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Contact Photographer Tommy Desmet
What: Thomas Cook Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Brussels Belgium to Tenerife
Where: over Bay of Biscay
When: Aug 14th 2009
Why: While on the way to Tenerife, the windshield of the airbus cracked. The crew declared an emergency and returned to Brussels for repairs that delayed takeoff for about 7 hours.
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Contact Photographer Tom Turner
What: Piper PA-32 registered to LCA Partnership in Fort Washington, Pa flying out of Teteboro Airport to Ocean City and a Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tour Eurocopter AS 350
Where: over the Hudson River between New York and Hoboken, New Jersey near West 14th Street
When: Sat Aug 8 2009
Who: Helicopter: 5 Italian tourists and a pilot;
plane: pilot and 2 passengers (including a child)
Why: The airplane flew into the helicopter. The impact (or rotors) severed off the plane’s wing. Both aircrafts are in the river. The helicopter is reported to have “dropped like a rock” when the aircrafts “clipped.”
All bodies have been recovered.
Though not necessarily considered directly responsible, two FAA employees (the plane’s air traffic controller and the ATC supervisor) have been put on administrative leave in connection with this crash. The ATC was engaged in inappropriate conversation, and the supervisor was not in the room as required.
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Contact Photographer Marty McGuire
What: Colgan Air Saab 340B (US Airways) en route from New York La Guardia to Manchester New Hampshire
Where: Manchester
When: Aug 12th 2009
Who: 19 passengers and 3 crew
Why: On takeoff from New York, the right main gear tire was damaged. The flight continued on schedule and landed safely on a tire without tread.
What: American Airlines en route from Chicago to Dallas
Where: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
When: Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Why: When the crew experienced engine failure, they declared an emergency and returned to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for a safe landing.
George’s Point of View
Last Friday, two other flights — one coming from D/FW and the other from West Palm Beach — were forced to land due to engine problems, making this incident a third incident in the recent rash of engine failures (FAA records show 23 this year alone, in older MD-80 model jets), a failure that is attributed in general to financial cutbacks in aviation. American Airlines has bought dozens of 737-800s in 2009, which we hope will address the problem of aging planes.
Pictured: A Papua New Guinea Airlines De Havilland Twin Otter
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Contact Photographer Steve Bond
Update:
Those aboard the plane were Australian and Japanese tourists. The missing plane was located in “very, very difficult terrain” just north of the village of Isurava in dense and rugged terrain more than 5,000 feet above sea level. Two two Blackhawk helicopters from Australia have been supporting the search, and an aero-medical evacuation unit is on a Hercules aircraft en route to the area.
The missing Australians include Matthew Leonard, 28, Max Cranwell, Kelly Weir, Max Harris, Euan Comrie and Peter Holliday.
What: PNG (Papua New Guinea) de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter en routefrom Port Moresby to Efogi and further on to the Kokoda Trail
Where: New Guinea
When: Aug 11th 2009
Who: 11 passengers and 2 crew
Why: The plane never arrived at Port Moresby, and is missing during heavily overcast weather conditions. The last radio contact was on approach to Kokoda, which was aborted.
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Contact Photographer Marco Toso
What: Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 en route from London Heathrow to Singapore
Where: London
When: Aug 8th 2009
Who: 363 passengers
Why: After takeoff, control panel indicated a problem on the plane that led to returning to the airport of origin. After landing, Singapore Airline maintenance determined that the flaw was in the signal. The plane was cleared for take-off and completed the flight.
Pictured: A Papua New Guinea Airlines De Havilland Twin Otter
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Contact Photographer Steve Bond
What: PNG (Papua New Guinea) de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter en routefrom Port Moresby to Efogi and further on to the Kokoda Trail
Where: New Guinea
When: Aug 11th 2009
Who: 11 passengers and 2 crew
Why: The plane never arrived at Port Moresby, and is missing during heavily overcast weather conditions. The last radio contact was on approach to Kokoda, which was aborted.
What: Peruvian Air Force Boeing 737 en route to Quito
Where: coastal city of Chiclayo, 770 km (478 miles) north of Lima
When: Mon Aug 10, 2009
Who: Peruvian President Alan Garcia
Why: While en route to a summit meeting, Peruvian President Alan Garcia’s plane’s windshield suffered a crack and had to land.
