Two Fokker F100 landing gear incidents in Iran in three days!

Iranian aviation investigators are looking into two aircraft incidents in the space of three days, both of which involved Fokker 100s.

On Tuesday 19th March 2019 an Iran Air Fokker 100 was operating flight 215, from Qeshm to Tehran when it suffered a hydraulic systems failure. The result of this failure meant the main landing gear would not lower, according to the reports, the crew tried to manually lower the wheels, which didn't work and the crew then had to perform an emergency landing at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, with its main gear up. According to local state media reports,  there were no injuries and all passengers evacuated the aircraft safely. 

Flight recorders have been retrieved and are being analysed with the enquiry being assisted by investigators from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the Dutch Safety Board.

Ethiopian Airlines crashed 737 Max 8 cockpit voice and data recorders found

The Ethiopian State media has confirmed they have retrieved the ‘black boxes’ cockpit voice and flight data recorders from the crashed Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.  Local reports confirmed the devices had been retrieved on Monday morning and will be sent for analysis. However, an airline official has stated that one of the recorders has suffered serious damage in the crash and at present, it is unknown how much data can be retrieved from it. 

The Boeing 737 Max 8 was just four months old when it crashed on Sunday morning claiming the lives of all 157 people on board. The manufacturer Boeing has already said, before any causes of the crash are known, that it will not be issuing any further safety advisories. It has sent a technical team to the crash site to provide technical assistance under the direction of the Ethiopia Accident Investigation Bureau and U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

Photo Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines has halted all further flights on 737 Max 8 aircraft as a precaution, the Chinese authorities have also ordered all 737 Max 8 in the country be grounded will investigations are ongoing.  

Cayman Airlines has two 737 Max aircraft and has grounded them as a precaution in the wake of the latest disaster to befall the type. 

Ryanair's Laundamotion jet aborts take off at Stansted...................................eight injured

Panic at London Stansted.......Shortly after 8pm on Friday, March 1st an Airbus A320 of Ryanair's Austrian based Laudamotion was trundling down the runway at London Stansted when a loud big bang boomed around the cabin, the takeoff was abandoned and a full-scale evacuation called for.

During the scramble down emergency slides and the ensuing panic at least eight passengers were injured and many others left in a state of shock.  While others took to social media to document the terrifying event others merely counted their blessings for only having minor scrapes and abrasions.

The runway at London Stansted was closed for around three hours causing many flights to be delayed and diverted. The airport said around three hours after the aborted take off that the aircraft had been moved off the runway, an inspection the surface had taken place before the management allowed the runway to be fully reopened.

AAIB issue special report on the plane crash that killed footballer Emiliano Sala

The UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch has issued a special interim report in the crash of a Piper PA-46-310P Malibu, with the registration N264DB, that claimed the life of Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala. 

The aircraft was lost some 22 nautical miles north-northwest of Guernsey, the Channel Islands on 21st January 2019 performing a flight from Nantes to Cardiff for Sala who had just signed for the Premiership football club Cardiff City. 

Atlas Air 767 crash.........................................crew named.

Photo  By Nathan Coats from Seattle

A full investigation is underway into why a Boeing 767 aircraft of cargo carrier Atlas Air, operating an Amazon Prime delivery flight crashed in Texas on Saturday, February 23rd.

The Atlas Air Worldwide aeroplane was operating Flight No. 3591 from Miami to Houston, at around 1236 local time, radio and radar contact was lost with the aircraft. According to investigators, no distress call was received from the crew and the aircraft came down near the city of Anahuac Texas, into the north end of Trinity Bay. 

According to eyewitnesses, the aircraft appeared to nosedive from a height into the bay and officials have stated debris is scattered over a three-mile stretch.  Initial reports say the 767 was descending normally for its approach to Houston, then at 6300 feet, it went into an incredibly rapid descent. There were three people onboard the aircraft at the time of the crash and two bodies have been retrieved from the water at the crash site. Divers are currently searching the site for the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

It is understood that a video of the final moments, filmed by an eyewitness, of the flight has been handed to investigators from US NTSB, which show the aircraft in a nose down attitude, showing no signs of recovery being made. 

Lion Air 737 overshoots runway in heavy rain.

A Boeing 737 of Lion Air with 189 people onboard has skidded off the runway in Indonesia during a heavy rain storm today.  The aircraft was performing a flight from between Jakarta and Pontianak in Indonesia when it skidded off the runway.

