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Contact photographer Stefan Heymanns
What: Mexicana Airbus A320-200 en route from Guadalajara to Chicago O’Hare,IL
Where: St. Louis
When: Feb 12 2010
Who: 115 passengers
Why: While en route, cabin pressure was disrupted. The crew descended to a lower altitude and landed safely in St. Louis.
Maintenance! Maintenance! Maintenance!
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Contact photographer Leandro Luiz Pilch
What: TAM Linhas Aereas Airbus A320-200 en route from Montevideo to Sao Paulo
Where: Porto Alegre
When: Feb 11th 2012
Who: 1 unruly passenger
Why: A Tam airbus was en route when a passenger intruded into the cockpit. The pilot yelled for help, and the plane veered sharply to the right. The cockpit door was open. Some reports of the incident mention that the passenger had a TAM badge. (Some Uraguan accounts say the individual was flying in the cockpit on a jumpseat.)
We don’t have a firsthand account, but secondary sources say a couple of stewardesses dragged the intruder out of the cockpit by his feet, then “The people quickly jumped on top of him, the guy fought back furiously, biting and hurting a half dozen people…in a kind of collective action they were able to immobilize him, tying him to a seat.”
Passengers talked about the incident feeling like a September 911 film.
The pilot diverted to Porto Alegre and made a safe landing. A number of passengers and possibly the two flight attendants were injured in the altercation. The passenger was taken into police custody, and he was incarcerated in the psychiatric ward of a local hospital for having suffered a “psychotic episode.”
The flight reached Sao Paulo nearly three hours late.
A 1993 Mooney M20M aircraft made a controlled emergency landing at Central Jersey Regional Airport, Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, on September 19.
The Pennsylvania-bound plane was taking off from the airport when its left wing touched a chain link fence adjacent to the runway, causing damage and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
The plane landed safely. The pilot Ross Cole and his passenger Pamela Cole remained uninjured.
The incident is being investigated.
British Airways flight BA-213 had to divert and make an emergency landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland, on February 9th.
The Boeing 777-200 plane heading from Heathrow Airport, England, to Boston, Massachusetts, was diverted after smoke was noticed on board.
The plane landed safely. All two hundred and twenty-four passengers and fifteen crew members remained unharmed.
Air Berlin flight AB-6182 made an emergency landing in Berlin, Germany, on November 7th.
The plane was flying from Munich, Germany, when the crew needed to shut down one of the engines and declared an emergency.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained safe.
Braathens Regional Airways flight TF-158 had to return and make an emergency landing in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 7th.
The plane took off for Malmoe, Sweden, but had to turn back due to an engine issue.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Delta Airlines flight DL-1591 had to return and make an emergency landing in Charlotte, North Carolina, on February 24th.
The plane took off for Atlanta, Georgia, but had to return shortly afterwards after it hit a flock of birds.
The plane landed safely. All 122 people aboard remained unharmed.