An Expressjet/Continental Flight landing at Rochester
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Contact Photographer Jonathan Icasas
What: ExpressJet/Continental Airlines Embraer RJ145 en route from Houston to Minneapolis/St. Paul
Where: diverted to Rochester
When: August 9
Who: 47 passengers
Why: The flight was diverted by storms to Rochester and landed safely which is certainly a good thing.
George’s Point of View
Flight 2816 is going down in aviation customer service infamy. After landing safely at an airport with a closed terminal–with a crew that had run out of flying time so that an alternate crew had to be flown in–the passengers were basically locked in the plane overnight. After six hours of being stuck in the plane with no food, and a stinking bathroom, at 6 a m, understandably grumpy passengers streamed into the terminal to complain. It is not clear who is responsible (ExpressJet or Continental Airlines.) From the sound of the irate passengers, it’s difficult to say if they’d rather have compensation, or just be allowed in a no holds-barred boxing match with whoever is responsible.
Pictured: A Tam Airbus landing on the short “airport” runway “surfing” between buildings to land at Congonhas
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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.
What: Northwest (Delta) Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Raleigh Durham NC to Minneapolis,MN
Where: Raleigh Durham
When: Aug 9th 2009
Who: 148 passengers, 5 crew members
Why: After takeoff, the pilots heard a noise (bird strike) before they lost an engine. They dumped fuel and returned to the airport where they landed safely with no injuries.
We say the flight “lost an engine,” but it was significantly more dramatic than that, with the engine catching fire. Fortunately they landed safely.
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Contact Photographer Mu Yun
What: Vietnam Airlines Airbus A320-200 en route from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City
Where: Ho Chi Minh City
When: Aug 7th 2009
Who: 164 passengers including 26 children and 2 infants
Why: On its landing approach, the plane developed an unusual level of hydraulic fluid in its hydraulic braking system. Two (main gear) tires blew on landing. (It is not uncommon for tires to blow when a plane lands at too high of a speed.) The passengers debarked via emergency slides. No injuries were reported.
Newspapers reported that the pilot was Captain Jual Ruiz of Peru Ruiz, who got his license from CAAV in 2005, and has 17,500 flying hours. Nguyen Khanh Thanh of Viet Nam was his copilot.
What: Taban Air Tupolev TU-154M en route from Mashhad to Kish Island in the Persian Gulf
Where: emergency landing in Mashhad
When: August 7 2009
Who: 150 passengers
Why: 40 minutes into the flight, the plane had a technical “glitch” (electrical problems affecting several systems) forcing the pilot to declare an emergency.
George’s Point of View
This incident follows the death of 17 and the injury of 30 in Mashhad on July 24, 2009. At that time, an Ilyushin jet with skidded off the runway and struck a wall.
And a little more than a week before that, on Wednesday July 15 a Tu-154M went down 16 minutes after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.
No airline named “Taban Air” is listed under the IATA membership website.
Although this flight did land without death or injury, it appears that Tehran has some airline safety issues to work out.
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Contact Photographer Tom Turner
What: Piper PA-32 registered to LCA Partnership in Fort Washington, Pa flying out of Teteboro Airport to Ocean City and a Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tour Eurocopter AS 350
Where: over the Hudson River between New York and Hoboken, New Jersey near West 14th Street
When: Sat Aug 8 2009
Who: Helicopter: 5 Italian tourists and a pilot;
plane: pilot and 2 passengers (including a child)
Why: The airplane flew into the helicopter. The impact (or rotors) severed off the plane’s wing. Both aircrafts are in the river. The helicopter is reported to have “dropped like a rock” when the aircrafts “clipped.”
Two bodies have been recovered. Recovery mission is ongoing.
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Contact Photographer Jonathan Guidone
What: American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-82 en route from Palm Beach International Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Pictured: An American Airlines McDonnell Douglas
Where: West Palm Beach
When: August 7
Who: 141 aboard
Why: After takeoff, the plane made a “loud noise” and experienced engine trouble in the left engine. The pilot returned to land at the Palm Beach International within six minutes of takeoff. Passengers were provided an alternative plane.
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Contact Photographer Sergio Domingos
What: jet2.com Boeing 757-200 en route from Tel Aviv Israel to Manchester
Where: Budapest (Hungary)
When: Aug 6th 2009
Who: 238 passengers
Why: Four hours into the flight, the flight developed pressurization problems. The pilot dropped altitude suddenly, described as experiencing turbulence and “plummeting thousands of feet.” Oxygen was deployed. The pilot made assurances, but of course the passengers were terrified.
