WN: Sliding 737's at Chicago Midway (MDW)

It seems Southwest can't keep out of the news, with the trouble it has with it's 737 fleet.

Today WN1919 (operared with a Southwest 737-700, registered N799SW) flying from Denver to Chicago Midway (MDW) skidded off the runway on landing.

None of the 134 passengers or 5 crew were hurt in the indicent, with damage as yet not reported to the plane. All were bussed of the plane safely.

The plane landed in heavy rain and high crosswind conditions at Midway, and came to a rest at the end of it.

Picture - NBC 5 Chicago. 
 


Southwest Airlines is contacting passengers with a refund of the faares, and two roundtrip passes as a goodwill gesture.

The incident is now being handlded by the US National Transportation Safety Board. 

And the most important thing - whilst the aircraft may be dinged, everyone got out in one piece.

7L: AeroCaribbean Crash - No Survivors

With the Qantas A380 incident yesterday being a "sucesseful outcome" with everyone on board making it down safely, a smaller incident happened yesterday, but will all occupants lost.

An AeroCaribbean ATR72-200 operating between Santiago de Cuba to Havana crashed near in mountains near the town of Guasimal in Santi Spiritus province..

No cause has been idenfied for the reason of the loss, although the pilot reported an emergency before contact was lost

All aboard - 68 souls - were lost.  An investigation has begun to identify what happened.

Convessa Crash

Sad news comes from Venezuela with the loss of 14 lives in an accident involving an ATR 42 crashing near Puerto Ordaz, a few kilometres southeast of Ciudad Guayana.

The Convisasa Flight 2350 was an ATR42 had been operating on the north cost Venezuela, some 300 miles from Caracas when it came down.

Twenty-three of the 47 occupants on board have been taken to hospitals, made up for 43 passengers and 4 crew.

The cause has not yet been disclosed.

Coverage continues on the BBC

* Update * Henan Airlines crash in China

More detail are emerging on the Henan Airlines incident

The Henan Airlines E-190 Flight 8387 (VD8387) aircraft burst into flames after overshooting the runway at Yichun City's airport at 2210 local time, with at least 91 passengers aboard.

The flight was operating from Harbin, Heilongjiang to Yichun, Heilongjiang.

The plane has broken up after crashing. The fire that ensued has now been extinguished.

At least 53 have been rescued so far - with 20 taken to hospital and 3 in a critical condition. Another 43 people have alas been reported dead at the scene.

The story is constantly moving, with coverage on BBC and the usual feeds.

A Darn good reason to keep your system secure - Malware ridden computer fingered in the Spaniair crash...

In the real world, I'm an Systems Administrator. And I hate it when people don't want to update computer, or not look after their computers downloading crap by the bucketload.

Well here's a good enough reason that comes via Graham Cluley's Blog at Sophos (an Enterprise System Protection company), with a report that central computer system than was monitoring aircraft (though not on the aircraft itself) was riddled with Trojan horses.

It should be emphasised there was no virus or malware installed on the aircraft itself.

The Spanair Madrid air crash claimed the lives of 154 people and only 18 survivors aboard the MD-82,


According to El Pais and the blog, an internal report by the airline has revealed that a computer located at the airline's headquarters in Palma, Mallorca, should have identified three similar technical problems with the airplane, but was suffering from a malware infection.

More worryingly, it seems that the plane should not have been allowed to take-off if the technical problems had been identified.

No comment has been made to which virus/malware package was on the computer, but it's an extreme example of what malware can do - both to people and to damage to computers.

So when you surf online - be protected, get a decent virus checker (there are lots of good free ones out there - AVG and Avast are two that spring to mind). Enterprise users can't go far wrong with Sophos. And Mac users don't be complacent either - you're moving into the firing line too.

Source: http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2010/08/20/trojan-horse-suspected-contributing-2008-madrid-aircrash/

** Update ** Aires Airline Flight 8250

More is now becoming clear about the air crash today.

Aries Flight 8250 operating from Bogotá to San Andreas crashed and broke up as it came in to land in the island of San Andres.

The Boeing 737-700 with 131 and crew aboard.  It is reported that the aircraft was hit by lighting before crashed. On contact with the ground, the aircraft split in three with the nose part of the fuselage separating some distance from the rest of the aircraft. 

Figures have been updated to indicate 114 injuries and a single fatality, however According to Colonel David Barrero of the Colombian Air Force, "the skill of the pilot kept the plane from colliding with the airport".

Whilst not a perfect ending (with everyone surviving), it is good to see people walk away from an accident such as this.  

An American contingent from the National Transport Safety Board has been dispatched to assist in the investigation. 

Coverage continues at:

CNN (Original breakers)

BBC News

Flight

*UPDATE* 737-700 Hit By lightening, Crashed, 1 Fatality

An update of the earlier story, a Aires airline 737-700 was hit by lightnening, with 1 passenger was killed and 34 were injured, causing it to split into at least two parts when landing early Monday on the island of San Andres, Colombia,

There were a reported131 people on-board the 737-700 which crashed  around 1:50 a.m. (2:50 a.m. ET),

More updates later

*BREAKING* 737 splits in 3 on landing - at least 1 dead.

