Instead of reporting stories chronologically, today we’re going
to group them together a little differently. Let us know what you think in the comments!
First off let’s take a look at engine fires and engine fire warnings.
On July 10th, a JetBlue A321 landed at Newark’s runway Two-Two-Right with small fire spotted
coming from the aircraft’s right engine cover. The NTSB has since confirmed that this fire
was visible on the engine and has been deemed as an official incident under investigation.
On July 28th, a Cargolux 747-400 departing Zhengzhoh in China was forced to return
after a fire warning. The freighter was headed to Chicago and was only an hour
into the flight before turning back. Powered by Rolls Royce engines, the 747 is registered as
LX-GCL. Flight data indicates that the aircraft hasn’t flown since the day of the incident and had
a number of diversions in the days leading up to July 28th.
Our final incident related to engine fire warnings took place on August 12th,
when a G.E.-powered Ethiopian Airlines 787-9 flying from Brussels to Manchester
experienced a warning on descent towards its destination. The aircraft notified air traffic
control, which positioned emergency services close to the runway. The jet landed safely and
there are no indications that emergency services needed to be used, other than for inspection.
Then, on August 2nd, emergency services were scrambled to meet an American Airlines 777 in
Tel Aviv following the pilots’ request for an expedited landing due to a flat
tire. Footage from the event shows emergency services chasing after the plane upon landing.
All 170 people on board the aircraft were reported to be uninjured.
The 21-year-old 777-200 registered as N788AN was operating flight AA52 from Miami.
August 2nd also saw an ETF Airways 737-800 strike a rabbit upon landing in Bremen, Germany.
The rabbit was sucked into the engine, causing €1,000,000 in damages,
including €500,000 in aircraft repair costs, €400,000 to lease replacement jets,
and €100,000 in other expenses such as crew transport, accommodation, and overtime.
August 7th saw a Turkish Airlines A330-300 flying from Newark to Istanbul reject takeoff
after the plane’s crew members were advised that they were actually on Newark’s taxiway P.
The A330 was given clearance for takeoff from runway Two-Two-Right
at the intersection with taxiway W. However, the widebody crossed Two-Two-Right and lined
up with taxiway P to begin its takeoff. Subsequently, ATC canceled the clearance
and informed the pilots that the plane was actually on a taxiway and not a runway.
The flight crew rejected takeoff at approximately 90 knots over ground, (166 km/h). Having to stop
from this speed, the aircraft’s brakes had to cool down for 45 minutes before departing.
In the past month there were two incidents involving unruly passengers
and duct-tape. The first took place on July 31st on a Frontier AIrlines flight.
This is what the airline had to say on the incident:
“During a flight from Philadelphia to Miami on July 31,
a passenger made inappropriate physical contact with two flight attendants
and subsequently physically assaulted another flight attendant. As a result, the passenger
needed to be restrained until the flight landed in Miami and law enforcement arrived.”
Frontier suspended the crew involved, which drew heavy criticism.
Frontier told Simple Flying that the inflight crew members’ current paid leave status
was in line with an event of this nature pending an investigation.
Then, on August 10th, a teenager flying American Airlines had to be duct-taped to his seat
after getting into an altercation with his mother. The boy had also allegedly been trying to kick
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Thanks for watching! Now, back to the rest of the video...
On August 3rd an Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 flying from London to Vienna
experienced some issues with its nose gear while departing Heathrow.
With the nose gear doors failing to close and reports of lost nose wheel steering,
the crew made the decision to return to Heathrow after burning off fuel.
With the aircraft’s problems in mind, the crew warned ATC that they expected to be able to
vacate the runway very slowly. However, they could not completely rule out becoming stuck
while vacating the runway and requested that no other aircraft line up behind them for approach.
Hours later, the aircraft departed again, flying lower and slower than normal. Some
have speculated that this was because its nose gear remained extended throughout the flight.
Simple Flying reached out to Austrian Airlines, which simply told us that
the aircraft returned to Vienna with crew only and had rebooked passengers.
On August 6th, one of India’s new presidential Boeing 777s was stuck for several hours at
Bangalore’s Hindustan Aeronautics Airport when it took a wrong turn. The aircraft had
to be towed back to the parking bay prior to restarting the takeoff procedure the next day.
The trainee pilot had turned left instead of right, leaving the aircraft stuck
before the runway and unable to turn back and try again. This particular airport is only
used for smaller military aircraft, leaving the plane stuck for hours. This is likely
because towing equipment for larger planes had to be brought in from another facility.
Also on August 6th, a two-year-old Embraer E195-E2 operated by Azul suffered a heavy
landing while arriving at Caxias do Sul International Airport in Brazil. This led
to a tail strike and grounding of the aircraft, registered PR-PJN. Azul had another incident that
day when one of its E195 E1s collided with a Gol Boeing 737-800 at Ilhéus International Airport.
On August 12th, an Aeroflot A350-900 flying to Moscow from Antalya (Turkey)
had its passenger oxygen masks deployed inflight. With no issues reported with cabin pressure,
it appears that the plane's system detection had failed. Close to its destination,
the jet then descended to about 20,000 feet before safely landing in Moscow.
Two days later on August 14th, a motorcyclist was hit by a landing Congo Airways Dash 8-400 while
crossing the runway of Lubumbashi Airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The aircraft’s tires
were damaged and the bike was destroyed. However, all 18 passengers and five crew onboard were
reported to be fine, although the motorcyclist was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Our final three stories all concern United Airlines.
On August 3rd, a 767 flying from Frankfurt Airport to Washington Dulles
faced an hour-long delay on the ground. The flight had already left the gate when the
Federal Police informed the captain that an object that looked like a hand grenade
had been found in a piece of baggage that missed the flight.
According to the police, a grenade had been deactivated and placed on a quote-unquote
‘steampunk sculpture.’ While the security incident was unfolding, a 56-year-old American
responsible for the suitcase sat on the plane, blissfully unaware that he had prompted the delay.
On August 7th, a United 777 flight from Newark to Athens was delayed for over an hour
because a pigeon managed to get onboard. After being spotted on the plane, the pigeon
evaded capture by disappearing into a row of economy seats. Strangely, he was never found…
And finally, on August 11th, a United 787-10 landed at Newark’s runway two-two-right
and vacated the runway via a high-speed turn-off.
Proceeding from the turnoff to a taxiway, the aircraft struck some taxiway lights.
Examining the runway diagram, we can see that making a right turn from turn-off B4 to taxiway B
is an extremely sharp maneuver, with a 150º
turn. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the incident took place,
noting that there was no impact to operations with the damaged light immediately repaired.
Pilots have noted that is a fairly normal turn coming from this high-speed turnoff. However,
it requires the plane to drive deep into the turn to ensure the main gears stay on the taxiway.
As you can see it’s been a REALLY eventful month. We certainly weren’t able to cover everything in
this video, or go into as much detail as we would have liked. We also didn’t include the
tragic events unfolding in the Middle East as part of this video. Nonetheless, we’d love to
hear from you in the comments, if you thought there were too many stories this time around.
As with all of our videos, there’s a more detailed corresponding article on SimpleFlying.com.
Check out the links in the description to learn more- and, as always,
share your thoughts on this video and any of the topics we covered by leaving a comment!