Thomsonfly Boeing 757 double bird strike at Manchester

A Boeing 757-200 aircraft operated by British low fare carrier Thomsonfly made an emergency landing shortly after departure from Manchester (UK) airport yesterday morning after two large birds, described in news reports as herons, were ingested into the aircraft's number two engine. According to BBC News, the flight was carrying 221 passengers, and was en route from Manchester to Arrecife, Lazarote in the Canary Islands. No one was injured.

The bird strike occurred moments after rotation. Smoke and flames could be seen pulsing from the starboard engine during climb out. The engine was shut down, the crew declared a MAYDAY, and the aircraft returned to Manchester Airport where it made a safe emergency landing. Congratulations to the crew for that happy ending.

There are a couple of videos of this incident being circulated on the Web. Click here to view one of those, posted on the ITN website. Below is another video of the event that was posted on YouTube by headintheclouds46. Tip of the hat for posting that footage.

Iris Peterson, United Airlines No. 1 flight attendant retires

Iris Peterson, the number one flight attendant at United Airlines, has retired after 60 years of service.

Ms. Peterson began her career in 1946, when job restrictions included age, gender, ethnicity and weight. A tribute to Ms. Peterson by the United Airlines MEC of the Association of Flight Attendants notes that Ms. Peterson and her peers helped to destroy these discriminatory practices, advancing the rights of women and uprooting gender discrimination.

Active in her union throughout her career, Iris held various leadership positions and often represented her colleagues in grievances, safety issues and on Capitol Hill. AFA-CWA historian and retired flight attendant Georgia Nielsen tells us that Ms. Peterson was often an integral part of advancing her profession through activity in her union. In 1953, she was the first official lobbyist for the Air Line Stewards and Stewardesses Association. In 1968, the same year that stewardesses won the right to hold the job if they were married, Ms. Peterson participated in safety plans for the first jumbo aircraft. She worked with aircraft engineers and was instrumental in gaining acceptance for 17 safety items, including the evacuation alarm, which is now a standard on equipment worldwide.

"Iris has been a mentor to all of us who've followed in her steps," [United AFA President] Davidowitch continued. "She has spent a lifetime committed to her airline and to improving the profession she has loved for six decades. As her fellow crewmembers, we have been lucky to receive her guidance for 60 years. Iris is an intensely private person, but Flight Attendants everywhere are the beneficiaries of her dedication and commitment to our profession. She is truly one in a million."

Flight attendants and members of the public are encouraged to send cards of appreciation and congratulations to:

ATTN: Iris Peterson
AFA-CWA
6250 N. River Road, Suite 4020
Chicago, IL 60656

Happy landings, Iris!

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Air Malta B737 has near collision with micro-light

Several days ago, an Air Malta Boeing 737-300 narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with a micro-light aircraft near Malta International Airport. Air Malta Flight KM613, which had originated in Rome, was on approach to Malta early on the afternoon of April 21, 2007 when the incident occurred. The pilot of the Air Malta plane had to take evasive action to avoid colliding with the smaller aircraft. Fortunately no one was injured.

Air Malta published a brief news release about the incident on their website. It says:

On 21st April at approximately 1330 hours, Air Malta flight KM613 operated with a Boeing 737-300 was given clearance by the Maltese Air Traffic Control to land on Runway 14. At an altitude of 1300 feet, the aircraft made visual contact with the runway and shortly after the cockpit crew noticed a micro-light aircraft just ahead of them.

The captain decided to take avoidance action and to abort the approach. The Air Malta aircraft made a normal landing at Malta International Airport, with a five minute delay.

Air Malta has reported the incident to the Director of Civil Aviation, who we understand is conducting a technical investigation on the matter.

A news article about the incident in the Times of Malta filled in a few details, saying that the small aircraft "suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

The small aircraft was not equipped with a transponder and, consequently, the Air Malta pilots could not spot the impending danger on the traffic-collision avoidance system.

Passengers on the left side of the aircraft noticed the close proximity of the small plane but most of them remained oblivious to what was going on.

A 38-year old passenger who was on board the flight was shocked as he looked out of the window.

"I had just spotted the Mosta church from the window seat and suddenly, out of nowhere, I saw a small blue plane alarmingly close.

"Our pilot's manoeuvre was excellent and it probably saved the day," said the passenger, who preferred to remain unnamed.

The Times of Malta story also said that the light aircraft, which was registered in Italy, had departed from Gela, Sicily. It landed in Malta after the incident.

Though tragedy was avoided, many questions remain about the Italian aircraft's unwelcome presence. Probed by the local authorities, the pilot claimed he pertained to a humanitarian NGO and was on patrol near Lampedusa for illegal immigrants. However, observers in the aviation industry wondered whether such an operation could have really taken place in bad weather and visibility, as was the case last Saturday.

The pilot had permission only to use Malta as a secondary landing air ground and claimed he had landed here because the aircraft had run out of fuel.

When contacted, Joe Sultana, director of the Civil Aviation Department, confirmed that the Italian aircraft was flying at a very low altitude and, thus, could not be seen by radar.

