A small plane crash-landed near Leesburg Executive Airport in Loudoun County, Virginia, on April 22nd.
The Sonex experimental plane was heading to Georgia when the pilot decided to return to Leesburg due to bad weather. However, as he was approaching the airport, the plane developed an engine issue, forcing him to crash-land in a field.
The pilot Joseph R. Bryant, 53, of Washington, remained unharmed.
The FAA is investigating.
Air Canada flight AC-822 had to divert to and make an emergency landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Canada, on April 9th.
The Airbus A319-100, en-route from Saint John’s, NL, Canada, to London, UK, was mid-air above Atlantic Ocean when the crew reported failure of the hydraulic system, prompting the plane to return to Saint John’s but instead diverted to Toronto due to bad weather.
The plane landed uneventfully.
All passengers onboard remained unharmed.
A Ukrainian helicopter crashed near Stretavka village, in Zilina, eastern Slovakia, on November 13.
According to the Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, pilot of the Russian-made Mi2 “was doing dangerous manoeuvrs especially in very bad weather conditions because he was flying very low.”
Six people lost their lives in the crash.
The accident is being investigated.
A Black Hawk helicopter crashed in dense forest near Gulf of Uraba, Colombia, on August 4.
Authorities suspect the helicopter, carrying 17 Colombian police officers, crashed due mechanical failure. The officers were going to the Gulf of Uraba for an important operation at the time.
Fifteen police officers died while another 2 sustained severe burns in the crash.
The accident is being investigated.
A single-engine Piper Cherokee had to divert and make an emergency landing at Province Lake Golf Course, Parsonsfield, Maine, at 7:50 A.M. on July 18.
The plane, en-route from Waterville/Kings County Municipal Airport, Canada, to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, had to be landed in emergency due to fog and heavy rain.
The plane landed safely. The sheriff’s department confirmed that the pilot, identified as Gary Soucy, 66, remained unhurt.
The FAA was notified.
A helicopter, carrying Ghana’s president and his wife, made a precautionary landing in an open field of Apatrampa in Kumasi, Ghana on the night of July 10.
President John Dramani Mahama, and his wife, Lordina Mahama, were travelling to Accra from Sunyani, when “a sudden storm with high winds closed in”, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
The helicopter landed safely.
Everyone aboard, including the President and his wife, remained unharmed.
A Pawan Hans helicopter carrying Nagaland’s Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya made an emergency landing at a helipad in the premises of Bairagi Para Junior Basic School in Kalyanpur in western Tripura, India, in the afternoon of August 19.
According to the authorities, the helicopter with Governor Acharya and his wife Kavita aboard took off from Dimapur, made a stop at Imphal airport for refueling and was scheduled to land at Agartala airport. However, due to extremely bad weather, the pilot could not land at Agartala and instead landed about 40 km north in Kalyanpur.
Acharya and his wife had a good time with the students and also tasted the mid-day meal served by the school, according to Banamali Sinha, principal secretary in-charge of the Raj Bhavan secretariat. The police then escorted them to Dak Bunglow.
The helicopter was able to fly back to Agartala airport around 4:30 p.m., after getting clearance from the Air Traffic Controller.