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Contact photographer Rodrigo Carvalho
What: Vueling Airbus A320-200 en route from Barcelona Spain to Milan Italy
Where: Milan
When: Nov 29th 2009
Who: 130 passengers
Why: On approach to the runway, the pilots saw a vehicle on the runway. The pilots performed a go-around, and landed safely on their second pass.
Uncompleted FAA safety checks have led to United’s 757 jet fleet to ground itself.
The Federal Aviation Administration on June 22, 2004, ordered that the computers be replaced and that mechanics perform a check to ensure they were working properly. 2004. Did I read that correctly?
The 757’s air data computer measures air pressure and other atmospheric conditions to determine speed and altitude. The units on these planes have been replaced but they haven’t undergone the required safety check. A flaw in the OLD computer caused pilots to believe they were flying too fast or too slow.
United discovered the situation and informed the FAA that they were grounding their own fleet and performing the safety check after making the discovery on their own.
Where was the FAA in this? Don’t they follow up their own directives to assure compliance? Did a follow-up team get hatched by a budget cut? Or is it just that the FAA is getting complacent or not taking its performance seriously?
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Contact photographer Joey Collura
What: Airtran Boeing 717-200 en route from Washington to Atlanta
Where: Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport
When: Mar 12 2010
Who: 117 passengers
Why: While en route to Atlanta, the flight diverted to Chattanooga due to Atlanta weather. On approach to Chattanooga, the Boeing was struck by lightning; it did, however make a safe landing at 4:13 p.m. While an alternative plane was provided for passengers, the Boeing that was hit by lightning is out of service pending inspection.
Yemenia Air Airbus 310 flight 626 en route from Yemen’s capital Sanaa to the Comoros Islands crashed on the second pass to land at the ill-equipped airport during heavy weather.
Westlake Village, California (Press Release) July 8, 2009 — A lawyer has contacted George Hatcher to dispatch a team of his consultant staff to work on the Yemenia Air crash. The latest development in this recent aviation disaster is that the thirteen bodies found by fishermen 500 miles away from the Comoros Islands may be victims who have drifted from the Yemenia Airbus crash. On its second pass at attempting a landing at the airport during a fearsome storm off the Comoros, the Yemenia Airlines Airbus flew into the ocean, killing 141 passengers and 11 crew members. This is the second Airbus lost at sea in a single month, and the crash points to an ominous trend toward a lessening of safety in aviation. Bahia’s survival and thirteen hour ordeal clutching at floating debris while suffering a broken collarbone, and too weak to climb into the rescue boat is one that clutches at our heartstrings, especially when we find out that her mother died in the crash. Bahia was flown back to her family in Marseilles. But that is not the end of the story.
Almost half of the dead were French citizens; and French citizens are up in arms over Yemenia Air. Having failed required criteria, the Airbus involved in the incident was under scrutiny, and not allowed to fly in French airspace; but the plane was allowed to regularly fly to Comoros, a poor island society with an ill-equipped airport. There is culpability to be assigned here, though it is all speculation until the black boxes are found. A 40 year veteran of litigation investigation and evaluation (including aviation,) George Hatcher explains that he was contacted by a lawyer working, “on behalf of some families, and we have dispatched a team there to assist.”
The thirteen bodies that were just found washed ashore on “Mafia Island,” some 500 miles from the site of the crash. A wing with “Airbus” scribed on it, and a plane seat were found in close proximity to the bodies. However, the black boxes have NOT been found yet; and the vast distance that the wreckage traveled bodes ill for the prospects of finding them.
There is already a group organized to protest the substandard plane accommodations. Spokesperson Farid Solihi of the protest group “SOS voyage aux Comores” has been an outspoken detractor of intolerable conditions aboard flights to and from Comoros. Hopefully the Hatcher team will be able to make contact with Solihi or some other “SOS voyage aux Comores” member.
About George Hatcher
George Hatcher is an independent generalist, a consultant dedicated to the support of the victims of aviation incidents or accidents. Known internationally, Hatcher works with well known lawyers, and develops crack teams to help support litigation, communication, and safety initiatives. To read further about the company, visit http://aircrashconsultants.com
Contact: george@georgehatcher.com
Aviation Consultants
What: Jetblue Airbus A320-200 en route from Ponce Puerto Rico to Orlando,FL
Where: Ft. Lauderdale
When: Oct 28th 2011
Who: 1 sick passenger
Why: Because of a sick passenger suffering seizures aboard the flight, the pilot diverted to Fort Lauderdale. On approach to the airport, the crew found hydraulic issues, and descended with little rudder control (due to the hydraulic issues.)
The flight made a safe landing.
Medical services was awaiting the passenger, who was transported to the hospital, after the safe landing.
AirAsia India flight I5-541 had to reject takeoff from Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, on July 15th.
The Airbus A320-200 plane was accelerating to takeoff for Delhi, India, when the crew rejected takeoff due to a bird strike.
The plane safely returned to the apron. Everyone aboard remained safe.
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Contact photographer Peter Tsagaris
What: Trans States Airlines Embraer ERJ-145/United Airlines en route from Chicago to Ottawa
Where: Ottawa International Airport
When: Sep. 04 2011
Who: 44 passengers, 3 crew
Why: On landing in Ottawa, the plane slid, and veered off the side of the runway, with collapsed main gear struts.
On Apr 28th 2011, an Embraer ERJ-145 landed in Moscow with collapsed main gear.
Last year, another plane with the same airline also skidded off the runway into soft ground.
Sunday’s passengers describe coming down from a dark cloud to land in rain.
The landing is under investigation.
I do not know if this runway is incorrectly graded for drainage, or if the ERJ-145 has a special problem with main gear struts or struts in hard landings.
I do know I fly 100,000 miles on United in order to keep my status as a 1K member.
I do not know if the maintenance of the aircraft is as terrible as the typical maintenance of United plane interiors. If so, then we have huge problems. The refurbished planes of two years ago already look worn out. The galleys are grimy looking the toilets are terrible.
I could say bad things about the food, the lav hot water is not hot enough to meet standards required by most states for food workers, (where I have never seen Waterless Hand Sanitizers and for sure, NEVER have seen a food preparer or server wear gloves.)
Is United maintenance absolutely out of control? Maybe this stretches to other airlines, economizing on staff and maintenance due to the times.
I fly Delta, American, Virgin, they have some of the same issues, but, I see these problems in the United flights, no matter which direction I am headed.
Who knows yet if this incident is runway or plane, pilot training or just an old plane that needs better maintenance. But whatever truths the investigation reveals, the fact remains that no one steps up to the plate until something bad happens.
