Airlines
“Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!” —Henry David Thoreau
Links index: Airlines & Aviation Industry, Airline Safety, Air Travel …
Top 5 Most Dangerous Airlines in 2009/2010
1. Air New Zealand
2. Korean Air
3. Finnair
4. KLM
5. United Airlines
[FEWW Blog]
- Airbus Crashes in Comoros
- Another Airbus Near Disaster
- 5 Airbus, 1 Boeing Emergency Landings in 2 Days
- Cockpit Fire Forces Airbus A330 to Land
- Air France Flight 447
- Airbus Catastrophic Failure a Fatal Design Flaw
- Air France Airbus vanishes over the Atlantic
- Second Airbus Plunges into Water
- US Airways Plane Goes Down in Hudson River
[MSRB Blog]
[ Apartheid New Zealand Blog]
- Sculptural Insult to the Erebus Victims
- Air NZ won’t apologize to Erebus families for negligent homicide
- Another Air NZ Flying Coffin Catches Fire Mid-air
- Propeller falls off New Zealand plane
- An Air New Zealand Flying Coffin Forced to Land
- Air New Zealand Flying Coffin Crashes in the Mediterranean
- NEW Warning to Tourists Flying to New Zealand
- Jetstar Airbus Catches Fire Midair
- Flying Air New Zealand?
- Air NZ receives $76m ‘crash cash’
- Flying Coffins
- Bend Over, Spread Your Legs and say Baa . . .
- Another Near Miss For Air NZ Flying Coffins
- Small aircraft accidents
- Come Fly Air New Zealand! Chose where you want to crash: The Antarctic, or Mediterranean sea.
- Pilot Error Downed Air New Zealand Airbus!
Related News Links:
- Four Brits recovering after their holiday plane crashed into control tower on a Thai island.
- Irish survivors of Thai plane crash travel home
- Injured passengers in Thai plane crash transferred to Bangkok
- A plane was forced into emergency landing at Hamilton Airport, New Zealand
- NTSB probes incident involving Northwest Airbus
- Five NZers given no hope of surviving plane crash
- Airbus the largest New Zealand-owned aircraft to crash
- Small aircraft accidents
- Scores killed in Thai plane crash
[Consortium News Blog]
[Air Travel]
Another Airbus Near Disaster « Fire Earth said
[...] Aviation [...]
Airbus Crashes in Comoros « Fire Earth said
[...] Airlines [...]
msrb said
Air India flight lands in Delhi under emergency conditions
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/14291355.htm
NEW DELHI: An Air India flight from Delhi to Hyderabad, with 74 people on board, on Monday landed at the IGI Airport here under emergency conditions as the pilot suspected technical trouble, airport sources said.
Emergency drill, including positioning of fire brigades and ambulances, was followed after the pilot informed the air traffic control (ATC) that he wanted to land as the cockpit panel had signalled problem with the hydraulic system of the Airbus A-320, t he sources said.
The Delhi-Hyderabad-Tirupati flight, IC-942, made a “normal and safe” landing at 1141 hours and went “on its own power” to the bay earmarked for it where all the 68 passengers and six crew members disembarked, an airline spokesperson said.
The pilot decided to return to Delhi instead of flying to Hyderabad, after being on air for about 30 minutes when the indication about hydraulic problem appeared on the panel.
The aircraft was being examined by Air India’s technical personnel, the Air India official said, adding that a separate aircraft was arranged to take the passengers to their destination. – PTI
Copyright The Hindu Business Line
Qantas pilots nix flight as cabin loses pressure « Fire Earth said
[...] Airlines [...]
Airbus Says Change Speed Censor Switch « Fire Earth said
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More than 30 hurt as airliner hits turbulence « Fire Earth said
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Another Airbus Caught Fire? « Fire Earth said
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Premature births caused by Virgin Blue airline food « Fire Earth said
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msrb said
Airspeed systems failed on US jets
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 7, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — On at least a dozen recent flights by U.S. jetliners, malfunctioning equipment made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying, federal investigators have discovered. A similar breakdown is believed to have played a role in the Air France crash into the Atlantic that killed all 228 people aboard in June.
The discovery suggests the equipment problems are more widespread than previously believed. And it gives new urgency to airlines already scrambling to replace air sensors and figure out how the errors went undetected despite safety systems.
The equipment failures, all involving Northwest Airlines Airbus A330s, were brief and were noticed only after safety officials began investigating the Air France crash — on a Rio de Janeiro to Paris flight — and two other recent in-flight malfunctions. The failures were described by people familiar with the investigation who spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
While a car’s speedometer uses tire rotation to calculate speed, an airplane relies on sensors known as Pitot tubes to measure changing air pressure. Computers interpret that information as speed. And while a car with a broken speedometer might be little more than an inconvenience, many airplane control systems rely on accurate speed information to work properly.
