Contact photographer Justin Shan
What: Jetstar Airbus A320-200 en route from Cairnes to Brisbane Australia
Where: Cairns Airport
When: 9.30am.
Who: 179 people
Why: When the pilot identified a leak in the hydraulics, he made several loops of Cairns airport before undertaking a “standard air return.” After an interim of 3 and a half hours, the plane resumed the flight.
George’s Point of View
Yet another Airbus problem.
Lufthansa flight LH-144 had to return and make an emergency landing in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 1st.
The Airbus A319-100 plane took off for Nuremberg, Germany, but had to turn back after an unusual odor was noticed in the cockpit.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
WestJet flight WS-1578 had to divert for an emergency landing in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on May 19th.
The Boeing 737-700 plane heading from Calgary, Canada, to Chicago, Illinois, was diverted due to a strong electrical odor in the cabin.
The plane landed uneventfully. Everyone aboard remained safe.
What: Frontier Airlines Airbus A319-10 en route from Denver to Mexico
Where: Denver
When: Sep 5th 2009
Why: When the plane indicated a hydraulics system warning, the crew returned to the Denver airport for an emergency landing where they landed about 40 minutes after takeoff.
Air Canada flight AC825 had to divert and make an emergency landing at Belfast International Airport in the United Kingdom, on August 22.
The Boeing 767-300, en-route from Amsterdam to Toronto, was diverted after an unusual odor was noticed in the galley.
The plane landed safely. There were 208 passengers and 8 crew members aboard at the time; all of them remained unhurt.
The plane was taken for inspection.
There is a time to go about our daily business. There is a time to set everything else aside, and just remember. Now it is time to remember.
Dusseldorf airport set aside a room for German family members of the 72 Germans who lost their lives on Flight 9525.
Today in Barcelona, flags were at half-mast and 149 candles lit as people gathered at Barcelona Airport to recall the victims of the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525. On 24 March 2015, one year ago as of tomorrow, Flight 9525 was en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf when it crashed in the French Alps, killing 144 passengers, two pilots, and four cabin crew. The tragedy was engineered by suicidal co-pilot Andreas Lubitz. Family members gathered here, as well as emergency workers and officials.
There were fifty-one Spanish lost in the crash. Four countries (including the US) lost three victims; seven countries lost two victims, and five countries lost one. I hope that all the families, where ever they live, found comfort somewhere.
On Thursday, the victims’ names will be read and remembered; flowers will be left at the Le Vernet cemetery which houses the accident’s unidentified remains. Six hundred Flight 9525 victim’s friends and family will have a commemoration ceremony in Le Vernet village in the French Alps not far from the crash site. Weather prevents a visit to the crash site.
I was in Le Vernet last July when 149 balloons were released. I can’t help but feel that I should be there again to support the families. I have just returned from Barcelona, and barely unpacked my bags. I can only hope that the year of mourning and grieving has been cathartic, and that the families are finding a way to embrace life again.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Paul Carlotti
What: Air Canada Airbus A319-100 en route from Toronto to Winnipeg
Where: Sault Ste Marie
When: Mar 8 2011
Who: 125 aboard
Why: While en route, the plane was over Canada when the displays quit. The loss of the displays is being attributed to an electronic power failure. (Wonder if there was a short or if it was something else?) The displays were only offline for less than a minute, and subsequently began flashing error messages. Pilots continued on to Winnipeg and managed to land safely. The plane was taken out of commission in order to have an Airbus inspection to determine what exactly was going on.
Flying an Airbus without electronic displays is, I think, tantamount to suicide. I am surprised they didn’t divert somewhere and land immediately. Is it not somewhat risky to continue flying an airbus when the display connections are flakey? This same sort of thing happened on a BMI Airbus A321. Apparently catastrophic failure in rough conditions is not unheard of. In fact, rough conditions are not required to cause the need for a reboot. The term for “rebooting” an airbus that has lost its electronics is called “recycling,” a common enough thing that there is recognizable pilot humor regarding it.
