Iberia Airbus A340 runway overrun at Quito

Late on the afternoon of Friday, November 9, 2007 an Iberia Airlines A340-600 ran off the end of a runway at Mariscal Sucre airport in Quito, Ecuador. Flight IB6463, operated by Spain's national carrier, had just arrived from Madrid, Spain with more than 330 passengers and crew on board. No one was seriously injured. The aircraft was badly damaged.

Airport officials in Quito said that one or more of the tires on the aircraft's main landing gear had burst when it touched down. As the aircraft slid down the runway, the landing gear partially collapsed. The huge aircraft came to rest in an area of grass and sand of the end of the runway on which it had landed. Photos of the aircraft show it leaning to port, resting on the nacelles of the number one and number two engines, which were badly damaged.

Passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft using inflatable slides on the starboard side of the aircraft. An article in the Spanish language publication El País includes a video clip of passengers using the slides to evacuate. Spanish news website El Periódico de Catalunya has published a photo gallery of the A340 accident at Quito.

The accident caused the airport to be closed for some time, during which inbound international flights were reported to have been rerouted to Guayaquil. The A340 is the largest aircraft type authorized to land at Quito.

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AA pilot contract negotiations break down

According to news reports, American Airlines has rejected a contract proposal from its pilots' union, saying it was too costly. A UPI report says:

The carrier, which has its headquarters in Dallas, said the package would increase its pilots' costs by more than $1.4 billion a year and couldn't be sustained.

American's pilot cost per hour would be more than that of competitors Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines combined, the company told the Allied Pilots Association Thursday.

For its part, the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing the 12,000 American Airlines pilots, issued a news release expressing their "disappointment" over the breakdown in negotiations, and citing management's "unwillingness to bargain in good faith" as the reason for the breakdown. In addition to pay, work rules, and retirement, negotiators had been considering the issues surrounding flow-through/flow-back provisions aimed at facilitating career advancement for American Eagle pilots while maintaining seniority protection for American Airlines pilots.

Looks like binding arbitration is now on the horizon for American Airlines and its pilots.

Nationwide Airlines Boeing 737-200 engine separates on takeoff

This story gives a whole new meaning to the expression "lost an engine." The number two engine separated from a Boeing 737-200 shortly after rotation. The engine fell to the runway while the aircraft continued its climb-out. The aircraft returned to the field a short time later and landed safely. No one on board was injured.

The incident happened yesterday (November 7, 2007) at Cape Town, South Africa. The aircraft, operating as Nationwide Airlines Flight CE723, was taking off for a scheduled flight to Johannesburg when it literally lost an engine.

A press release about the incident on the front page of the Nationwide Airlines website claims that the engine separated after ingesting some as yet unidentified object:

It has been determined that during the take off roll an object which is yet to be defined was ingested into the engine which caused a catastrophic engine failure. The subsequent forces experienced by the engine supporting structure caused this to fail and for the number two engine to detach from the wing. The engine-to-wing supporting structure is designed to release the engine when extreme forces are applied to prevent any structural damage to the wing that may impair the aircrafts ability to fly.

We are currently working with authorities and investigators to establish what exactly the unidentified object was.

According to a news article about the incident on South Africa's News24.com, the commander of Nationwide Flight CE723 was Captain Trevor Arnold. The Independent Online quoted a passenger who had been on the flight who said that after the plane had come to a stop surrounded by fire engines, the captain walked into the cabin, and all the passengers cheered.

Congratulations to the Capt. Arnold and F/O Daniel Perry for their outstanding airmanship. Well done!

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Two female pilot cadets at Etihad Airways

Meet two history-makers: Salma Mohammad Al Baloushi (left) and Aisha Hassan Al Mansouri, the first female cadet pilots at Etihad Airways. The two women currently are undergoing initial pilot training at the Horizon Flight Academy at Al Ain, UAE.

The cadet pilots must complete 930 classroom hours and 205 hours of flying in single and multi-engine aircraft, after which they will be eligible to become entry-level first officers at Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates.

An article about the two women in the Gulf News recounts how they came to be interested in flying as a career.

Salma said: "I was studying to be a nurse, but something just didn't feel right. I didn't have a real passion for what I was doing and that made studying to become better hard work. It made me stop and look at life and I decided to follow my childhood dream of becoming a pilot. I am hard-working and have found a passion in life again."

...

Aisha was inspired to become a pilot after a zero gravity experience at the Al Ain Airshow. She said: "I loved being up in the sky and knew instantly that I wanted to become a pilot. My family is so proud of what I am doing."

The two women were recruited as a part of Etihad's program to hire more Emirati nationals.

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ABX Air pilots reject contract proposal

Pilots at cargo airline ABX Air, Inc. have overwhelmingly rejected the company's latest contract proposal, according to a news release about the ballot issued by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1224, the union representing the ABX pilots.

The union reports that nearly 90% of the 578 eligible crew members participated in the balloting. Of those, 98.8% voted to reject the contract.

"We took this vote to demonstrate to ABX Air management that what they are offering is unacceptable to the crewmembers and does not adequately fulfill the quality-of-life needs of our members and their families," said Capt. Dave Ross, president of Local 1224.

Among the major deficiencies in the ABX offer are compensation, retirement, management flying, and staffing and assignment issues. The offer included a side letter regarding operations in Asia for All Nippon Airways.

