sept 11 2009, 3:30pm (0630 GMT
    Who: four people (5 crew on board but at least one was on the mountain in the process of the rescue)
    Why: During an emergency rescue of a climber who collapsed with cardiopulmonary arrest while mountain climbing, the helicopter’s tail rotor hit the mountain; and it fell 400 meters into a ravine. 5 crew were originally on board, 2 crew off from the helicopter rappelling down.

    The climber and the three aboard the helicopter were pronounced dead at the scene.

    Please excuse the bad translation below but it is pretty much indecipherable unless we get names:

    Disaster Asakura Hitoshi County (57) (Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture), Miyoshi Hideho mechanic (47) (same), vice captain Gotou Atsushi (34) (Kasamatsu-cho, Hyogo Prefecture ) confirmed dead.

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    Mexican Crash Kills 2

    What: Armada de Mexico helicopter Russian-built MI-17 chopper en route from Veracruz to Mexico City
    Where: border between Veracruz and Puebla
    When: 10-SEP-2009
    Who: 2 fatalities, 3 injuries. The two dead are a lieutenant and a mechanic
    Why: No reason is given for the crash. The weather at the time was rainy and foggy with limited visibility. Survivors were taken to hospitalization facilities in Jalapa and Perote

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    Mexico crash

    What: Armada de Mexico Mi-8MTV-1 AMHT-208 en route from Veracruz to Mexico City
    Where: border between the states of Veracruz and Puebla
    When: Sept 10, 2009
    Who: 5 on board, 2 fatalities
    Why: Crashed close to the kilometer 27 of the Perote-Los Humeros road. Pilot Daniel Cabrera Ruiz and Aviation Mechanic Irineo González Jerónimo were killed. The three survivors were taken to Jalapa and Perote, in Veracruz. The crash is under investigation by Aviation authorities and the Armada de Mexico.

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    Hydraulics Hold Aer Lingus Airbus in London


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Miguel Nobrega

    What: Aer Lingus Airbus A320-200 en route from Dublin to London
    Where: Dublin
    When: Sep 9th 2009
    Who: 120 passengers
    Why: 25 minutes into the flight, the plane indicated a hydraulics problem. The flight crew returned to London where mechanics confirmed the hydraulic problem. The landing was safe, with no reported injuries.

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    Air India


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact Photographer Thomas Ernst

    What: An Air India Airbus A330-200 flight en route from Tokyo Narita to Delhi
    Where: Delhi
    When: Sep 10th 2009 4:55
    Who: 122 people on board 111 passengers and 11 crew
    Why: The pilot made a precautionary landing in Delhi when ten minutes prior to scheduled landing he had faulty readings of the plane’s hydraulics. The plane landed safely 25 minutes later, and was taxied safely. No injuries were reported.

    George’s Point of View

    No follow-up yet on this hydraulics issue. Was it the instrumentation? Was there a leak caused by lack of maintenance or too many flight hours squeezed in between maintenance checks? I’m sure Air India passengers would like to know.

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    Generator Failure Takes Down Delta Plane

    What: Delta Boeing 767-300 en route from Atlanta to Paris, France.
    Where: GSP Airport
    When: September 10, 2009
    Who: h 213 passengers and 11 crew
    Why: Nearly an hour into the flight, the plane had problems with the on board generator. The plane landed at GSP airport without event, and passengers debarked at 2:30 am. No injuries were reported; fire and emergency crews were on standby.

    George’s Point of View

    This is a generator. Why is this something the pilot lucked into in mid-flight? This is what maintenance crews are for. When do they get serviced, only after they stop working?