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Contact photographer Andre Oferta
What: Kelowna McDonnell Douglas DC-10 en route from Calgary to Hamilton
Where: Calgary
When: Apr 29th 2012
Who: 3 crew
Why: A flight from Calgary to Hamilton returned back in Calgary after an engine was shut down with a faulty “thrust reverser” part.
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Contact photographer Manuel Mueller
What: Lufthansa/Air Dolomiti Avion de Transport Regional ATR-72-500 en route from Verona (Italy) to Munich
Where: Verona
When: Apr 28th 2012
Who: 34 passengers and 4 crew
Why: While taking off from Verona, the plane lost a nose wheel.
Pilots returned to the airport making a safe landing after they burned off fuel. Emergency services on standby in the event of a possible fire intervention were not needed.
A replacement plane was flown in to transport passengers.
According to initial investigations, the plane may have broken a pin that affixes the wheel.
Pictured: A Delta Connection (Chautauqua Airlines) Embraer EMB-145LR (ERJ-145LR) over Baltimore
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Contact photographer Mark Kopczak
What: Delta/Chautauqua Embraer ERJ-145 en route from Boston,MA to Columbus,OH
Where: Boston
When: Jan 2nd 2010
Who: 38 passengers and 4 crew
Why: Right after takeoff, the plane developed smoke in the cabin. Oxygen masks were deployed, and the plane returned to the airport to land on the runway, and taxi to the gate.
Pictured: A Gazpromavia Mil Mi-8MTV-1. The craft involved in the incident was a Mi-171
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Contact photographer Peter Taskaev
What: GazPromAvia Mil Mi-171 en route from Bovanenkovo to Vorkuta
Where: Vorkuta Russia
When: Dec 19 2009
Who: 22 passengers, 3 crew
Why: The helicopter made an emergency landing–described also as a forced landing, and a rough landing–4 kilometers from where the flight originated. Fourteen were hospitalized.
The incident is under investigation. It is suspected that the cause will be attributed to harsh weather conditions.
Pictured-A TAM Airbus A320-232 over Sao Paulo
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Contact photographer Bruno Pereira
What: Tam Linhas Aereas Airbus A320-200 en route from Rio de Janeiro Salvador Brazil
Where: Rio de Janeiro
When: Nov 30th 2009
Who: not available
Why: On takeoff, the plane struck a bird, evidenced by a “bang” emitting from an engine, which followed by engine issues. The plane landed safely and passengers were rerouted.
ExpressJet flight EV-4121/UA-4121 had to make an emergency landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Nova Scotia, Canada, on January 19.
The Embraer ERJ-145, en-route from Newark, New Jersey, had to be landed in emergency due to flaps failure.
The plane landed safely.
Everyone aboard remained unhurt.
Update
What: Spanair Flight JK5022, a 15-year-old MD-82 jet en route to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
Where: Madrid airport Terminal Four
When: Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008 2:45pm
Who: Carrying 166 passengers and nine crew, at the time of this writing, the number of fatalities had mounted to 154 people.
Why: The jet swerved off the runway and caught fire during takeoff.
The final report of Spanair Flight JK5022 was released, it claims that the pilots failed to deploy the flaps for takeoff. The report blames the crash on “pilot error.” The automated voice warning to alert the crew did not sound.
Already more than one hour late, the flight experienced a technical issue with the plane (a sensor reporting excessive temperature in an air intake, and the temperature sensor was de-activated on the ground) that forced the first takeoff attempt to be aborted when there were failure signals taxiing away from the terminal. The aircraft was inspected and then tried to take-off for the second time, which ended in the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board said that “that the probable cause of the accident was the flightcrew’s failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure the flaps and slats were extended for takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the absence of electrical power to the airplane takeoff warning system which thus did not warn the flightcrew that the airplane was not configured properly for takeoff. The reason for the absence of electrical power could not be determined.”
A similar disaster occurred in the Northwest Flight 255 in Detroit in 1987 when 154 people also died in an MD-82 due to incorrect flap settings.
As a consequence, Spanair and McDonnell Douglas now require a TOWS* system check prior to every flight.
The Interim Report is available here.
*The Take Off Warning System is part of CAWS. TOWS provides alert warnings on the following components involved in the configuration of the aircraft for takeoff: Flaps, Slats, Brakes, Auto brake, Auto spoilers, Spoilers and Stabilizer Trim.
