As the year started, we saw this near-disaster….
Date: January 15, 2009 Time: 15:31
Location: New York, New York
Operator: US Airways Flight: 1549
AC Type: Airbus A320-214
Reg: N106US cn: 1044
Aboard: 155 Fatalities: 0 Ground: 0
Details: The plane was taking off from La Guardia Airport when both engines were disabled after striking a flock of geese. The crew was able to make a soft landing in the Hudson River. All 150 passengers and crew of 5 made it out safely before the plane began to sink. No one was reported to be seriously injured.
Soon after, we had another incident, this time with 50 fatalities
Date: February 12, 2009 Time: 22:17
Location: Clarence Center, New York
Operator: Continental Connection/Colgan Air Flight: 3407
AC Type: Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400
Reg: N200WQ cn: 4200
Aboard: 49 Fatailites: 49 Ground: 1
Route: Newark, N.J. – Buffalo, NY
Details: The commuter plane crashed while attemptiong to land in rain and sleet, 6 miles northeast of Buffalo Niagara International Airport, were it was scheduled to land. Forty-four passengers and a crew of five were killed aboard the plane and one person on the ground. Ice buildup on the aircraft may have led to the accident.
Then yesterday
Date: February 25, 2009 Time: 10:31
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Operator: Turkish Airlines Flight: 1951
AC Type: Boeing 737-8F2
Reg: TC-JGE cn: 29789/1065
Aboard: 135 Fatalities: 9 Ground: 0
Route: Istanbul, Turkey – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Details: The plane was on final approach to Runway 18R when it crashed 1 mile short of the runway into a field and broke in three. Nine people were killed and 55 injured.
It seems, after the recent few years, which have seen far less incidents than average, that airplanes are falling from the sky on an almost regular basis.
Looking closer, though, there have been a lot of lucky survivors, surely far more than average. Every passenger survived the Hudson River crash – partly because of the pilot’s superb skills, and partly because of luck… had the incident occurred after nightfall, the story would have been very different… as well as darkness hindering the rescue operation, the surface of water is far harder to see at night, so it would have been almost impossible for the pilot to put the plane down on the water so gently.
The recent Amsterdam crash saw very few fatalities, because there was no fire follwing the crash. Obviously this raises the question was the plane out of fuel…..
But what can we deduce from these three incidents happening so close together?
Are airlines responding to the credit crisis by cutting expensive maintenance?
Are they cutting equally expensive dutting de-icing procedures?
Are they cutting expensive reserve fuel?
Probably not. We have had no holiday bookings for the last 10 days. Then yesterday, 4 bookings were made on the same morning.
Do we deduce that people prefer to book holidays on Wednesdays near to the end of the month? No.
Do we deduce that three recent aircraft incidents are due to cost cutting? No.
No maintenance engineer wants to cut corners on his work. It’s not even his money he’s saving.
No Pilot wants to fly an unsafe aircraft. It’s his neck he’s risking.
I guess it’s just a statistical anomaly which will average out by this time next year. Then again, I’m flying off on holiday soon. So if this blog suddenly stops… you’ll know I was wrong.
