Sky Gates Airlines flight U3-9868 made an emergency landing in Liege, Belgium, on November 5th.
The Boeing 747-400 plane heading from Novosibirsk, Russia, to Maastricht, Netherlands, was diverted after the crew noticed an issue with the flaps.
The plane landed safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
A Delta Airlines Boeing 747 en route from Tel Aviv to New York with 370 passengers and 17 crew could not retract the flaps on takeoff.
The plane went into a holding pattern, dumped fuel and returned to land in Tel Aviv at 2:00 a.m. after circling for two hours.
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Contact photographer Paul Jongeneelen
What: Delta Boeing 767-300 en route from Salt Lake City to Paris
Where: Salt Lake International Airport
When: June 16, 2012. 7 pm
Who: 198 aboard
Why: On takeoff from salt Lake City, a left tire on the Delta flight blew. Pilots circled, performed a flyby and dumped fuel before they made a safe landing.
The plane was examined in the hanger, and passengers returned home when the flight was cancelled.
United Airlines flight 936 had to made an emergency landing at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, on August 16.
The flight, heading from Washington Dulles International Airport to Zurich, Switzerland, was diverted as a precaution after 4 crew members reported breathing problems.
The plane landed safely and was thoroughly inspected. Authorities said the sick flight attendants did not need medical attention after landing.
The passengers were accommodated in other flights.
United Airlines flight UA-1643 had to return and make an emergency landing at Hewanorra International Airport, Saint Lucia, on December 30th.
The Boeing 737-800 plane took off for Newark, New Jersey, but had to turn back after the crew failed to retract the landing gear.
The plane landed uneventfully. All one hundred and fifty people aboard remained safe.
July 9–The FAA is issuing an Airworthiness Directive (AD) that requires operators of Boeing 757, 767, and 777 airplanes to either inspect or replace certain flight deck windows. The AD only affects the forward viewing windows, not the side windows.
Operators have two options: Begin inspections within 500 flight hours and then continue at intervals that are specific for each of two window designs OR install a new, redesigned window. The inspection takes about an hour.
The AD is aimed at preventing smoke, fire or cracking of the inner layer of the forward viewing window caused by loose electrical connections that are used to heat the window to prevent ice.
Over the past two decades, there have been 11 reports of fire or flames on 757 (five events), 767 (three events), and 777 (three events) airplanes. Improper installation resulted in loose, improperly torqued or cross threaded screws that can contribute to overheating and arcing. The most recent incident was a May 16, 2010 emergency landing by a United 757 at Dulles International Airport.
The FAA proposed the AD in March 2008. The agency received extensive comments and determined additional 757 service information was needed from Boeing. That in-depth review identified unique issues on the upper electrical connections on 757s which will be addressed in a separate AD so as not to hold up the fix for the lower electrical connector issue which constitutes the majority of the service problems identified to date. Although there have been no fire events on 747s, the FAA plans to propose an AD this fall since those later model airplane windows are similar.
This AD affects 1,212 U.S. airplanes out of 2,619 worldwide. The estimated cost for the inspections is $103,020 total for U.S. operators. The window replacement is optional and would be an additional cost.
Insel Air flight 7I-534 made an emergency landing in Sint Maarten, Netherlands, on November 18.
The McDonnel Douglas MD-82, heading to Curacao, was forced to return after the crew decided to shut down an engine due to oil pressure loss.
The plane landed uneventfully. Everyone aboard remained unhurt.
