Airbus Updates No.168

Incident: US Airways A321 near Omaha on Apr 9th 2011, engine shut down in flight

By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Apr 10th 2011 13:07Z, last updated Sunday, Apr 10th 2011 13:07Z A US Airways Airbus A321-200, registration N184US performing flight US-1446 from Los Angeles,CA to Philadelphia,PA (USA), was enroute at FL330 about 75nm southeast of Omaha,NE (USA) when the crew needed to shut the right hand engine (CFM56) due to vibrations. The airplane diverted to Omaha for a safe landing on runway 14R about 40 minutes later. The remainder of the flight was cancelled, the passengers rebooked onto other flights. Incident: Etihad A346 near London on Jan 24th 2011, unruly passenger prompts fighter escort By Simon Hradecky, created Monday, Jan 24th 2011 14:18Z, last updated Sunday, Apr 10th 2011 14:30Z An Etihad Airways Airbus A340-600, registration A6-EHH performing flight EY-19 from Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 163 passengers and 15 crew, diverted to London Stansted,EN (UK) escorted by fighter aircraft following an incident with an unruly male passenger (38) on board. The airplane landed safely on Stansted's runway 05 about 20 minutes ahead of scheduled arrival at Heathrow Airport. Police said the incident was not terror related, further details are being investigated. In a later press release Essex Police reported that the individual had issued a bomb hoax, was charged accordingly and has to appear in court on Jan 25th. The airline said, a disruptive passenger had been making inappropriate remarks on board with no direct threat towards the safety of the aircraft. The responsible prosecutor said, the passenger admitted in court on Jan 25th he had made up the story when he told a flight attendant a fellow traveller had a gun and had threatened to blow himself up. He couldn't explain why he had made up the story. The prosecutor added the unruly passenger had been intoxicated, nobody on board except for the unruly passenger, the falsely alleged passenger and the crew knew about the supposed threat. On April 8th a UK court sentenced the unruly passenger to serve three years in jail. Incident: Cathay A333 at Riyadh on Apr 6th 2011, rejected takeoff By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Apr 10th 2011 15:52Z, last updated Sunday, Apr 10th 2011 15:52Z A Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300, registration B-HLO performing flight CX-732 from Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) to Hong Kong (China), rejected takeoff from Riyadh's runway 33R after the left hand engine (Trent 772) failed. The airplane slowed safely and returned to the apron. The airplane is still on the ground in Riyadh (Apr 10th). Incident: Thai A333 at Hamburg on Apr 9th 2011, hydraulic and brakes problem By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Apr 10th 2011 17:11Z, last updated Monday, Apr 11th 2011 12:35Z A Thai Airways Airbus A330-300, registration HS-TET performing aircraft acceptance flight TG-8342 from Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel to Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel (Germany) with 8 crew on board, did not retract the gear after takeoff and stopped the climb out of Hamburg's runway 33 at 7000 feet. The airplane returned to Hamburg prematurely, landed safely on runway 05 (runway landing distance available 2952 meters/9680 feet) and came to a stop just short of taxiway B about 2800 meters/9200 feet down the runway about 24 minutes after departure. The airplane needed to be towed off the runway. Hamburg's emergency services reported the crew had indicated problems with the brakes. A listener on frequency heard the crew reporting the loss of a hydraulic system immediately after takeoff. The airplane was able to complete the acceptance flight the following day (Apr 10th) and departed for its positioning flight TG-8921 to Bangkok (Thailand) on Apr 11th. Runway 33 has a landing distance of 3220 meters/10560 feet available (runway 15's LDA is 3666 meters/12000 feet).