The flight landed safely when it diverted to Budapest, and passengers were put up in a local hotel until a replacement flight was provided for them.
George’s Point of View
We need a better system to see turbulence in time to avoid it. Until we have it, airline operators are just going to need to accept the cost factor.
Going around turbulence is a fact of aviation, and avoiding turbulence is going to cost extra fuel. Sometimes you have to wonder if our present systems are working when flights are routed through known turbulence in order to avoid the expense of going around it. Those are the kind of foolish economical decisions made by those kinds of marginal airlines that are banned in the EU, and one of the reasons they are known to fall out of the sky.
At least our Jet 2 pilot here, had the skill to handle the situation, and a plane sturdy enough to withstand the pressures long enough to safeguard the lives of those aboard.
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Contact Photographer Jeff Rodeback
What: Delta Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 en route from Oakland CA to Salt Lake City
Where: Salt Lake City
When: Aug 6th 2009
Who: 146 passengers
Why: On the landing approach, the flight encountered turbulence. Everyone (except a few attendants) were belted in. There were no injuries.
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Contact Photographer Christian Waser
What: Kish Air Fokker 100 en route from Bandar Mahshahr to Tehran
Where: Bandar Mahshahr
When: Aug 5th 2009
Who: undisclosed number of passengers
Why: On takeoff, the plane had tire damage. Pilots decided to land for repairs, but they turned out to be too extensive for the flight to continue.
Pictured: An Air India Airbus over Singapore
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Contact Photographer Andrew Hunt
What: Air India Airbus A321-200 en route from Hyderabad to Mumbai
Where: Hyderabad
When: Aug 5th 2009
Who: 120 passengers
Why: After take-off, the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) developed a problem. After returning to Hyderabad, maintenance dealt with the issue and within an hour the plane was back in the air. I’d like the registration on this one–we may be hearing from it again.
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Contact Photographer Luis Filipe Azevedo
What: SATA Internacional Airbus A320-200 en route from Ponta Delgada to Lisbon.
Where: Lisbon
When: Aug 6th 2009
Who: not available
Why: The flight had such a hard touch down that it caused substantial landing gear damage, and several rivets separated from the wing.
The plane involved became part of the SATA fleet on May 9. It is unclear if the flight involved was flying from Funchal or Ponta Delgada; and the date also is reportedly either the 5th or the 6th.
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Contact Photographer Javier Gonzalez
What: Vueling Airbus A320-200 en route from Paris Orly Airport to Alicante Spain
Where: Paris
When: Aug 5th 2009 10h36
Who: 169 passengers
Why: After boarding but prior to takeoff, the Airbus’s right engine caught on fire. The official statement said that “the fire began when the aircraft was in “pushback” phase, the taxi procedure for towing the aircraft from loading up by a bar connected to a tractor trailer.”
Passengers debarked via slides. There were eight injuries reported; it was not released if the injuries were caused by the fire emergency or the slides, nor if those injured were passengers or crew.
Four and a half hours later, passengers were provided an alternative Airbus to take them to their destination.
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Contact Photographer Patric Borg
What: Ryanair Boeing 737-800 en route from Stockholm Skavsta to Berlin
Where: Tegel Airport (Berlin)
When: Aug 5th 2009
Who: 140 passengers
Why: Due to weather and slat trouble, the crew diverted to Tegel for a safe landing.
What: Northwest Airlines( Pinnacle) Canadair CRJ-200 en route from Knoxville,TN to Detroit
Where: Louisville
When: Aug 4th 2009 6 p.m
Who: 24 passengers
Why: Half an hour into the flight, the plane encountered turbulence which injured a flight attendant and a passenger. About twenty-five minutes later, the flight landed in Louisville KY where the flight attendant was hospitalized with minor injuries. The passenger received cuts and bruises which were categorized as not serious. The turbulence the flight encountered was attributed to the same storm system that was behind thunderstorms and flooding in the Kentucky area.
The rest of the passengers were placed on another flight out of Louisville.
Is it possible that pilots and airlines should actually avoid flying during severe weather conditions? I know it is an audacious thing to suggest. Human beings would much prefer to assert dominion over all things natural than to do something that would require a little common sense, especially if it would mean we actually had to wait an hour before taking off.
