El Al accident on Paris airport taxiway

A few days ago, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft operated by El Al had a run-in -- literally! -- with a tug on a taxiway at Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) in Paris. The accident did substantial damage to the aircraft, and presumably to the tug. Fortunately no people were injured, but according to the buzz on several message boards and forums, the rampers operating the tug had a very close call.

El Al Flight 324 was preparing to depart from from CDG for a scheduled flight to Tel Aviv. An early report about the accident on the Israeli website YnetNews.com quoted an El Al official who said, "While the plane was being towed ahead of take off, the plane's engine was hit by the towing vehicle. We are now trying to evaluate the damage caused to the engine." However most other reports, including one on the aviation news website FlightGlobal.com, say it was the aircraft that hit the tug, not the other way around.

The article on FlightGlobal.com, which includes two photos, reports:

A spokesman for airports operator Aeroports de Paris says the pushback tractor had been disconnected from the aircraft but was still under the 747 when it started to taxi.

"During the departure the tractor had pushed back the aircraft," he says. "It was still under the aircraft and the pilot decided to go without authorisation from the ground staff. Normally the pilot has to wait for ground staff authorisation before moving."

One of the photos on FlightGlobal.com clearly shows the tug jammed underneath the number three engine. For more photos (and some discussion, for those who can read French) visit this thread on Avia Passion, a French language aviation forum.

[Photo Source]

El Al emergency evacuation at Tel Aviv

More than 100 people were evacuated yesterday via emergency slides from a Boeing 737 aircraft operated by El Al Israel Airlines. The incident happened at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, after smoke was detected inside the aircraft as it was preparing to depart on a scheduled flight from Tel Aviv to Zurich.

It is unclear exactly how many were aboard El Al Flight LY347. Various news reports about the incident said that there were 123, 126, or 128 passengers plus six crew. In any case, all were evacuated safely, although at least one news article about the incident, on Israel Today, said that five people were "treated for injuries."

A news article published by the Jerusalem Post said that the smoke was caused by "traces of cleaning fluids" remaining in an engine after routine maintenance. Haaretz later offered these details:

El Al's vice president of operations, Lior Yavor, told Haaretz that, according to an initial inquiry, the smell was caused by the remnants of substances used to clean the compressors in the Boeing 737's engines over the weekend.

Yavor said an investigation will be conducted into whether the cleaning process was carried out properly, and he promised steps would be taken against those found responsible for the incident.

A report by Israeli news outlet Haaretz quoted a passenger from the flight who said that the airplane filled with smoke and there was a smell of burning. However another passenger said there wasn't any thick smoke on the plane, only a strong smell of smoke. The Jerusalem Post reported that the aircraft "sustained considerable damage from the smoke."

Jerusalem Post columnist and correspondent Michael Freund, who also works for Arutz Sheva (IsraelNationalNews.com), happened to be aboard the aircraft at the time of the emergency, and was one of those evacuated. Click here for his description of the evacuation, with two photos.