Airbus Updates No.572

Incident: British Airways A321 near London on Dec 20th 2011, both flight crew nearly passed out

By Simon Hradecky, created Friday, Dec 23rd 2011 13:34Z, last updated Friday, Dec 23rd 2011 13:37Z A British Airways Airbus A321-200, registration G-EUXL performing flight BA-1486 from London Heathrow,EN to Glasgow,SC (UK), was climbing through about FL200 out of London Heathrow's runway 27R when the crew declared PAN reporting they were lightheaded, levelled off at FL220 and decided to return to Heathrow for a safe landing on runway 27R about 30 minutes after departure. A replacement Airbus A321-200 registration G-EUXF reached Glasgow with a delay of 3 hours. Great Britain's Civil Aviation Authority confirmed both flight crew were light headed and after landing reported to emergency services that they both nearly passed out. The passenger oxygen masks were automatically released. The Air Accident Investigation Branch have opened an investigation. A passenger reported that there was a call on public audio from the cockpit requesting a senior cabin crew member to the flight deck, then cabin crew began to rush carrying portable oxygen cylinders and oxygen masks to the cockpit. Incident: SAA A343 at Cape Town on Dec 23rd 2011, rejected takeoff By Simon Hradecky, created Friday, Dec 23rd 2011 18:37Z, last updated Friday, Dec 23rd 2011 18:37Z A SAA South African Airways Airbus A340-300, registration ZS-SXE performing flight SA-334 from Cape Town to Johannesburg (South Africa), rejected takeoff from Cape Town's runway 19 at high speed due to problems with one of the right hand engines (CFM56). The airplane slowed safely and stopped about 1300 meters/4300 feet down the runway, emergency services responded and checked the brakes. About 10 minutes later the aircraft was able to taxi to the apron. The airport confirmed the aircraft rejected takeoff due to technical reasons. Incident: Swiss A343 near Istanbul on Dec 24th 2011, cracked windshield By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Dec 25th 2011 11:57Z, last updated Sunday, Dec 25th 2011 11:57Z A Swiss International Airlines Airbus A340-300, registration HB-JME performing flight LX-154 from Zurich (Switzerland) to Mumbai (India), was enroute at FL350 about 90nm southeast of Istanbul's Ataturk Airport when the crew reported a cracked windshield, descended the aircraft to FL260 and decided to return to Zurich. The aircraft landed safely in Zurich about 150 minutes later. A replacement Airbus A340-300 registration HB-JMK reached Mumbai with a delay of about 8 hours. Incident: Aer Lingus A320 near Brest on Dec 13th 2011, first officer incapacitated By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Dec 22nd 2011 16:37Z, last updated Sunday, Dec 25th 2011 14:52Z An Aer Lingus Airbus A320-200, registration EI-DEO performing flight EI-876 from Cork (Ireland) to Lanzarote,CI (Spain), was enroute at FL380 about 180nm west of Brest (France) and 220nm south of Cork when the first officer became ill and incapacitated prompting the captain to return to Cork for a safe landing on Cork's runway 35 in challenging gusting winds (tower providing frequent wind checks reporting winds from 250 at about 14 knots gusting up to 31-35 knots). The aircraft was able to depart again after about 5:20 hours on the ground and reached Lanzarote with a total delay of 7 hours. A passenger reported the captain announced the first officer had become ill. The passenger later added, that the landing back in Cork was excellent. The first officer apparently suffered from food poisoning and was able to walk off the aircraft by himself. A replacement flight and cabin crew performed the actual flight to Lanzarote. Incident: Air Berlin A332 at Dusseldorf and Istanbul on Dec 23rd 2011, unsafe gear By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Dec 25th 2011 16:08Z, last updated Sunday, Dec 25th 2011 16:08Z An Air Berlin Airbus A330-200, registration D-ALPG performing flight AB-7150 from Dusseldorf (Germany) to Bangkok (Thailand), was climbing out of Dusseldorf when the crew received an unsafe gear indication after retracting the gear and levelled off at FL100 for about one hour. The crew subsequently decided to continue the flight and climbed to FL370. Upon reaching the Black Sea about 140nm north of Istanbul the crew decided to divert to Istanbul's Ataturk reporting a technical fault and landed safely on runway 35L about 3:40 hours after departure. The aircraft was able to continue the flight the next day after about 18 hours ground time and reached Bangkok with a delay of 19:45 hours.