Spring Airlines flight 9C-8617 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Shenyang, China, on February 18th.
The Airbus A320-200 plane heading from Harbin, China, to Nagoya, Japan, was diverted after a smartphone and a power bank caught fire in the overhead locker.
The crew had cooled down the items before the plane landed safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
Czech Airlines flight OK-508 had to return and make an emergency landing in Prague, Czech Republic, on September 18th.
The plane took off for Copenhagen, Denmark, but had to turn back due to navigation problems.
The plane landed back safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
When a plane goes down in the ocean, the black boxes aboard have enough juice to ping for thirty days. The pingers on flight data recorders AKA “black boxes” last a minimum of 30 days. After 30 days, the devices are still active, but the sound on which searchers hone is expected to die out. The pinger is located by a “pinger locater,” a device that listens for the sound of the black box. It is towed within the search area but it’s listening radius is usually around 2 miles. The pinger’s sound is not very powerful, and the pinger is towed at 3 knots.
After AirFrance 447, legislation was underway to increase the battery life to 90 days. The technology exists, but because implementation of that transition has been slow, EgyptAir MS 804’s pinger battery is expected to expire at around 30 days.
After its right engine shut down, United Airlines flight 1470 en route to Santo Domingo diverted to Norfolk where passengers were stranded for 27 hours. When the replacement jet arrived, crew had exceeded their flying time, and it was cancelled. The disgruntled passengers eventually secured United Airlines flight 2109 which landed in Santo Domingo Monday afternoon, but not before passengers complained of the long wait and bad treatment. Delta said:
“Customers are on their way to the Dominican Republic after United flight 1470 from Newark, NJ to the Dominican Republic diverted yesterday to Norfolk, VA due to a mechanical issue. We attempted to re-accommodate passengers on a new aircraft, but the flight was unable to depart before the crew exceeded their legally permitted duty hours. We apologize to our customers, and provided them with meals and overnight accommodations. We will also be offering customers a goodwill gesture for the inconvenience.”
Virgin Atlantic flight VS-89 had to return and make an emergency landing at Gatwick Airport, England, on July 27th.
The Airbus A330-300 plane took off for Saint Lucia but had to return shortly afterwards due to a hydraulic issue.
The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Pictured: South African Express Canadair CL-600-2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-200ER
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Fanie Kleynhans
What: South African Express Canadair CRJ-200 en route from East London to Johannesburg
Where: East London
When: Dec 22nd 2009
Who: 16 people on board
Why: While en route, the plane experienced engine trouble. The pilot shut down the engine and returned to East London where it made a safe landing.
Eva Air flight BR-797 had to return and make an emergency landing in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on November 29th.
The Airbus A321-200 plane took off for Guangzhou, China, but had to turn back due to an engine issue.
The plane landed back safely. All one hundred and seventy-nine passengers aboard remained unharmed.
