Continental Airlines Dash-8 Q400 Image: lindsaywp
I notice I seem to avoid having to write about stories in the news that aren’t so positive in the airline business. I know those of us interested or that work in this business hate to see when a plane goes down and lives are lost.
Flight 3407, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, crashed at about 10pm on February 12th. It crashed into some houses, killing a 61-year old man who was home at the time and all 48 people (44 passengers, 4 crew) that were aboard the plane.
It appears at this point the plane lost forward momentum and came down flat on its belly. Some indicators are pointing to icing that was reported before the crash.
Even though ice could turn out to be the main factor of this, the Dash 8 is well known to handle the ice well and ability to get through almost anything. From what is reported now, it seems this accident happened very quickly, giving very little opprotunity for the pilots to save the doomed plane.
My thoughts go out to the families of those affected by this tragic loss.
Aeroflot-Nord Boeing 737. Image: Osdu
Last September an Aeroflot-Nord Boeing 737-500 crashed and killed all 88 on board. The final report released today shows that the pilot lost “spatial orientation”, banking the plane on its left wing, causing rapid decent into the ground.
It seems the pilot had been overworked, drinking alcohol, and not trained well on the Boeing’s altitude indicator as he should. All Boeing 737 flights have been suspended until additional training can be had by the pilots.
After the crash Aeroflot severed links with Aeroflot-Nord and required they remove all the company branding — probably a very smart move considering what happened.
American Airline's Boeing 767 Tail
If you will be flying on an American Airlines 767-300, you might have quite a few empty seats around you. It seems American installed additional business-class seats on 58 767-300’s and now there aren’t enough life vests for all the passengers.
American states that no one was ever in danger since they also have life rafts aboard (personally, not as assuring if you are on a plane going down into water and all those around you have life vests on and you don’t).
Source: Chicago Tribune Image: Van-Murph
AirTran Boeing 717
Of course we all live in an age of heightened airport security. Signs remind us that “we” the passengers are the eyes and ears and report any suspicious activity.
That is what some passengers on an AirTran flight from Reagan National to Orlando thought they were doing…being vigilant. Anyone who has played the game telephone know how easy it is to mis-hear things. Well a group of 9 Muslim folks were on the plane and discussing the safety of the plane, something that many people would talk about before trusting their safety on a piece of technology 30,000 feet in the air. One passenger thought it was suspicious and reported the event.
This caused the party of 9 to have to de-board and be interviewed by the FBI. It also caused the other 104 passengers and their luggage to be re-screened before the plane can leave.
No matter if this was too much of an overreaction, the part I don’t get is even after the FBI cleared the group, AirTran would still not allow them to fly on their airline and would not set them up on another flight.
AirTran says they were given a full refund and may now fly again in the future, but I imagine that is not very likely.
UPDATE: Per MSNBC.com:
Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran said in a statement that it refunded the passengers’ air fare and planned to reimburse them for replacement tickets they bought on US Airways. AirTran also offered to take the passengers back to Washington free of charge.It is a good thing to see AirTran came around and did what was right!
Go Airlines
Back in February two pilots of Go! Airlines Flight 1002 were accused of sleeping on the job. While flying. While missing the airport. While overshooting the airport by 30 miles. While air traffic control was trying to make contact with them for about 25 minutes. Not a good thing, at all.
The pilots have now admitted (after trying to cover it up) that they both fell asleep in the cockpit while autopilot was on. The pilot stated, “The warm Hawaiian sun was blaring in as we went eastbound. I just kind of closed my eyes for a minute, enjoying the sunshine, and dozed off,” he told investigators.
It is scary to think that one of the two pilots could fall asleep, but extremely scary to think that both could fall asleep. Well, at least they set the auto pilot before dozing off!