Southwest Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Charlestonafter after hole in fuselage
(CNN) -- A Southwest Airlines jet made an emergency landing in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday after a football-sized hole in its fuselage caused the cabin to depressurize, an airline spokeswoman said.
Southwest Flight 2294 made an emergency landing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday.
Southwest Flight 2294 made an emergency landing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday.
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There were no injuries aboard the Boeing 737, which was traveling at about 30,000 feet when the problem occurred, Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis told CNN.
The sudden drop in cabin pressure caused the jet's oxygen masks to deploy.
Southwest Flight 2294 was en route from Nashville, Tennessee, to Baltimore, Maryland, with 126 passengers and a crew of five aboard, McInnis said.
It landed at 5:10 p.m. after the crew reported a football-sized hole in the middle of the cabin near the top of the aircraft, McInnis said.
What caused the damage to the jet had not been determined, she said. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident, FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker said.
In a statement issued Monday night, Southwest said "There is no responsible way to speculate as to a cause at this point."
"We have safety procedures in place, and they were followed in this instance to get all passengers and crew safely on the ground," the airline said. "Reports we have are that our passengers were calm and that our pilots and flight attendants did a great job getting the aircraft on the ground safely."
Southwest dispatched a replacement aircraft to take passengers on to Baltimore. See map of flight path »
Charleston airport spokesman Brian Belcher said a local pizzeria provided food for the passengers as they waited.
The damaged jet will remain on the ground there until federal inspectors can examine it, he said.
In addition, all 181 of Southwest's 737-300s -- about a third of the airline's fleet -- will be inspected overnight after the emergency landing, McInnis said. Southwest does not expect the inspections to create delays, she said.
Southwest Flight 2294 made an emergency landing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday.
Southwest Flight 2294 made an emergency landing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image
There were no injuries aboard the Boeing 737, which was traveling at about 30,000 feet when the problem occurred, Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis told CNN.
The sudden drop in cabin pressure caused the jet's oxygen masks to deploy.
Southwest Flight 2294 was en route from Nashville, Tennessee, to Baltimore, Maryland, with 126 passengers and a crew of five aboard, McInnis said.
It landed at 5:10 p.m. after the crew reported a football-sized hole in the middle of the cabin near the top of the aircraft, McInnis said.
What caused the damage to the jet had not been determined, she said. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident, FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker said.
In a statement issued Monday night, Southwest said "There is no responsible way to speculate as to a cause at this point."
"We have safety procedures in place, and they were followed in this instance to get all passengers and crew safely on the ground," the airline said. "Reports we have are that our passengers were calm and that our pilots and flight attendants did a great job getting the aircraft on the ground safely."
Southwest dispatched a replacement aircraft to take passengers on to Baltimore. See map of flight path »
Charleston airport spokesman Brian Belcher said a local pizzeria provided food for the passengers as they waited.
The damaged jet will remain on the ground there until federal inspectors can examine it, he said.
In addition, all 181 of Southwest's 737-300s -- about a third of the airline's fleet -- will be inspected overnight after the emergency landing, McInnis said. Southwest does not expect the inspections to create delays, she said.
QANTAS A380:Emergency at Heathrow Airport
A QANTAS Airbus A380 becomes involved in an emergency situation when a problem with the front landing gear is discovered.
The plane aborts its first landing attempt, performs a go-around and then lands safely on runway 27L at Heathrow Airport. Once on the ground the huge plane is unable to vacate the runway due to loss of steering - however she is eventually towed to Terminal 4 where the problem is rectified. Emergency at Heathrow Airport
She later takes off for her 23 hour return trip to Sydney, Australia.
Aircraft Registration: VH-OQA
Aircraft Type: A380-842
Manufacturer's Serial Number (MSN): 14
Courtesy: mcpcshowcaseHD
AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 1256 BOEING 737-800 PLANE COMING INTO LAGUARDIA HITS BIRDS, LANDS SAFELY
By JOHN DOYLE, TOM NAMAKO and BILL SANDERSON: A "reasonably large bird" struck and damaged the landing gear at the nose of an incoming American Airlines plane landing at LaGuardia this morning, FAA and airline officials said.
Flight 1256 from Miami landed safely on Runway 22 and taxied to Gate 10, said FAA spokesman Jim Peters. There were no reported injuries.
The 135 passengers on board had no idea the strike even happened, American Airlines spokesman Ned Raynolds said.
"The passengers came off the plane and after coming inside the terminal, only then did they learn about the fact that there was a bird strike," he said.
"The only damage was to the hydraulic system of the landing gear," Raynolds added, saying the plane will be in service soon after it is repaired.
There were also five crew members on board, but Raynolds would not say how much experience they have. Investigators are inspecting the plane now.
The run-in renewed fears about planes dangerously colliding with birds that live near the airport. This is the first recorded bird strike since a flock of Canada geese rammed into Flight 1549 in January, forcing Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger to ditch the plane in the Hudson River in a miracle landing.
The captain reported problems with the nose gear after the landing. FAA officials said the plane had to be towed to the ramp, while Port Authority and American Airlines officials said it got there under its own power.
The plane was 900 feet in the air when it ran into the birds, the FAA said.
It's uncertain what type of birds hit the plane, though sources said it was likely some type of gull. Those birds are statistically most likely to hit planes at this time of year at LaGuardia, federal data shows.
Canada geese are molting at this time of year and are generally grounded. Since 2000, there's been only one Canada goose strike at LaGuardia in June and July.
The Boeing 737-800 departed Miami at 8:14 a.m. and landed at 10:54 a.m.
Federal and Port Authority officials have recently rounded up hundreds of Canada geese near LaGuardia and gassing them to death to prevent another near-Catastrophe like the one in January.
