Norwegian Air Shuttle flight D8-1823 had to return and make an emergency landing in Dublin, Ireland, on August 23rd.
The Boeing 737-800 plane was heading to Providence, Rhode Island, when the crew noticed an APU problem and decided to turn back.
The plane landed uneventfully. All passengers and crew members remained safe.
United Express flight 3550 made an emergency landing in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 5th.
The plane heading from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Houston, Texas, was diverted due to an unruly passenger. Authorities said the male passenger caused “extreme concern for passengers and the flight crew”, as he broke out of toilet’s door and shouted in Arabic.
The plane landed safely in Nashville.
The man, identified as Mohammed Nasser Aldoseri, 26, was arrested.
The Asiana investigation continues.
Back in July, the pilot who was insecure about making a visual approach in a 777 crashed at San Francisco International Airport on a visual approach in Asiana Flight 214’s Boeing 777. Specifically, he told NTSB investigators “it was very difficult to perform a visual approach with a heavy airplane.” The glideslope was not working at the San Francisco airport, and that was an instrument the (*undertrained) pilot was relying on. The plane came in so low the tail struck the seawall and broke off. The video below shows the plane rotate 360 degrees and catch fire by the runway.
Video with news commentary
Before impact, the relief pilot in the jump seat repeated several times “sink rate” trying to warn the pilots at the controls that the jet was too quickly losing altitude. One of the pilots said “It’s low.” Then there was a stick shaker alert (which occurs when the plane is about to stall from flying too slowly. I once had a pilot do a presentation that included the disturbing grinding of the stick shaker alarm as it violently vibrated the control yoke. It’s an alarming direction to the pilots to increase thrust.)
When the stick shaker went off, the instructor called for a go around. It went off four seconds before impact. It was too late.
Both the instructor and the captain were relying on the auto throttle, and both were unaware it was off.
I’m not discounting the wounds of the injured, nor those three deaths, nor the tragedy of one of the teen victims being run over by an airport crash tender. (That’s a whole tragedy by itself—who knows if she might have survived but for being so obscured by foam that she was not visible to crash responders—through the firemen who carried her out surely must have known she was there.)
A dozen critically injured, a hundred-sixty-nine injured, but only three deaths.
It’s nothing short of a miracle. Especially on inspecting the condition of the burned out shell of the hull. Especially on reviewing the just-released surveillance video that shows the plane splintering after impacting the firewall, cartwheeling like a crippled gymnast down the runway and dissolving into a cloud of dust and flame. No jet fuel fire here——leaking oil ignited as it poured on to a hot engine.
The Kazan crash (Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363) from November 17th is fresh in my mind. Everyone aboard–fifty people (forty-four passengers and six crew) all died. The plane just fell from the sky while landing at an impossible 75-degree-nose-down attitude, piloted by a pilot whose license is apparently fake. Everyone in that crash died. (Tatarstan surveillance below.)
Of course one can see the physics—that everyone on the Tatarstan flight received the full direct impact, versus how the rolling of the Asiana plane dispersed some of the impact energy. Still, there is tremendous force in a crash.
I know I should be talking about pilot training, because this is yet another crash that appears to be due to pilots becoming too dependent on technology. But I will focus on that another day. Right now, I am overwhelmed after looking at the crash tape.
Asiana—Cartwheeling Catastrophe
I am surprised that I have neither heard or seen choruses of amazement that all but three people survived the rolling catastrophe in San Francisco. Some credit should perhaps go to the rescue crew, quick actions of the cabin crew, performance of the emergency slides, and maybe even the aerodynamics of the 777 whose seats are required to withstand 16g of dynamic force.
Sure, there was error involved in this crash, but when you look at the survival rate, some credit is due to the 5.5 billion Boeing put into research, development and safety of the 777.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Christopher Liao
What: Miami Air International Boeing 737-400 en route from Minneapolis to Miami
Where: Chicago
When: Apr 4th 2010
Who: the “Miami Heat”
Why: While en route, the flight’s mechanic became sick. The flight diverted to Chicago for an hour where the mechanic was hospitalized in a diabetic coma.
Emirates Airlines flight EK-9 made an emergency landing at Gatwick Airport, England, on September 8th.
The Airbus A380-800 plane was flying from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, when the crew declared emergency due to indication of a flat nose wheel tire.
The plane landed uneventfully. All passengers and crew members remained safe.
SEATTLE, May 13 — Boeing and two ANA (All Nippon Airways) pilots flew the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the first time Wednesday. The airplane they flew is the first of six flight-test airplanes. The two-hour-and-40-minute flight took place over Washington state.
Flying the 787 for the first time were ANA pilots Capt. Masayuki Ishii, director of 787 pre-operations planning, and Capt. Masami Tsukamoto, manager of 787 pre-operations pilots. On board were Capt. Mike Carriker, Boeing 787 chief test pilot, Capt. Christine Walsh and Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
“The flight was a customer demonstration for our launch customer’s lead pilots to evaluate the 787,” said Fancher. “We are extremely proud to have ANA on the flight, and have the opportunity to show what a great airplane the men and women of Boeing have created.”
The flight was conducted under a special airworthiness certificate granted by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
The 787 program was launched in April 2004 with a record order of 50 787’s from ANA. ANA, which plays an active role as launch customer, is scheduled to take the first 787 delivery in the fourth quarter 2010.
During the flight, both pilots performed multiple takeoffs and landings as well as other maneuvers that allowed them to feel the airplane’s characteristics. The pilots also gained experience with other 787 flight-deck features, including larger display screens, dual head-up displays and dual electronic flight bag.
“It was fantastic and an incredible experience,” said Capt. Ishii. “ANA passengers are in for an incredible experience when they fly on the 787,” he said.
“The flight was fantastic,” said Capt. Tsukamoto. “I’ve been waiting for this day since we made the launch order, and today my dream came true.”
During the flight, Carriker showed the ANA pilots, who are both rated on the Boeing 777, the similarities and differences between the two airplanes. Pending regulator approval, it will take as few as five days of training for 777 pilots to become qualified as 787 pilots.
Customers around the world have ordered 860 787s since the program was launched in April 2004, making the Dreamliner the fastest-selling new commercial jetliner in history.
Monarch Airlines flight ZB654 had to return and make an emergency landing at Manchester Airport, London, at around 11:30 A.M. on October 18.
The Airbus A321, flying to Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport, Spain, had to return due to a technical issue. According to the passengers, a piece of the wing was seen hanging off.
The plane landed safely.
All 154 passengers aboard remained unhurt.