Tensions are high at the cargo carrier as the company has failed to adequately staff the airline, resulting in management's abuse of an emergency staffing system used to staff regularly scheduled flights.

"The scheduling abuses have multiplied over the last year," said Ross. "The results of today's vote make clear that our members demand a contract that will allow them to provide for their families and not be subjected to the abuse of emergency staffing for non-emergency situations."

Last spring, All Nippon outsourced some cargo operations to ABX Air.

Mediated negotiations between ABX Air and Local 1224 will begin next week under the auspices of the National Mediation Board in Washington, D.C.

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Four GIRjet crew arrested in Chad are free, three remain in custody

On October 25, 2007, the crew of a Boeing 757 aircraft operated by Spanish charter carrier GIRjet were arrested in Abéché, a town in eastern Chad. The two pilots and five cabin crew, all reported to be of Spanish nationality, were accused as accessories in an alleged child kidnapping operation.

The aircraft on which they were working was chartered by a French charity called L'Arche de Zoe (Zoe's Ark) to airlift 103 children from Chad to France. Apparently the operation was illegal, however it is unlikely that the crew were aware of this fact.

A news report on AllAfrica.com said:

On Tuesday, Spanish Minister of Justice Mariano Fernández Bermejo reported that "every possible effort is being made to convince officials in Chad that the Spanish nationals had nothing to do with the attempt to remove the children from the country," because they had merely been contracted by the French NGO and were not even informed of the identity, ages or conditions of the passengers.

In a dramatic move, French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to the Chadian capital N'Djamena yesterday and obtained the release of three French journalists and four of the GIRjet cabin crew, all women. The women were repatriated to Spain, according to news reports. The male cabin crew member and both pilots are still being held in Chad.

Earlier today the French airline pilots' association SNPL, the union that represents Air France pilots, issued a statement that defends the imprisoned crew and calls for a boycott of Chad airports unless the remaining GIRjet crew members are released and repatriated within eight days.

Along with the rest of the aviation community, I am hoping that the government of Chad will soon release the crew members who are still detained. I will post any new developments regarding the crew as they become available.

UPDATE November 9, 2007: After spending two weeks in custody in Chad, the three male GIRjet crew members have been released and returned to Spain. Captain Augustin Rey, F/O Sergio Munoz, and cabin crew member Daniel Gonzalez left N'Djamena today aboard a Spanish Air Force plane bound for Madrid, according to an Agence France Presse news story.

US Airways No. 1 flight attendant celebrates 50 years service

Today was a special day for the Number One flight attendant at US Airways: Bette Nash celebrated 50 years of service. Ms. Nash began her flight attendant career on November 4, 1957.

Here is an excerpt from a news release issued by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) about Ms. Nash and her golden anniversary:

"Bette Nash is a walking, talking history of the evolution of our industry, and we are so fortunate to benefit from her experience each day," said Alin Boswell, fellow US Airways flight attendant and Washington, DC Local Council President for the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA). "Not only is she a great flight attendant and mentor, but she is a wonderful person who brings much joy to everyone she encounters."

Ms. Nash began her career the same year Sputnik was launched, and when air travel was an expensive luxury full of amenities. As air travel evolved into what it is today, so has the role of flight attendant. Fifty years ago, flight attendants were forced out of their job after a few short years and the average career span was less than 18 months.

In 1964, seven years after Ms. Nash began her career, the Civil Rights Act passed and with the strength and determine of AFA-CWA, for the first time flight attendants were able to challenge the discriminatory policies based on gender, age, race, weight, marital status, and pregnancy that had become commonplace in the airline industry.

"Bette's accomplishment today is the fully realized goal that AFA-CWA set out to achieve over sixty years ago," said Patricia Friend, AFA-CWA International President. "When AFA-CWA began representing flight attendants in 1945, it was the goal of our founders to turn this 'job' into a full-blown career - a career that would provide for, and support flight attendants and their families. It is a humbling moment to reflect upon Bette Nash's accomplishment and realize how far we have come as a profession. AFA-CWA congratulates and thanks Bette for her years of devoted service. We look forward to celebrating many more milestones with her in the future."

Congratulations to Bette Nash!

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Cessna Citation 650 skids off runway at ACY

Last weekend, a Cessna Citation 650 landed hard at Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) and ran off the runway into the grass. According to the FAA preliminary report about the incident, there were two crew and two passengers on board, none of whom were injured. Damage to the aircraft was listed as "substantial."

A news report about the incident published by Press of Atlantic City gave these details about what happened on October 27, 2007:

The aircraft took off at about 10:38 a.m. from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y. Shortly before 11:30 a.m., the pilot ordered an emergency landing for reasons that were not immediately clear. Federal investigators were determining the cause, FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker said.

As the jet touched down at Atlantic City International's shorter runway, the aircraft "bounced," causing damage to the landing gear, Baker said.

The pilot pulled the jet up and landed on the airport's longer, 10,000-foot runway. Baker said the jet veered off the runway's end and into a grassy area.

The jet was moved away from the runway and the airport was temporarily closed during the emergency landing, said Sharon Gordon, a spokeswoman for the South Jersey Transportation Authority, which operates the airport.

Flights began moving again after 11:40 a.m.

According to FAA records, the aircraft is registered to Northeast Air & Sea Services of Lindenhurst, New York. The news report said that the passengers on board were the president of that company and his wife, and that the wife had been treated for anxiety following the accident.