Flight 1256 from Miami landed safely on Runway 22 and taxied to Gate 10, said FAA spokesman Jim Peters. There were no reported injuries.
The 135 passengers on board had no idea the strike even happened, American Airlines spokesman Ned Raynolds said.
"The passengers came off the plane and after coming inside the terminal, only then did they learn about the fact that there was a bird strike," he said.
"The only damage was to the hydraulic system of the landing gear," Raynolds added, saying the plane will be in service soon after it is repaired.
There were also five crew members on board, but Raynolds would not say how much experience they have. Investigators are inspecting the plane now.
The run-in renewed fears about planes dangerously colliding with birds that live near the airport. This is the first recorded bird strike since a flock of Canada geese rammed into Flight 1549 in January, forcing Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger to ditch the plane in the Hudson River in a miracle landing.
The captain reported problems with the nose gear after the landing. FAA officials said the plane had to be towed to the ramp, while Port Authority and American Airlines officials said it got there under its own power.
The plane was 900 feet in the air when it ran into the birds, the FAA said.
It's uncertain what type of birds hit the plane, though sources said it was likely some type of gull. Those birds are statistically most likely to hit planes at this time of year at LaGuardia, federal data shows.
Canada geese are molting at this time of year and are generally grounded. Since 2000, there's been only one Canada goose strike at LaGuardia in June and July.
The Boeing 737-800 departed Miami at 8:14 a.m. and landed at 10:54 a.m.
Federal and Port Authority officials have recently rounded up hundreds of Canada geese near LaGuardia and gassing them to death to prevent another near-Catastrophe like the one in January.
Yemenia Airlines Flight IY626 Airbus A310-300 Plane Crash In Indian Ocean
A Yemenia Airlines Airbus A310-300 jet carrying 153 people crashed in the Indian Ocean 12 miles from the airport on Tuesday June, 29, 2009 as it came in for a landing on the island nation of Comoros.
A 14-year-old girl was found alive in the sea, Comoros Communications Minister Abdourahim Said Bakar said. Earlier reports had said the rescued child was five.
The Paris airports authority said 66 French nationals were aboard the plane, which was flying the final leg of a trip from Paris and Marseille to Comoros via Yemen.
A Yemeni aviation official said there were also nationals from Canada, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, the Philippines and Yemen on the plane.
It is the second Airbus to plunge into the sea this month. An Air France Airbus A330-200 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 228 people on board on June 1. A preliminary report on that crash is due on Thursday.
The Paris-Marseille-Yemen leg of the Yemenia flight was flown by an Airbus A330. In Sanaa, those passengers who were flying on to the Comoros changed onto a second Yemenia plane, the A310 that crashed.
FAULTS DETECTED
French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said faults had been detected during inspections in France in 2007 on the Yemenia A310, and that it had not flown to France since.
"The A310 in question was inspected in 2007 by the DGAC (French transport authorities) and they noticed a certain number of faults," he told the I-tele television channel.
"The company was not on the black list but was subject to stricter checks on our part, and was due to be interviewed shortly by the European Union's safety committee."
"The question we are asking ... is whether you can collect people in a normal way on French territory and then put them in a plane that does not ensure their security. We do not want this to happen again," he said.
Yemen's transport minister said the plane was thoroughly checked in May under Airbus supervision.
"It was a comprehensive inspection carried out in Yemen ... with experts from Airbus," Khaled Ibrahim al-Wazeer told Reuters from Sanaa. "It was in line with international standards."
The EU suspended permission for Yemenia to maintain EU-registered planes in February after it failed a set of audit inspections, the EU's aviation safety agency told Reuters in Brussels.
The move would not have affected the doomed Airbus A310 plane since it was registered in Yemen. But it provides further evidence of European concerns over the airline's operations after the EU Commission said the plane which crashed had sparked an EU inquiry two years ago.
The EU's Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said it would contact Yemenia and planned to propose a global blacklist of airlines deemed unsafe.
Yemenia is 51 percent owned by Yemen and 49 percent by Saudi Arabia. Its fleet includes two Airbus 330-200s, four Airbus 310-300s and four Boeing 737-800s, according to its website.
French television showed pictures of friends and relatives of the passengers weeping at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport, many of them railing at the airline.
Families arriving at the airport in Marseille, where there is a large Comoran community, were met by Comoros consul Stephane Salord.
"The Comorans save up for several months in the year to go to Comoros with their families. In this plane there were entire families, parents, children, elders who were with them."
AIRBUS INVESTIGATORS
Ibrahim Abdourazak, an official at a crisis center in Comoros, told Reuters the 14-year-old girl was from a village in the center of the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Earlier, a doctor in the Comoros had told Reuters a five-year old child had been plucked alive from the sea and taken to a medical center.
Airbus said it was dispatching a team of investigators to the Comoros. It said the aircraft was built in 1990 and had been used by Yemenia since 1999. Its engines were built by Pratt and Whitney, a unit of United Technologies.
A Yemenia official said there were 142 passengers including three infants, and 11 crew. The plane was flying to Moroni, capital of Grande Comore, the main island of the archipelago.
"The weather conditions were rough; strong wind and high seas. The wind speed recorded on land at the airport was 61 kph (38 mph). There could be other factors," Mohammad al-Sumairi, deputy general manager for Yemenia operations, told Reuters.
The French military sent army and civilian medical teams, boats and divers to the crash site aboard the plane from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion. Comoros authorities sent small speedboats.
France and the Comoros have enjoyed close ties since the islands' independence in 1975. France estimates 200,000 people from Comoros live in mainland France, and remittances from France are an important part of the islands' economy.
For a map showing the flight path of the airliner, go to:
http:/graphics.thomsonreuters.com/RNGS/J UN/CRASH.jpg
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