Hot off the CNN wire is this exact statement;

Boeing 737 splits into three while landing on San Andres island, Colombia, killing at least one passenger, police say. 

Not so good. More later on.

Airblue A321 Crash in Pakistan:

Unlike yesterday's crash where the pilots survived, a crash today did not have same fortunate results.

An AirBlue Flight 202 (a private Pakistani Airline) Airbus A321 crashed today, at around 10:00hr on the outskirts of Islamabad, running a a Karachi to Islamabad service, with 146 passengers and6 6 crew aboard. The Aircraft left left Karachi at 0750 local.

The aircraft crashed into the Margalla Hills, where it is heavy forest, making access hard.

At least 45 bodies recovered, however there it is now confirmed with no survivors of the crash.

Weather conditions have been reported as poor, and fog is lying over the rescue area.

Another sad day in aviation, and the fragilely of life.

Updated: 12:41 to note no survivors.

Afriqiyah Airways Flight 711 - Not a Technical or Terror fault.

News today comes from Tripoli with the announcement of the preliminary enquiry of the crash of Flight 711 from Johannesburg to Tripoli.

According to the enquiry, there was not mechanical fault, there was enough fuel onboard, and there was no request for help.

Neji Dhaou, head of the Libyan commission investigating the crash, said the causes remained unknown and indicated it could be some time before his conclusions were ready.

The A330 had 104 people aboard, with just one survivor - a 9 year old Dutch boy. Multiple nationalities were aboard the plane, where as the plane itself was only 8 months old with 1,600 hours flight time and around 420 takeoff and landing cycles.

It'll be interesting to see the results of the investigation, as this is heading towards pilot error now...

Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/10195452.stm
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/05/30/342578/no-evidence-of-technical-problem-before-afriqiyah-a330.html

158 people died in an Air India Express flight crash at Mangalore - 6 survivors

Well the planes seem to be not landing particulally well this year. 

Today, an Air India Express Boeing 737-800, Flight 812 from Dubai to Mangalore overshot the runway on landing, and crashed thereafter.

After landing, the plane failed to halt on the runway, and continued over a cliff and landed in a valley below.  Conditions on the site indicated there was rain and reduced visibility in the area, and the pilot had not informed of problems during landing.

As the plane attempted to go around, it it a navigation becaon antenna, which ripped through the hull of the aircraft, and forced it further down.

All passengers aboard were Indian nationals, with up to 20 children aboard. 

Speaking to Indian TV from his hospital bed, survivor Umer Farooq said he heard a loud thud as the plane touched down.
"Then the plane veered off toward some trees on the side and then the cabin filled with smoke. I got caught in some cables but managed to scramble out," he said.
Mr Farooq was being treated for burns to his arms, legs, and face.

Mangalore airport lies on top of a hill with steep drops at the end of each of its two runways. One of the runways was extended in 2006 to accommodate larger planes like the Boeing 737. A former adviser to the Civil Aviation Ministry said he had given warnings in the past about the airport and said it should not be used by bigger aircraft such as the Boeing 737, due to the limited runoff area

Not a good day at all...

Another bad day: Air Afriqiyah A330 crashes at Tripoli

Oh dear. Not a good day at all. An Air Afriqiyah A330 has crashed at Tripoli airport, killing more than 100 people on board the plane.

The service which departed Johannesburg as Flight 8U771 attempted to land at 06:00 local time, and crashed on landing within the airport perimeters.

The manifests indicate that 93 passengers and 11 crew were on board the aircraft of various different nationalities

Reports and pictures indicate the aircraft completely disintegrated after landing. The Airbus A330-200 was a new addition to the Air Afriqyah fleet, and was 8 months old.

TIP is currently sealed off and closed whilst the recovery work begins.

Not a good day. My condolences to those who have lost loved ones in this incident.

One Day, Three Incidents.

It's been a busy olde day in the world of Aircraft doing odd things.

Lets start from the top:

Merpati Nusantara Airlines, Flight 836 met with a nasty end  after a flight between Sorong and Manokwari, Indonesia.

The flight, operated by Boeing 737-300, overran the runway on landing, coming to a rest 200 meters beyond it. The aircraft broke into several pieces on halting, with 109 people aboard (103+6) with 3 serious injuries, 20 major injuries but all board escaped alive.

Officials said heavy rain may have caused the crash but that the pilots had followed safety regulations.

As a side note, Merpati Nusantara Airlines are on the EU Blacklist for flying to and from the EU due to the safety record (not their equipment would make it)

---

Cathay Pacific have trouble with one of their A330's.

In their first major incident for 35 years, A Cathay Pacific A330 Flight CX780, from Surabaya, Indonesia to Hong Kong due to a suspected left engine problem shutting down on approach .

Photo - China News Daily

An emergency evacuation of passengers was initiated after the aircraft landed as can be seen on the pictures, with slides deployed.

There were 323 people aboard (309+14) and 8 passengers were injured during the evacuation - two of which have been discharged.

All four tires on the left of the aircraft and two on the right deflated, and they were designed to deflate in emergency situations to prevent them from bursting, Cathay Pacific Airways' Chief Executive Tony Tyler said.

