The Canadair CRJ 200 aircraft was carrying mail from Oslo to Tromso, Norway, when it went down. According to Daniel Lindblad, spokesman for the Swedish Maritime Administration, “They sent a very brief ‘mayday’ and then the plane disappeared from our radar. The weather conditions weren’t harsh.”

There were two people aboard the plane, including the 42-year-old captain and a 34-year-old first officer; both of them are feared dead.

The plane was being operated by West Atlantic.

The post 2 Feared Dead as Norwegian Postal Plane Crashes in Sweden first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

According to the airline, “Flight BE6780 carrying 46 passengers and three crew declared a mayday shortly before landing in Sumburgh last night… The captain received a fire caution indication from the port-side engine, which was shut down as is standard operating procedure… Passengers were briefed by the crew ahead of landing and the aircraft touched down safely.”

All the passengers and crew members remained unharmed.

The Saab 2000 was flying from Aberdeen at the time.

The post Loganair Flight Makes Emergency Landing at Sumburgh Airport first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Seventy minutes after a mayday when a cargo of vegetables (peppers and flowers) set off a smoke alarm, Air France flight AF-733 made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport today at 9.55am. The flight was en route from Santo Domingo to Paris with 142 passengers and 14 crew when they diverted.

Emergency services, Shannon based Irish Coast Guard helicopter, the fire department, the RNLI lifeboat at Kilrush, and HSE ambulances were on standby as passengers disembarked via stairs. Passengers are being accommodated in the terminal as they wait for an alternative flight.

No fire or heat spots were detected aboard.

After AF447–the deadliest in the history of Air France–it is always alarming to hear of an issue aboard an AF trans-Atlantic flight. That Air France Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight crashed on June 1, 2009 and led to an exhaustive but successful multi-phase ocean search. On April 3, 2011, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution located the debris field.

While today’s thermal food was both alarming and anti-climactic, it was also a successful demonstration of contemporary aviation accident prevention. We are well familiar with how investigations of safety issues contribute to making flight safer, but rarely do we give credit to crew resource management. How the crew responds to the crisis, (even when it is just a sensitive alert that goes off), how well coordinated and cool-headed the crew is can mean the difference between life and death.

We don’t need to think of AF447, or even Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, to appreciate the integrated clockwork of a well-trained crew; but it does make us wonder if those crews were as well-trained as the one on this jet today, if either of those tragedies might have been prevented.

The post Hot Landing at Shannon No AF447 or MH370, Kudos to Crew first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

What: Cessna flying from Omaha to Des Moines
Where: Highway 169, five miles north of Winterset Iowa
When: around 9:45 pm Thursday October 2, 2008
Who: Pilot Timothy Gerber
Why: Pilot called Mayday. Flames were shooting out of the engine, but the pilot managed to land safely.

The landing missed power lines and cars as he stopped in the middle of the busy road. The plane was reportedly undamaged in spite of landing in the dark.

The pilot received encouragement from KCCI Chief Meterologist and pilot John McLaughlin who was flying at the time and heard him on the onboard radio

The post Timothy Gerber Praised for Emergency Landing first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.