Local media report that all passengers and crew had evacuated the aircraft and there were no injuries reported. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800NG had 182 passengers and 7 crew members on board at the time of the accident.

Images from local media show the aircraft with its wheels embedded in the soft turf of the grass at the end of the runway, with some damage visible to the engines and undercarriage.

Polana Pramesti, Director General of Air Relations at the country's Ministry of Transportation, confirmed some details of the incident, ''It is true, the plane slipped due to heavy rain. There were no fatalities and the entire crew survived.''

Flights from the Supadio International Airport were cancelled while airport workers try to move the aircraft from its current position. A full investigation is underway.

Flybe flight BE1265 diverts due to technical problem

Flightradar24 followed the flight.                             image Flightradar24

A flybe Bombardier Q400 registration G-JECX flying from Manchester to Luxembourg performing flight BE1265 this afternoon developed a technical fault that caused the crew to divert and make an emergency landing at Birmingham.

The aircraft concerned was also at the centre of an Air Accident Investigation Branch investigation in April last year following a tail strike at Newquay airport. The 12-year-old aircraft has an all economy seating configuration capable of accommodating up to 78 passengers. 

The flight crew shut one engine down during the flight and the aircraft was met on arrival by Birmingham Airport's fire service who followed the aircraft to stand.  There were some unconfirmed reports of smoke coming from the shutdown powerplant.

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Landing with the brakes on........FlyBmi EMB145 in the mud

On December 22nd last year an Embraer EMB-145EP, registration G-CKAG of FlyBMI operating a flight from Frankfurt to Bristol with three crew and twenty-two passengers onboard ran off the runway during landing and stuck in the mud.

The flight crew had arrived at Bristol early that morning and performed a flight to the German city which had been uneventful and were returning back to Bristol.  The two flight deck crew were made up of a pilot undergoing training who was both new to the airline and the aircraft type. He was qualified on SAAB 2000s with another operator and had completed 17 hours of flight time on the Embraer 145, this was his eighth sector.  The commander of the aircraft, the captain was 50-year-old company training captain with some 8,600 flying hours experience. 

The crew had expected to be in a holding pattern over Bristol for a short period of time, however, upon arrival, they were given clearance to land ahead of what had been expected. The landing checklist was interrupted a number of times by getting the latest weather and talking to air traffic controllers.

15 dead after cargo plane crash in Iran

At least 15 people have been killed by in the crash of a Boeing 707 cargo aircraft near the Iranian capital, Tehran. 

According to local reports, the vintage Boeing 707 veered off the runway, went through a wall and collided with a house near the airport.  The aircraft had been trying to land at Fath airport in Karaj, some 25 miles west of the Iranian capital of Tehran.  The weather is reported to have been considered 'poor' at the time of the incident.

It is understood the aircraft was carrying meat and other supplies from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps controlled Fath airport base.  

Local TV is reporting that the aircraft's black boxes have been found at the scene and that that out of 16 people onboard the aircraft, only one had survived - said to be the flight engineer. Also reported by the local media is that aircraft was confirmed to be owned by Iran and all onboard were of Iranian nationality. 

Images from the scene seem to show the aircraft was adorned with the civilian airline livery of the Iranian Air Force. It is unclear at this stage if the 707 was supposed to be landing at Fath or had mistaken the airport from the nearby commercial Payam International Airport, which has a much longer runway. 

Some Iranian and local regional commentators believe the US imposed sanctions have had a negative impact on the Iranian aviation industry, forcing airline and operators in the country to fly aircraft long after their airworthiness could no longer be assured. 

 (Photos EPA).

Lion Air crash black box found

Officials from the Indonesian search and rescue have found and retrieved the cockpit voice recorder from the Lion Air Boeing 737 that crashed killing 189 people in October 2018.

The rescue teams also found human remains at the same location in the Java Sea local officials have confirmed. However, the bright orange cockpit voice recorder had broken in two when it was located in around 165ft or 50m away from where the fight data recorder black box had been found in November. 

It is hoped that the recorder will help to provide crucial insights into the last moments of flight JT610, to help pinpoint what went wrong and how much the faulty equipment on the latest Boeing 737 model contributed to the crash.    

The Indonesian navy confirmed the recorder had been damaged and had been found in water that was approximately 321ft / 98m  deep and was buried in mud said to be 8th down.  A spokesperson from the navy confirmed that a weak signal from the recorder had been detected several days ago and was slowly retrieved.

