Lufthansa flight LH-612 had to return and make an emergency landing in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 23rd.
The Airbus A321-200 plane took off for Baku, Azerbaijan, but had to turn back after the crew received an indication of a landing gear problem.
The plane landed safely. There were 161 passengers aboard at the time; all of them remained unharmed.
Qantas flight QF-16 had to return and make an emergency landing in Los Angeles, California, on December 27th.
The Boeing 747-400 plane took off for Brisbane, Australia, but had to turn back due to failure of a weather radar.
The plane landed uneventfully. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Je89 W.
What: United Airlines/Shuttle America Embraer ERJ-170 en route from Denver,CO to Toronto
Where: Denver
When: Nov 23rd 2011
Who: 68 passenger
Why: While climbing out of Denver, passengers and crew smelled smoke in the cabin.
A newscast said that passengers heard a “pop” before the pilots turned around and returned to the Denver airport.
They made a safe landing. Passengers disembarked on the runway and were provided an alternative flight.
Lufthansa Cityline flight LH-1894 had to return and make an emergency landing in Munich, Germany, on November 14th.
The plane took off for Turin, Italy, but had to turn back after the crew received a fire indication.
The plane landed safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
What: Gulf Air Airbus A320-200 en route from Bahrain to Kochi, India
Where: Kochi
When: Aug 28th 2011, 3.55 am
Who: 137 passengers and 6 crew, 8 injuries
Why: In examining this August incident, after doing some runway testing, the DGCA is blaming the accident on a slick runway.
However defects have been found in the plane’s front wheel. And the statement of the DCGA’s opinion also mentions pilot error. So they have released a statement combining pilot error, plane flaws and a bad runway as being behind the runway excursion.
Can a pilot land on a slick runway? What exactly was the pilot’s error in this situation? Does the entire runway have the identical friction coefficient or just the area tested? Runway friction is also going to be affected by the condition of the tires; what was the condition of the tire before it blew? Inquiring minds want to know.
Airport testing at Cochin airport revealed airport friction level.
A C K Nair, director of the Cochin airport made the following defensive statement:
“As per the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) norms the friction coefficients of the runways should not go below 0.34, while the value was 0.61 to 0.86 till recently. On the day of the mishap the average value was hovering between 0.52 and 0.84. The value at the spot where the ill-fated aircraft touched the runway was 0.75 to 0.85. We did another test on September 3 and the value was above 0.5.’
Read More about Gulf Air Airbus Skids into Mud On landing in Kochi
Although Air France CEO Gourgeon said last month there’s no evidence that the crash was caused by the Pitot tubes, which were made by Thales SA. Bouillard also said last year that speed-sensor failure couldn’t alone explain the crash, and that aviation records in Europe and the U.S. document dozens of incidents where the probes failed and pilots retained control.
Air France and Airbus have been charged with manslaughter over the accident
In our opinion, we believe the failure of the pitot tubes played to the weakness of the Airbus fly by wire logic system. We believe that the fly by wire system received a barrage of false data put out by the frozen tubes, and shut down, taking control of the plane from the pilots. Faulty computer logic does not excuse faulty pitot tubes,
This is conjecture on our part, but we will not be surprised if/when the black boxes are recovered, that they will reveal what happened, if they are still readable.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer G.Luca D’Urbano
What: Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340-200 en route from Auckland to Buenos Aires
Where: Pacific Ocean
When: Jan 21, 2010
Who: 229 passengers
Why: An hour into the flight, the left engine had to be shut down. The Airbus returned to Auckland to make a safe landing. After undergoing maintenance, repairs and essential services, the plane will optimistically be resumed eventually. It is not known if passengers have hotel accommodations or if they will be waiting at the airport.
Any time an engine must be shut down, especially when it is an airbus over a body of water, we all breathe a sigh of relief at a safe landing.
