What: American Airlines Boeing 737-800 en route from Miami to Washington
Where: Charleston SC
When: August 9, 2011
Who: 152 passengers, six injuries
Why: After encountering turbulence over Florida, the pilots diverted to Charleston. Two flight attendants and one passenger were injured by turbulence, plus several others were hospitalized.
Diversion delayed the flight as mechanics examined the problems aboard the plane.
The single-engine, four-seat Cirrus SR22 was on course for Kissimmee, Fla., and maintaining altitude at 11,000 feet, but had not responded to repeated contact attempts from controllers; at the same time, ten miles behind the Cirrus at 12,000 feet was Southwest Flight 821, a Boeing 737. Rather than following the protocol for unresponsive aircraft, the supervisor asked the Boeing to visually check the Cirrus cockpit. The Boeing did so, reporting 2 people in the cockpit. Both planes landed safely.
But the planes violated proximity guidelines. The Boeing could have caused air turbulence upsetting the Cirrus. They flew too close. As a consequence, the FAA suspending the FAA controller, and they are reviewing procedures, and training practices.
What: American Airlines MD-80
Where: Chicago O’Hare International Airport
When: June 14
Why: While taxiing to the gate, the plane jettisoned the tail cone. The emergency slide deployed through the opening in the plane.
Someone inside the plane released the back of the aircraft, initiating the situation. No one was injured, although the crew was surprised.
A small plane crashed in the waters off Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, Florida, on March 12th.
Authorities said the plane lost power immediately after taking off and went down in water.
The pilot, who was the only aboard remained, remained unharmed.
The incident is being investigated.
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Contact photographer
What: American Airlines Boeing 767-300 en route from Paris to Dallas Ft. Worth
Where: Shannon
When: Mar 22nd 2012
Why: While en route and over the Atlantic, the plane developed smoke in the cabin. Apparently there was also a mechanical glitch as well that helped the pilots determine they needed to divert.
Pilots flew the 200 miles back to Shannon where they made a safe but overweight landing less than an hour later. Emergency vehicles were on standby.
The source of the smoke was an oven in the galley.
A replacement jet was provided as N392AN is inspected.
THY Turkish Airlines flight TK-6309 had to divert and make an emergency landing at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam, Netherlands, on May 11th.
The Airbus A330-200 flying from Istanbul, Turkey, to Billund, Denmark, had to divert due to hydraulic failure.
The plane landed safely.
No injuries were reported.
Pictured: Hainan Airlines Boeing 737-84P
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Contact photographer Kevin Scott
What: Hainan Airlines Boeing 737-300, HU7871 en route from Xi’an, Shaanxi Province to Shenzhen in Guangdong Province
Where: landing at an airport in the island province of Hainan (extreme south of China)
When: 2009-03-05 19:21:09
Who: 112 passengers and a crew of six
Why: The crew reported a mechanical problem and requested an emergency landing. They turned off one engine, and landed. Reportedly, there were “problems with the throttle that might have led to an excessively fast landing.”
No injuries were reported.
