Virgin Australia Airlines flight VA-101 had to return and make an emergency landing in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 19th.
The Boeing 737-800 plane took off for Melbourne, Australia, but had to return shortly afterwards due to a bird strike.
The plane landed back safely. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.
Air New Zealand flight NZ-514 made a safe emergency landing at Auckland Airport, New Zealand, on August 12.
The Airbus A320-200 flying from Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand, was about to land when a bird impacted it.
The plane landed safely.
No one was injured.
Delta Airlines flight DL-26 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Tokyo, Japan, on June 22nd.
The Boeing 777-200 plane en-route from Seoul, South Korea, to Atlanta, Georgia, was diverted after a burning odor and smoke was noticed in the cabin.
The plane landed safely. All three hundred and sixteen people aboard remained unharmed.
An underwater locator beacon (ULB) such as the one on the black boxes (CVR) Cockpit Voice Recorder and FDR (Flight Data Recorder) of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 37.5 kHz for about 30 days at 4°C temperature. They run on lithium-ion batteries, and “mileage” may vary; 30 days is the minimum expectation. This is all relevant to today’s news because the Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 which is one of the ships equipped with a pinger locator, has heard a ping in the South Indian Ocean.
The particular frequency was selected because it is not one that occurs in nature.
Although Malaysia Airlines told the public that “This battery is not replaceable,” the ULB batteries had been scheduled for battery replacement in 2012, but were not replaced by Dukane Seacom, the original equipment manufacturer of the beacons. (Dukane Seacom either replaces the entire pinger or installed new batteries.) If replacement was not performed by toe OEM or other parties, the actual ping time may be less than 30 days.
One ping in an ocean does not a discovery make. The wreckage has not been located, nor the ping confirmed. But we can still hope this is a step in the right direction.
Pictured:IndiGo Airbus A320-232 over Ahmedabad – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Sunandan Subramaniam
What: IndiGo Airbus A320-200 en route from Kolkata to Chennai
Where: Kolkata
When: Jan 20th 2010
Why: After takeoff, flaps were locked in position. The plane returned to Kolkata and made a safe landing. No indication is made if the flight was cancelled, replaced, or continued after repairs.
CityJet flight WX-118 had to return and make an emergency landing at Dublin Airport, Dublin, Ireland, on March 18.
The Avro RJ-85, flying from Dublin to London, England, had to return shortly afterwards after the crew reported a cracked windshield.
The plane landed safely.
All people onboard remained safe.
The passengers were accommodated in a replacement plane.
Airnorth flight TL-160 had to return and make an emergency landing in Darwin, Australia, on June 8th.
The Embraer ERJ-170 plane took off for Gove, Australia, but had to turn back after the crew needed to shut down one of the engines.
The plane landed safely. All seventy-five passengers and four crew members remained unharmed.
