On July 31, 2013, an Orient Thai Airlines Boeing 73703T) was en route from Guiyang to Phuket.
Pilots diverted to Surat THani airport and made an emergency landing around 7pm. While taxiing on the runway, a main gear tire slipped off the pavement had had a flat.
The plane was towed off the runway. Flights were disrupted till about 9 pm.
There were 137 Chinese passengers aboard. No injuries were reported.
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Contact photographer Andrew Bowden
What: All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-700 en route from Okinawa to Tokyo Haneda
Where: Hamamatsu
When: Sep 6th 2011
Who: 2 crew injured
Why: While en route, the co-pilot accidentally activated the rudder trim switch instead of the door mechanism.
The plane descended 6000 feet and rolled, injuring a couple of flight attendants. The first officer—2400 hours— leveled off, and was able to admit the captain who was stuck outside the cockpit, waiting to get in.
The flight continued without incident.
If there is a problem, it comes out, eventually. My pilots tell me that after there is some kind of incident, we need to keep an eye on new incidents, reports, recalls, and especially advisories, directives and safety alerts. There can always be a relationship, no matter how obscure it seems at first glance.
You know how everyone has been looking at Air France Flight 447 with a new eye, ever since examination into the Air France Flight 471 on July 22 apparently fooled the autopilot into quitting with a swift descent. And Airbus investigators looked at this event twice because you have two the same plane types doing something similar?
Well, on the surface, this Nippon incident reminds me of Ethiopia Flight 409. It only reminds me because I saw a line drawing of the route of the plane as it spiraled out of control. It also was a 737.
I’m not calling the situation identical. Certainly if one of the pilots were locked out on a bathroom break—not that a pilot would do this on takeoff!—it would turn up on the voice recorder.
What if on Ethiopia Flight 409, someone had needed admission into the cabin?
It just makes me wonder if it is possible that the cabin crew accidentally activated the rudder trim switch. The Ethiopian Airlines plane had just taken off; it would not have been high enough to drop 6000 feet before recovery.
I know this thought is right out of the blue, and probably has no basis in anything but my wild imagination, but I am told by my pilots that although the switches are dissimilar, the door unlock switch is right next to the rudder trim. So, is it possible the trim switch could have been inappropriately engaged by accident on Flight 409?
Some airlines rectify this by requiring a third party to open the door if someone leaves the cockpit, but I have to wonder if this could be a design problem.
A private, single-engine plane made an emergency landing at Jack Brooks Regional Airport in Beaumont, Texas, on January 3.
The incident happened when a Southeast Texas family was returning home from vacation in Colorado. Airport authorities said the pilot sought permission for emergency landing after the plane’s landing gear failed to deploy.
The plane landed on its belly. Everyone aboard, including 2 adults and a child, remained unharmed.
An AeroMexico flight made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland, on June 29.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, heading from Mexico City to Paris Charles De Gaulle airport in France, had to be diverted after a fire alarm sounded in cargo hold.
The plane landed uneventfully. All 193 people aboard remained unharmed.
American Airlines flight AA-63 made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland, on November 29th.
The Boeing 777-200 plane heading from Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, to Miami, Florida, was diverted due to an engine issue.
The plane landed uneventfully. All two hundred and six passengers and thirteen crew members remained safe.
A crop-dusting plane crashed in the Irvine Flats area near Polson, Montana, on May 26.
According to Lake County Sheriff Don Bell, the single-engine plane crashed while the pilot was attempting to make an emergency landing due to mechanical issues. The aircraft’s landing gear sustained damage during landing and it skidded before coming to a stop.
The pilot sustained minor injuries in the incident and was taken to Providence Medical Center in Polson.
The FAA is investigating.
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Contact photographer Giovanni Verbeeck
What: Alitalia Boeing 767-300 en route from New York JFK to Rome
Where: New York
When: Jan 15th 2010
Who: 180 passengers
Why: On take off, the Boeing apparently had a tail strike, but not one hard enough to damage the tail skid. The crew performed checks, but then decided to dump fuel and land. After circling, the flight landed safely approx. an hour and a half after initial takeoff. After two hours, the same aircraft took off again for Rome.
