United Airlines flight UA-351 made an emergency landing at O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, on July 7th.
The Boeing 757-200 plane heading from Boston, Massachusetts, to San Francisco, California, was diverted due to problems with crew oxygen supply.
The plane landed safely.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Giovanni Verbeeck
What: Air France Boeing 777-200 en route from Paris to Sao Paulo
Where: Portugal
When: Nov 25th 2009
Who: 252 passengers including nine players and the coaches of the Brazilian Volleyball National Team travelling home after winning the Men’s World League Championship
Why: Two hours into the flight while west of Lisbon, the plane developed navigational problems. The crew decided to return to Paris which they did; and they made a safe landing.
Things happen. It’s good to see that even with a navigation problem, they were able to make it back to the airport safely.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Karl Nixon
What: Albanian Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from Tirana’s Mother Theresa International Airport in Albania to Bologna Italy
Where: Bratislava
When: Jan 17th 2010
Who: 110 passengers
Why: After boarding a flight from Tirana Albania to Bologna Italy, passengers were actually flown to Bratislava Slovakia. Disgruntled unpaid crew members flew their paying passengers to Bratislava (instead of Bologna) in protest for not receiving wages, or at least that is what the crew told the passengers.
Albanian Airlines leases the plane from Air Slovakia, and the Czech pilots are employed by Air Slovakia. Air Slovakia denies owing wages, and claims that the diversion was due to technical problems. Albanian Airlines says they knew of nothing technical wrong with the plane (which is also technically grounded in repairs with Bratislavan maintenance.)
Meanwhile, passengers alerted the media as soon as they arrived in Bratislava that the crew reported they had diverted (hijacked? passengernapped?) the plane because of unpaid wages. Passengers were put up in hotel accommodations in Bratislava (I’d have liked to see the accommodations!) and were supposed to have departed Monday. It is not reported whether or not the crew was put up with accommodations in jail.
Is this starting to sound like an episode of Wings, only with everyone in the cast speaking in a Tony Shalhoub version of a Bratislavan accent?
And you can be very proud that not once did I make a snide, uncalled-for reference to “brat” and “slave” and “protesting” “unpaid” pilots. Well. Maybe once. We do believe in pilots getting paid–but we also tend to prefer pilots who take passengers to their expected destinations.
What: Pakistan International Airlines ATR-42-500 en route from Islamabad to Lahore
Where: Lahore
When: August 31, 2012
Who: 46 aboard
Why: While landing in Lahore in heavy rain, the plane’s right main gear collapsed, and the plane ran off the runway.
There were no injuries but the plane was damaged. Pia reported that the main gear collapsed and denied earlier reports of injury. No one was hospitalized.
Passengers disembarked via stairs on the runway shoulder and were provided transportation to the gate.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Alastair T. Gardiner
Update:
It has been 11 months since the crash, and families of the 90 people who died in the crash are fretting over delays in their insurance settlement. Families approaching the EIC (Ethiopian Insurance Corporation) plead for their compensation to no avail. At least the families who have hired foreign lawyers have some auxiliary power to help supplement their efforts.
The cause of the delays have been attributed to the insurance companies trying to avoid “controversial” claims, time-consuming paperwork, and waiting for the final findings of the official accident report, which is slated to be released on Jan 25 2011, exactly a year after the tragedy.
What: Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 en route from Beirut to Addis Ababa
Where: 2 miles west of the coastal village of Na’ameh.
When: Jan 25 2010
Who: 7 crew 83 passengers
Why: Shortly after taking off in stormy weather and heavy lightning, Lebanese ATC lost contact. The plane disappeared from radar 45 minutes after leaving Beirut. Witnesses on the coast saw the plane as it crashed into the sea.
Pictured: One of the fleet of US Airways Express (Mesa Airlines) Canadair CL-600-2D24 Regional Jet CRJ-900ER at Phoenix – Sky Harbor International (PHX / KPHX)
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Alevik
What: Mesa Airlines/US Airways Canadair CRJ-900 en route from San Antonio, TX to Phoenix, AZ
Where: San Antonio
When: Dec 30th 2009
Who: 87 aboard
Why: On takeoff, after the plane blew a tire, it circled the airport and burned off fuel, then landed safely at 3:20 on the remaining tire. An emergency crew was on standby.
A fully packed Airlink’s Avro RJ-85 jet had to divert and make an emergency landing at King Shaka International Airport, Durban, at 9:15 p.m. on August 10.
The incident happened when the flight 4Z-8732/SA-8732 was on its way from Pietermaritzburg Airport to Johannesburg, South Africa.
According to Albert Morudi, the acting executive manager- Accident and Incident Investigation Division of SA Civil Aviation Authority, the landing gear of the aircraft did not retract after takeoff. Therefore, the pilot decided to divert and make emergency landing.
The crew asked the passengers to sit in brace position due to possibility of gear collapse on landing, however, the plane landed safely. Upon landing, the passengers praised the performance of pilots and flight crew by clapping. One of the passengers, Bruce Gordon said, “When we realized everything was okay, and we had landed safely, everyone started clapping. I didn’t realize how nervous I had been until I felt how sore my neck was.”
