Southwest Airlines flight WN-330 made an emergency landing in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 29th.
The Boeing 737-700 plane flying from Raleigh–Durham International Airport, North Carolina, was on approach to Baltimore when the crew reported a landing gear issue.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Nathan Zalcman
What: Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300 en route from Los Angeles to Sydney
Where: Los Angeles
When: April 12, 2011
Who: 305 passengers
Why: On making its takeoff run from Los Angeles, the plane emitted a loud “bang!” and stopped on the runway, they believed for a nose gear. It turned out to be the fireball erupting from engine one. Needless to say, the jet was pulled for inspection, and the passengers were given hotel accommodations for the night. They were provided an alternative flight the next day.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Rafael García
What: SAS Scandinavian Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-82 en route from Pristina Kosovo to Copenhagen
Where: Berlin
When: Apr 3rd 2010
Who: 89 passengers and 5 crew
Why: After takeoff from Kosovo, a part fell from the engine. the crew diverted to Berlin and made a safe landing.
A Transwest Air plane had to make an emergency landing in Stony Rapids, Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, at around 8 p.m. on November 20.
The Piper Navajo aircraft, which departed from Stony Rapids at around 7 p.m., faced heavy ice built up on the windshield during the flight to Fond-du-Lac. Authorities said the plane had to turn back because Fond-du-Lac airport did not have facilities for de-icing.
The plane landed without incident. Transwest Air chief operating officer Garrett Lawless said that hot air from the engine was used to clear a section of windshield. He confirmed that all 7 people aboard, including 2 pilots and 5 passengers, remained unharmed.
A Navy plane had to make an emergency landing at Corpus Christi International Airport in Corpus Christi, Texas, on February 20.
The decision for emergency landing was made after the pilot reported fire in one of the aircraft’s engines.
The plane landed safely and all 7 people aboard remained unharmed.
American Eagle flight AA-3501 made an emergency landing at Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois, on October 6th.
The Embraer ERJ-145 plane flying from Chicago, Illinois, to Manhattan, Kansas, was diverted due to hydraulic issues.
The plane landed safely. All 50 people aboard remained unharmed.
What: United Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Munich to Washington
Where: Logan International Airport 1:46 p.m.-
When: 3:45 p.m
Who: 245 passengers and 14 crew members
Why: When a woman aboard this flight started to feel the flu, 244 passengers and 14 crew members had to go out of their way (at a cost of how many thousands?) and land en route so she be taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital.
George’s Point of View
The US was founded by stalwart pilgrims. Most of our ancestors came to these shores with pennies to their name. We’re formed of hardy peasant stock born of strong roots with nothing but our bodies and brains to make us what we are. We are the survivors of freezing winters, summers spent barefoot on farms, yellow fever, wars, drought, and more war and more drama. We are the spawn of mixed melting pots, and all the harsh trials that weed out the weak. We are sturdy stock.
We are the survivors of parents or grandparents who told us stories of trudging to and from school in shoulder-high snow walking uphill both ways.
(And they didn’t have antibiotics.)
So what would our stalwart predecessors say about this current terror of the flu?
I think they’d be a little embarrassed.
Maybe I’m a little concerned about our oldest, sickest and most vulnerable, but I won’t go into the swine flu brouhaha. I’m not a doctor. I would not wish to be any of those millions of swine flu victims in rural Mexico, with access only to rudimentary medical facilities. Because the oldest, the youngest, the sickest, the weakest are the most vulnerable.
But.
Let’s face it. The air in a plane is a closed system. It has always been a closed system. That air recirculates. Maybe planes will install uv light machines in their air systems to sterilize the air. In the meantime, we’re all breathing shared air in planes.
I’m proud that even in these tough economic times, United Airlines is so solvent that it can afford to spend thousands to divert planes when a solitary patient has the sniffles. But…maybe next time, they could spend the equivalent cost of the next “sneeze-diversion” on a couple warehouses full of surgical masks. So that next time we’re in a United Airlines plane, we can rest assured that-if our neighbor sneezes-next to that airsick bag and airplane weekly magazine, we can find a “swine flu” mask, some kleenex and maybe some anti-bacterial hand cleaner.
D’ya think?