Asked whether the aircraft had clearance to land in Malta, Mr Sultana replied:

"As such, it didn't have clearance since it didn't communicate with the air traffic control. The pilot didn't communicate because he didn't have the correct information. The aircraft was short of fuel and it had to proceed."

Another news story published by the Malta Independent quoted an airport official who explained that the pilot of the micro-light had made several attempts to establish contact with the Maltese air traffic authorities to request permission for an emergency landing, but to no avail. He did not have the correct radio frequencies with which to contact air traffic control in Malta.

The micro-light left Malta after several hours, presumably returning to Italy. Let's hope the owners install a transponder in that micro-light before it ventures aloft again.

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NTSB update on Pinnacle CRJ runway overrun at Traverse City

Today the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued an advisory regarding its investigation of a runway overrun earlier this month by a regional jet at Traverse City, Michigan (TVC). The Pinnacle Airlines CL-600 aircraft, operating as Northwest Airlink Flight 4712, slid off the runway after landing. No injuries were reported, but the FAA's preliminary report for the event listed damage to the aircraft as "substantial."

The accident occurred shortly after midnight on April 12, 2007. According to today's NTSB report, the aircraft had departed from Minneapolis and was cleared for an ILS approach to runway 28 at TVC. The NTSB report says:

Weather was reported as snowing. Automatic weather observation data indicated at 12:30 am, the visibility was one-half mile in snow, with indefinite ceiling and vertical visibility of 200 feet. Snow removal operations were in progress at the airport, and the flight crew communicated directly with airport operations regarding the runway conditions.

After landing, the airplane overran the departure end of runway 28, which is 6,501 feet long, with an additional 200 feet of pavement. Initial examination indicates that the airplane exited the paved surface onto a grassy snow- covered field, the nose gear separated from the fuselage, and the airplane came to rest about 100 feet beyond the pavement. The passengers and crew exited the airplane via the main cabin door.

There were 46 passengers -- including three lap-held infants -- and three crew on board.

The NTSB reports that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered from the airplane and read out at the NTSB laboratory in Washington, DC. Both were in good condition and include the accident flight. A CVR transcript is in preparation.

A news report about the accident on TV station WZZM-13 quotes an airline spokesperson who said the plane couldn't brake when it landed. At the time snow was falling heavily and the temperature was right at the freezing point. That news report includes a brief video clip shot at the scene of the accident.

Another news report, on the website of station TV7&4, has several photos of the aircraft which show it leaning on its nose in the snow. The airstairs at the 1L door appear to be almost horizontal.

The NTSB report mentioned that the nose gear separated from the fuselage. The TV7&4 news report quoted a passenger from the flight who claimed to have seen "the landing gear rolling down the runway beside the plane as it swerved off to the side."

According to the NTSB, the aircraft was piloted by the captain, a company check airman who had a total time of about 5,600 hours, with 4,390 flight hours in the CRJ-200. The F/O was a new-hire who had been working for Pinnacle since January of this year. The F/O had 2,500 total flight hours, with 15 flight hours in the CRJ-200. But get this: One news report about the accident in the Traverse City Record-Eagle mentioned that the flight was part of the F/O's IOE. You have to feel particularly sorry for that poor guy!

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Remembering the British Airways Concorde

During a recent event at the U.K.'s Imperial War Museum Duxford, several former British Airways Concorde 101 crew members shared their memories of working aboard that historic aircraft. The museum is the new home of the now retired Concorde 101. The aircraft will be housed permanently in a new £25 million AirSpace Exhibition hangar.

Maggie Sinclair, who had worked aboard the Concorde as cabin crew, was among those who shared their recollections. Here is an excerpt from an interview with Ms. Sinclair, published in the Cambridge Evening News:

"It was a very different, a very nice service and very personal," she said. "You had 100 passengers, but you had to give as much attention to them as you could. If they wanted something you got it straight away.

"Concorde was not actually first class, but a mixture. It was a prestigious plane to be on - I loved the ambience of it. I enjoyed the speed, although you didn't sense it. I was brought up in a garage so I was always keen on speed!

"People were always interesting and there were lots of wonderful passengers. Andy Warhol did not speak to us - he had his own man with him - but he wanted to see the flight deck. We had Eartha Kitt and Peter O'Toole. Quite a few who had been to LA together - Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Joan Collins was a regular. David Frost would always sit in one row at the back of the plane and stretch himself out.

"We had Christopher Reeve once. It was always lovely to be able to look after these people.

"I was in the crew that took the Queen once, on a State Visit to Ottawa for the 125th anniversary of the opening of parliament."

Ms. Sinclair noted that she and her colleagues on the Concorde had the same uniforms as the rest of British Airways cabin crew, but "we had to wear our hats whereas other crews didn't and we had special silver name badges."

Cabin crew had new uniforms issued to them for the Royal flight.

The Cambridge Evening News article that features the interview with Maggie Sinclair also includes interviews with three former Concorde pilots. Click here to read the entire article.

ExcelAire blames ATC for mid-air collision in Brazil last year

It's official: ExcelAire, the company that owned the Embraer Legacy 600 involved in a mid-air collision over Brazil last year, puts the blame for the accident on Brazilian air traffic controllers.