 

Wreckage did 'most likely' come from MH370

Photo  AFP

According to officials, small items of wreckage located on a beach in Madagascar last year are most likely to have come from the doomed Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

The debris had been handed over to Anthony Loke, the Malaysian Transport Minister at the end of November last year by a beaching combing amateur hunter, Blaine Gibson along with relatives of a few of the passengers on the aircraft when it disappeared.

According to an official Malaysian report from the MH370 Safety Investigation Team, the 5 items had come from an aircraft and a section of the floor had come from a Boeing 777, which was 'most likely MH370.'

The small section of floor has part of a white label on it which bears half of a serial number WPPS61, which researchers have found would match that found on a Boeing 777 aircraft. Where the bulk of the wreckage of the aircraft is, still remains a mystery, with many people believing it was just outside the official search area. 

556 people died in commercial aircraft crashes during 2018

Analysis and research done by The Aviation Safety Network found that there was a total of 15 fatal airliner accidents, resulting in 556 fatalities during 2018. Yet, despite several high-profile accidents, 2018 proved to be one of the safest years on record.  

The ASN looked at all worldwide fatal commercial aircraft accidents, including passenger and cargo flights involving civil aircraft of which were certified to transport 14 or more passengers. Consequently, the April 11th accident involving an Algerian Air Force IL-76 transport plane which claimed the lives of 257 people has not been included in the totals. However, if including military transport aircraft the total number fatalities would be 917 people in 25 fatal accidents.

2018 proved to be the third safest year ever by the number of fatal accidents and the ninth safest in terms of fatalities. The safest year in aviation history was 2017 with 10 accidents and 44 lives lost.

Looking at that five-year average of 14 accidents and 480 fatalities, last year was worse on both accounts.

Boeing sued over Lion Air crash for unreasonably dangerous aircraft

Photo Fauzy Chaniago/ AP

The US aircraft giant Boeing is being sued by another family of one of those killed in the 737 Max of Lion Air that crashed into the Java Sea back in October this year.

The aircraft had taken off from Jakarta on October 29th but crashed shortly after and the crash sent shock waves around the world to all operators of the brand new Boeing 737 Max aircraft.  

According to court papers, filed in Chicago, the family of Onggo Wardoyo state the brand new Boeing 737 Max was unreasonably dangerous as certain sensors provided inaccurate data to its flight control systems which caused the anti-stall protection system to engage improperly. Boeing also, according to the papers, failed to give adequate instructions to pilots on how best to respond to and turn off the anti-stall systems on the aircraft.

Thomas Demetrio,  a lawyer representing the Wardoyo family told media, that “It was like Boeing first blindfolded and then tied the hands of the pilots,”   

It is understood that at least three other families of some of the 189 people on board the doomed aircraft that all perished have started legal proceedings against Boeing.  Many citing the warnings Boeing issued after the Lion Air crash had come too late and the manufacturer knew of the issues of the sensors long before the crash.   

Norwegian 787 took off from the wrong part of Gatwick's standby runway......

A Boeing 787, registration G-CKWC, belonging to low-cost long-haul airline Norwegian, began its takeoff roll from the displaced landing threshold of runway 26R at London's Gatwick Airport on March 28th at 2201, however, that wasn't the start of the runway, which was some 417 metres behind them!

Photo Gatwick Airport

Gatwick's runway 26R is the emergency or standby runway, it is sometimes used when work is being carried out on the main landing strip, usually at night. It is also the one that Gatwick's owners want to use as a second runway for take off's in tandem with the main runway according to plans undergoing a consultation process at the moment, despite the narrow distance between the two. 

The start of the standby or emergency runway is marked by a white line, but the part of the runway before the landing threshold does not include white edge lights or centreline lights as runways do have. This configuration complies with relevant current specifications. To get to the start of the runway aircraft follow a route on a taxiway that is on the same heading as the runway and no turn is required. This is most unusual, as the majority of airports have runway entry points that require a turn onto the runway centreline. 

Beginning and threshold of runway 26R      Photo AAIB

Mechanical malfunction caused the Leicester City Football Club owners helicopter to crash

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority Air Accident Investigation Branch has issued a special bulletin report into the AW169 helicopter that crashed at 1937 on October 27th at Leicester City Football Club, which took the lives of the five people on board, including the clubs chairman and owner   Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Van Air Europe Let L-410 lands on closed part of Dubrovnik Airport's runway

An investigation is underway into how a Let L-410 of Van Air Europe operating a flight for Trade Air came to land on part of a runway that was undergoing repairs at Dubrovnik Airport on Thursday, November 29th.

