Airbus Updates No.1095

Incident: Easyjet A320 at Milan on Aug 12th 2013, engine doors torn off

An Easyjet Airbus A320-200, registration G-EZTC performing flight U2-2715 from Milan Malpensa (Italy) to Lisbon (Portugal) with 174 people on board, was in the initial climb out of Malpensa's runway 35R when the left hand engine's (CFM56) doors opened and were subsequently torn off the engine. The crew stopped the climb at about 3500 feet and returned to runway 35L for a safe landing about 10 minutes later. Italy's ANSV have opened an investigation into the occurrence rated a serious incident reporting that debris off the engine doors also caused damage to the aft fuselage and tailplane. Crash: UPS A306 at Birmingham on Aug 14th 2013, contacted trees and touched down outside airport A UPS Airbus A300-600, registration N155UP performing freight flight 5X-1354 from Louisville,KY to Birmingham,AL (USA) with 2 crew, was on approach to Birmingham's runway 18 at 04:51L (09:51Z) but touched down near the intersection Airport Road/Tarrant Huffman Road about 0.8nm short of the runway in open terrain, burst into flames leaving a trail of debris of about quarter of a nautical mile and coming to a stop about 0.55nm before the runway threshold and slightly left of the extended center line. Both crew were killed. The area has been cordoned off. No people on the ground or houses on the ground were affected. Local police reported a large cargo aircraft crashed just outside the airport and said - following the Mayor's announcement of both crew having died - that both crew are still unaccounted for. The FAA confirmed a UPS cargo aircraft crashed at Birmingham Airport. The FAA later declined comments on the condition of the crew (following Birmingham City Mayor's announcements the crew had perished in the crash), but in the afternoon (local time) confirmed both flight crew were fatally injured in the crash. Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport reported a UPS Cargo Airbus A300 went down just outside the airport perimeter fence, so far there is no word on the fate of the crew and damage to the aircraft (repeated after the City Mayor made his announcements). The Mayor of Birmingham said, that both crew perished in the crash. UPS confirmed on Twitter one of their aircraft was involved in an incident at Birmingham,AL Airport. The airline has no verified information on the condition of their crew. Airbus confirmed N155UP suffered an accident shortly after 09:50Z while on approach to Birmingham,AL arriving as flight 5X-1354 from Louisville,KY. The aircraft was produced in 2003 and had accumulated roughly 11,000 flight hours in 6,800 flight cycles. A team of Airbus specialists have been dispatched to Alabama to join the investigation by the NTSB, members of the French BEA are also going to join the investigation. The NTSB have dispatched a go-team of 26 investigators to Birmingham,AL. An on site press conference has been scheduled at 16:00L (21:00Z). In their first press conference on Aug 14th 2013 the NTSB reported the A300-600F N155UP flight 5X-1354 crashed while on approach to runway 18 of Birmingham. There were three impact points prior to the final position of the wreckage over a distance of about 200 yards (200 meters). It appears the aircraft contacted a number of trees on the top of the hill prior to the first point of impact on the ground. The overwing section was extensively damaged by fire, the tail section was still smouldering preventing the black boxes to be recovered, the NTSB is optimistic to recover the boxes the next day. The investigation will "begin in earnest tomorrow morning". Initial information, subject to verification, suggests the crew did not issue a distress call.