An  article published on AMTonline.com says:

The U.S. company that owned the executive jet involved in a mid-air collision with a commercial airliner blamed faulty Brazilian air traffic control for the accident that killed 154 people, according to a report obtained by the Associated Press on Saturday.

The Sept. 29 accident was Brazil's deadliest air disaster. A Gol airlines Boeing 737 and an ExcelAire Legacy 600 jet clipped each other, causing the jetliner to plunge into the Amazon rain forest and killing everyone aboard. No one was injured in the smaller plane.

In a 154-page report to Brazilian federal police this month, New York-based ExcelAire said an analysis of air traffic control transmissions and flight recorders in the Legacy "confirmed that both planes were freed by Air Traffic Control to fly at the same altitude and the same path, in opposite directions."

ExcelAire reportedly passed a copy of the report to the journalist several days ago.

For more details about the accident and the ensuing investigation, I'd like to direct you to Joe Sharkey at Large, the personal blog of the journalist who was a passenger aboard the Legacy at the time of the collision last September. Mr. Sharkey has written compellingly of his experiences that day, and has done a commendable job of reporting on the aftermath.

This past Saturday, Sharkey posted a retrospective view of the accident and the investigation. He summarizes ExcelAire's report "that details step-by-step the chain of on-ground mishaps and failures that put the two planes on a collision course, and also charges that important avionics equipment installed in the $24.7 million business jet, including the transponder unit, had a history of defects and were essentially used parts installed on a new jet."

Embedded in Mr. Sharkey's detailed post are links to 1) a four-page report about the accident by the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Associations (IFATCA); 2) a factual account from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the progress of its investigation of the accident; and 3) an FAA airworthiness directive citing a problem with the type of Honeywell transponder that was installed on the Legacy, which also may have figured as a contributing factor in the accident. Also provided is an English translation of an article about the ExcelAire report that appeared in the Brazilian newspaper Folha.

Yesterday, April 22, Mr. Sharkey posted Part II of his review, in which he presents "highlights of documentation ExcelAire can cite and charges it will make in its own defense as Brazilian authorities continue their campaign to scapegoat the Americans." I recommend this as required reading for anyone who has been following this accident.

Mr. Sharkey has provided a link to the 134-page document, in Portuguese, and says he is trying to obtain the full English language version of the ExcelAire document as well. Or, as he says in his own words:

...I'm still hoping to post an English link soon to the whole 20,000-word text for those of you, including so many pilots who have remained in touch with me over this sad event, who want to know just precisely how one sorry mistake after another on the ground added up to cause the worst aviation disaster in Brazil's history.

When he posts a link to an English language version of the report, I'll post it, too.

Kudos to Joe Sharkey, first for championing the cause of the ExcelAire pilots -- who were criminally charged while the investigation had barely begun and held in Brazil for several months -- and for continuing to focus attention on the process of the accident investigation.

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Hangar fire in Abu Dhabi destroys aircraft

A fire in a maintenance hangar at Abu Dhabi destroyed a Qatar Airways Airbus A300-600 aircraft last week. The hangar belongs to the Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Company (GAMCO).

Details about the fire and its consequences were slow to emerge. An early report in the Khaleej Times said that the fire was brought quickly under control, the hangar was evacuated, and that no one was injured. An article on FlightGlobal.com added that the fire had started on board an aircraft that was parked at the maintenance facility.

On April 20, the day after the fire, FlightGlobal.com reported that the fire had started on an Airbus A300 belonging to Qatar Airways, and that at least two other aircraft had been damaged as well. One was an Air Mauritius A319 that had been parked in the hangar next to the Qatar Airways A300; the other was an A320 leased by India's Kingfisher Airlines.

UPDATE April 23, 2007:  Today FlightGlobal.com published a follow-up story that includes several pictures from the scene, one of which is displayed above. It is obvious from the photos that the A300 was completely destroyed by the fire. Here is some of what FlightGlobal.com has to say:

Information emerging from Abu Dhabi shows that the fire, initially claimed to have been brief and contained, was far worse than authorities had been prepared to admit.

Almost the entire upper fuselage, from just behind the wing box to a point aft of the flight deck, has been burned through to the crown. Structural failure has resulted in the empennage of the A300 dropping to the hangar floor.

A Gamco source says the whole cabin has been gutted by the blaze and claims that the fire took between one and two hours to extinguish – adding that, although there were no fatalities, an engineer was seriously hurt after jumping from the A300.

Images obtained by FlightGlobal show that authorities have attempted to de-identify the jet by painting over the Qatar Airways logo on the tail fin.

The source says: "They didn't have to bother with the name on the fuselage as it had been completely burned away."

FlightGlobal.com's source confirmed damage to the Kingfisher and Air Mauritius jets, and mentioned that at least three more aircraft in the hangar at the time of the fire were not damaged.

The hangar itself reportedly was not damaged as the fire was confined to the aircraft. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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Video: Crosswind landings from around the world

Got a spare four minutes? Have a look at this YouTube video, aptly titled Blowing in the Wind.