The aircraft, registration OK-LAZ landed on a closed section of the 12/30 runway, which was being refurbished at the time. Details of the closure of part of the runway and the resulting length reduction had been issued to authorities and had been published in NOTAMS. The work on the runway started early in November and is due to continue until the middle of May next year.

The aircraft had been operating flight C3821 from Split, with 7 passengers and three crew onboard at the time of the incident and according to Trade Air, nobody was injured.  Its understood that after the aircraft landed safely, machinery had to be moved to a clear a pathway for the aircraft to taxi off the runway.

It is understood that the aircraft was not damaged during its landing at 12.45 local time on the close part of the runway, an investigation including representatives from Trade Air, Van Air Europe and Croatian civil aviation authorities has begun.

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Peruvian Airlines 737 undercarriage collapses on the runway

Photo EPA

An investigation is underway into why a Boeing 737 carrying 127 people skidded and fell on its side on a runway at El Alto airport, west of the capital La Paz, in Bolivia on Thursday, November 22nd. 

The Peruvian Airlines 737 was performing a flight from Cuzco and came into land in El Alto at 1000 local time when the aircraft skidded and the landing gear appears to have collapsed.

According to officials, none of the 122 passengers or 5 crew was injured during the incident which caused the airport to close for a number of hours. The airline and Peruvian officials have confirmed an investigation is underway. 

Photo EPA

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The AgustaWestland AW169 helicopter 'did not respond to pilot's command' in Leicester City crash

taking off, seconds before crashing.  Captured by BT Sport

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority Air Accidents Investigation Branch has released an initial interim report into the helicopter crash at Leicester City Football Club that caused the death of five people, including the clubs chairman and owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

The report detailed the route the helicopter had taken in the hours before the tragic crash on 27th October. The report indicates the helicopters first flight of the day was from its Fairoaks Airport base in Surrey with the pilot and one passenger on board to go to the London Heliport in Battersea on the banks of the Thames. There it picked up three more passengers before it flew up to Leicester and landed at Leicester City Football Club's training ground at Belvoir Drive. It is then understood that those onboard went to the King Power stadium to watch the match. The pilot and one passenger returned to the training ground, to fly the helicopter back to the stadium and landed in the centre of the pitch. It picked up three people and took off on a flight that was due to go to London's Stanstead airport. However, less than 40 seconds after lifting off, the helicopter started to turn right "contrary to the pilot's left pedal command" the AAIB report states. The cause of the apparent loss of control is still being investigated.

Lion Air search teams find flight data recorder

Local media have reported that the Indonesian Navy have found and retrieved a black box from the wreckage of the Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 that crashed into the Java Sea on Monday.

Divers advise they retrieved the black box on Thursday morning, during the fourth day of the search following the plane crash that cost the lives of all 189 people onboard. From the initial reports, the divers have found the flight data recorder and are still searching for the cockpit voice recorder. 

Detik.com reported that Indonesian Navy diver Sertu Hendra said his team followed the electronic “pings” from the device to find its exact location, “We followed the tool, reducing the area in the place the machines were picking up sounds, and it turns out we got black box,” 

Leicester City owner's helicopter crashes outside club's stadium

The helicopter belonging to the owner of Leicester City Football Club in the UK has crashed into the car park just outside the King Power Stadium just moments after taking off from the pitch.

There was a massive fireball after the helicopter came down just seconds after taking off from the clubs pitch inside the stadium, like it does after every home game.  Early indications and eyewitness reports are that there was a technical problem with the helicopters tail rotor that caused the aircraft to spin out of control. 

The helicopter, an AgustaWestland AW109, registration G-VSKP, had taken off of from the centre of the pitch at 2030 on Saturday 27th October. It came down in car park E, which is the staff parking area of the car park, approximately 190 yards from the stadium.  Emergency services were soon at the scene and at this stage, it is not known who was on the helicopter or if there were any casualties on the ground.

Images below of the helicopter on the pitch and taking off just seconds before the crash from BT TV who had been filming the earlier match between Leicester City and West Ham. It is not known yet if the chairman and owner of the club was on the helicopter at the time of the crash.