Like the fatal Air France flight, the newly discovered Northwest incidents and the two other malfunctions under investigation all involved planes with sensors made by the European electronics giant Thales Corp. The Air France crash called into question the reliability of the sensors and touched off a rush to replace them.
Many companies, however, simply replaced them with another Thales model. As it became clear the problem was more widespread, Airbus and European regulators told companies to replace at least two of the three sensors on each plane with models made by North Carolina-based Goodrich Corp. The planes are allowed to continue flying while the switch is made.
Thales officials declined to comment. The company has previously said its sensors were made to Airbus specifications.
The Northwest incidents were discovered when Delta Air Lines, which merged with Northwest last year, reviewed archived flight data for its fleet of 32 Airbus A330s, the people close to the inquiry said. All of the incidents took place in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which extends from 5 degrees north of the equator to 5 degrees south, and all the planes involved landed safely, they said.
Aviation experts said the discovery could provide clues to what caused Air France Flight 447 to crash into the Atlantic en route from Brazil to France on June 1, and what might be done to prevent future tragedies.
French investigators have focused on the possibility that Flight 447’s sensors iced over and sent false speed information to the computers as the plane ran into a thunderstorm at about 35,000 feet.
An important part of the investigation focuses on 24 automatic messages the plane sent during its final minutes. They show the autopilot was not working, but it is unclear whether the pilots shut it off or whether it shut down because of the conflicting airspeed readings.
Three weeks after the Air France crash, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board announced it was investigating two other A330 flights that experienced a loss of airspeed data.
The most recent was on June 23, when a Northwest flight hit rain and turbulence while on autopilot outside of Kagoshima, Japan. According to an NTSB report, speed data began to fluctuate. The plane alerted pilots it was going too fast. Autopilot and other systems began shutting down, putting nearly all the plane’s control in the hands of the pilot, something that usually happens only in emergencies.
In May, a plane belonging to Brazilian company TAM Airlines lost airspeed and altitude data while flying from Miami to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Autopilot and automatic power also shut down and the pilot took over, according to an NTSB report. The computer systems came back about five minutes later.
”These two cases we know were dealt with effectively by the crew, and we think this happened in Air France and maybe wasn’t dealt with effectively,” said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety F,oundation in Alexandria, Va., an aviation safety think tank.
Morgan Durrant, a spokesman for the only other U.S. airline that operates A330s, US Airways, said it had not seen similar problems in its 11-plane fleet of the jetliners.
Delta/Northwest and US Airways recently completed replacing older Thales tubes with new Thales tubes. The companies say they are now replacing them with Goodrich tubes.
In June, the Air France pilots’ unions urged its members to refuse to fly Airbus A330s and A340s unless their Thales sensors had been replaced.
The Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t issued a safety directive, but spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency hopes to have one soon.
te2ataria said
Another Air NZ Flying Coffin Catches Fire Mid-air
Posted by te2ataria on September 2, 2009
Will You Be So Lucky Next Time?
Air New Zealand Flight NZ535, a Boeing 737, carrying 95 passengers, was forced into an emergency landing at Wellington airport today.
plane_engine_fire Image
Air New Zealand Flight NZ535 may have looked like this after it caught fire. Source of the image.
The plane, flying from Auckland to Christchurch, reportedly ran into trouble “about 10 minutes” after takeoff, according to a passenger.
“He said jetstream coming over the engine on the aircraft’s right-hand side turned from white to grey, then black. The smell of burning rubber filled the cabin, causing panic among the passengers, he said.” NZPA reported.
The plane was diverted to Wellington airport for an emergency landing.
“It was pretty scary. A few people were panicking. . . not screaming, but just a bit fidgety, looking around at everyone,” the passenger told Radio New Zealand. “A few of us were wondering what was going on. I’m a bit religious, and I was definitely saying a few prayers on the way down, I’ll put it that way.”
A naked Air NZ spokeswoman said the plane had to be diverted to Wellington because smoke was detected.
http://newzeelend.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/another-air-nz-flying-coffin-catches-fire-mid-air/
te2ataria said
Please link image to URL below.
TEAA
http://newzeelend.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/plane_engine_fire.jpg
feww said
Thanks TEAA – interesting news!
What Exactly Airlines Doing to You? « Fire Earth said
[...] Airlines [...]
te2ataria said
Another Close Shave Over Lake Taupo
http://newzeelend.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/another-close-shave-over-lake-taupo/
What Exactly Airlines Doing to You? Take 2 « Fire Earth said
[...] Airlines [...]