Asked about engine problems, the cause has yet to be determined and a report on the matter will be released in about four weeks.

---

Chemical Fumes cause AA flight to divert.

And finally it seems, an American Airlines AA49 was also having problems with a Boeing 767-300 with a Paris to Dallas service. when reports of chemical fumes in the cabin causing crew dizziness.

The Boeing 767 landed safely just after 1345 GMT. No-one was injured out of the 145 (133+12).

American Airlines have stated "No further details are available at this time, but engineers are currently investigating the potential source of any fumes".

A rescue aircraft will be on the way to pick up the stranded passengers.

---

Prehaps the most important thing to say is that whilst there was some injuries in these incidients, every person has got out alive.

That has got to count for something.

QF32 (A380) has a little hard landing... and blows some tyres

I'll let the video do the talking.



Suffice to say, everyone is safe, and infact - the plane has re-entered service after check in what is described as a minor incident.

Analysis: BA38 - Air Accident Investigation Board releases results

The UK Air Accident Investigation Board has released the results of their investigation of the British Airways BA38.

For those who have forgotten, BA38 was the Bejing Capital to London Heathrow flight that crashed at the threshold of the runway 27 at Heathrow in January 208 with all 152 people evacuated safely from the aircraft.

The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER (G-YMMM), had its engines stalled at 34 seconds landing. Flaps were adjusted from 30 to 25 degrees, trying to prevent stall, buying 51 meters extra and helping the aircraft land within the Heathrow field.

The findings was ice had developed, due to the unusually low cruise fuel burn and a very cold outside so the fuel was equally cold, with ice building up, so when the plane decended, the soft ice had not melted, and blocked the fuel-oil heat exchanger plate, smothering it and blocking the fuel flow to the engines.

It's said any landing you can walk away from is a good one, and the actions of the captain and copilot helped saved every life aboard that plane that day.  


Additional resources:
BBC News
Flight - Flaps
Flight - Fuel Restriction

Ethiopian Incident ** Update **

More details are slowly emerging regarding the ET409 air accident that happened this yesterday

• Eyewitnesses say they saw a ball of fire in the sky before Addis the plane fell into the sea after taking off in stormy weather. 
• At least 24 bodies have been found, 
• No Survivors have been found found
  
• The plane disappeared from radar screens some five minutes after take-off in stormy weather at about 02:00 near the village of Naameh, about 2 miles from the coast.  
• It appears that the plane did not follow the suggested flightpath of the tower, but turned in the opposite direction into the storm.  It is unclear why this happened, or if it was beyond the pilot's control. 
• The flight recorders have not yet been recovered 
  

** BREAKING NEWS ** Ethipoian Airlines airlines crash near Beirut

An Ethiopian Airlines flight 409 from Beirut to Addis Ababa has crashed 5 minutes after take off.

Search and Rescue operations are in progress - it is unknown if any of the 83 passengers or 9 crew survived.

The plane - a Boeing 737, is said to have disappeared from radar screens some five minutes after take-off in stormy weather at about 0200 local time.

News is still developing in this story - updates will follow during the day.

Air Accident in Mashhad (Iran)

Emergency teams in Mashhad, Iran have been attending the scene of a landing accident involving a Tupolev Tu-154M.

The TU-154M owned by Taban Air flight 6437 from Abadan to Mashhad , suffered damage on landing, losing its undercarriage and a wing.

Iranian State media said almost 170 people were on board and that at least 46 were injured. There were no reports of fatalities in the incident. The rear end broke up, and passengers were evacuated from the plane.

It seems the plane landed in fog at Mashhad airport, where the tail of the plane hit the ground, caused plane skidded off the runway and burst into flame.

Another Aircraft Skids - Iran Air A300 comes off at Stockholm

It seems that the skidding season is in full flow this year with an Iran Air Airbus A300 coming off the runway.

Flight IR762 on Saturday 16/1 with service from Stockholm to Tehran, 149 passengers aboard, left the runway at low speed shortly after beginning its take-off roll, forcing the runway to be closed.

No passengers or crew were injured, and the airframe itself appears to be undamaged. A normal disembarkation occurred without need for emergency slides was made.

It seems there was also light snow during the take off, but something must had gone wrong for it to slide that much. At least everyone is safe - and rebooked for the next flight.

Air Berlin 737-800 copies Ryanair... skids off Taxiway

We'll be doing a mini catchup over the next couple of days.  Lots been happening - me mostly sleeping through it. I'm also in the middle of planning my next trip at the mo - a post on that later.

An Air Berlin Boeing 737-800 Flight AB2450 departing Dortmund (Germany) to the to Las Palmas, Canary Islands (Spain) overran the runway during takeoff, and ended up at the end of it in the snow, nose down.

The pilot aborted takeoff due to a technical irregularity, and failed to stop the plane before runway threshold.

Thankfully, none of the 165 passengers or 6 crew were hurt, and the they were evacuated using air-stairs. 

With weather conditions in Europe expected to get worse, focus on De-icing and runway maintenance - as well as delays and re-routings will become the norm...