Caribbean Airlines flight BW-527 had to return and make an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, on October 8th.
The Boeing 737-800 plane took off for Georgetown, Guyana, but had to turn back due to a flaps problem.
The plane landed back safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
United Airlines flight UA-17 made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland, on May 23rd.
The Boeing 767-400 plane heading from Heathrow Airport, England, to Newark, New Jersey, was diverted due to issues with the cabin pressure.
The plane landed safely. All two hundred and sixteen people aboard remained unharmed.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographer Karl Nixon
What: Thomas Cook Airlines Airbus A330-200 en route from Belfast to Orlando
Where: Norfolk
When: Jul 10th 2009
Who: 265
Why: En route, an engine started vibrating and had to be shut down. The crew decided to divert to Norfolk,VA
George’s Point of View
Another Airbus.
Shutting down the engine is standard operating procedure, and at the same time, it is a near fatality because the pilot had to shut down that vibrating engine while the plane was still over the Atlantic Ocean, 60 miles from land. Can you imagine what was going through this Airbus pilot’s head as he made the decision to shut down that engine? No doubt he was thinking about last month’s two latest Airbus tragedies: Air France flight 447, or perhaps the Yemenia Airlines Airbus.
I know how overdramatic this sounds. Pilots shut down engines all of the time. it’s the very reason they fly with more than one. Just in case. Pilot training covers how to fly on the remaining engines. But this is just July 2009. Even the most well -trained Airbus pilot has last month’s story of Air France flight 447 in his mind, especially when he’s flying something that fails over the ocean.
This Thomas Cook Flight wasn’t experiencing a subtle problem. It wasn’t some subtle, quiet control panel error that could be handled as passengers flew along blissfully unaware and uninformed. In interviews of passengers, they are quoted as describing the engine as “vibrating” or “clackity.” No doubt there were 530 sweaty palms on that plane.
This was one of at least 5 airbus events we heard about today–and it is not in fact, even a complete listing. Hopefully at least the pilot gets serious credit for getting these people safely on the ground.
Who in the world is going to intercede and demand that Airbuses (every model) get checked from A-Z BEFORE they take off ‘in every part of the globe’? Vero?
Turkish Airlines flight TK-98 made an emergency landing in Medina, Saudi Arabia, on April 3rd.
The Airbus A330-200 plane flying from Istanbul, Turkey, was on approach to Medina when the crew requested assistance due to a hydraulic failure.
The plane landed safely and was towed to the apron. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
Wings Air flight IW-1156 had to return and make an emergency landing in Palu, Indonesia, on January 14th.
The plane took off for Luwuk, Indonesia, but had to return shortly afterwards due to the failure of right hand engine.
The plane landed safely. All 64 people aboard remained unharmed.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Andrew Compolo
What: Frontier Airlines Airbus A319-100 en route from Seattle to Denver
Where: Yakima
When: Dec 14th 2011
Who: 138 passengers
Why: While en route, the plane developed smoke in the aft galley.
Pilots diverted to Yakima, where they made a safe landing with emergency services on standby. The call came in at 9:22 a.m.and the plane landed at 9:40.
It was determined that the source of the smoke seems to have been a coffee pot or oven in the galley. A replacement jet was provided.
The source of the problem could have been an electrical short, and the air quality may have been affected, so despite jokes about landing over kitchen equipment, the airport manager and airline management stand by the pilots decisions, which are based on correct emergency response which resulted in no deaths, no injuries.
