What: Northwest Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Minneapolis, MN to Denver, CO
Where: Denver
When: May 4th 2009
Why: Resulting in (or from) 3.3G acceleration, the Airbus tail struck the ground. Damage was substantial/
George’s Point of View
What?? Was the pilot in training??
Pictured: A Tam Airbus landing on the short “airport” runway “surfing” between buildings to land at Congonhas
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographer Alan Olivieri
What: TAM Linhas Aereas Airbus A319-100 en route from Vitoria,ES to Sao Paulo Congonhas,SP
Where: Diverted to Sao Paulo Viracopos Airport
When: Aug 8th 2009
Who: 38 people on board
Why: Hydraulics failed on approach to Sao Paulo so the pilots declared an emergency and diverted to the longer runway at Vircacopos Airport.
George’s Point of View
A good decision here! Better to divert than to have a repeat of the TAM Airlines Flight 3054 (JJ 3054) crash on July 17, 2007. The 35L runway at Congonhas is 6,365 feet long, which is why the Congonhas nickname is “aircraft carrier.” The Viracopos/Campinas International Airport has a 10630 foot runway.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Xu Zheng
What: Sichuan Airlines Airbus A319-100 en route from Nantong to Wuhan
Where: Wuhan
When: May 5th 2012
Why: On approach to Wuhan, the plane suffered a bird strike on the left wing slat and rib.
Airbus sent a repair crew to perform repairs in Whuhan.
Pakistan International Airlines flight PK-352 had to return and make an emergency landing in Karachi, Pakistan, on March 8th.
The Airbus A320-200 plane took off for Quetta, Pakistan, but had to turn back due to an issue with the landing gear.
The plane landed back safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
Cathay Pacific flight CX-171 had to return and make an emergency landing in Hong Kong, China, on August 1st.
The Airbus A350-900 plane took off for Perth, Australia, but had to turn back due to an engine issue.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
United Airlines pilots guilty as charged again, in that Airbus 320 that had to make an emergency return to New Orleans on April 4. A pilot in command should know he can’t skip procedures on the checklist (especially an Airbus checklist) or else there are consequences. In this case, the emergency restore didn’t work.
Ok, lest anyone accuse me of being incorrectly legal instead of correctly tongue-in-cheek, no one was “charged” with anything.
On April 4, 2011, the United Airlines Airbus 320-232 (N409UA), serial number 462, left Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and returned 20 minutes after take-off due to electrical difficulties and an indication of smoke in the cockpit.
But the NTSB investigation points to pilot error. And as far as I am concerned any error that does not result in damage, but does result in amended procedures is a good thing. What has happened as a result of this pilot error is a revision to the pilot checklist that pilots have to follow when they are handling electrical malfunctions. The malfunction was not really the pilots however. There was a faulty fire-warning sensor, but the reboot procedures just made it worse since in the reboot procedure, a generator didn’t get turned back on.
Consequences the pilots had to deal with as a result of the absent generator included a blank screen for the copilot, steering issues with the jet’s nose gear and antiskid protection for the brakes, and the intercom.
It must have been a pretty exciting 20 minute ride for the passengers, as it ended on emergency slided.
Pictured: A Northwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 over New York
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Kenny
What: Northwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 en route from Buffalo to Detroit
Where: Buffalo
When: Jan 28 2010
Why: After takeoff, the right engine developed vibration, leading the crew to shut down the affected engine. The flight returned to Buffalo and made a safe landing.