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When jetliners become gliders.
Finally, Mr. Diblin has researched the actual stats. Supprised us
there have been 14 such incidents in 38 years, but actually remembered almost all. How many flights do you recall? How many unpowered commercial landings since 2001? All airline drivers should be glider bums. Thanks Joe. michael ---------------------------------------------------------------- When jetliners become gliders By Joseph A. Diblin For The Daily Item The continued interest in the Hudson River ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 prompted a couple of former flyboys to learn if there had been other “unpowered” jet airline landings. I asked former flight surgeon and pilot Dr. Robert Yannaconne, of Watsontown, to search the Internet for possible information. He located some surprising results. According to the Internet report, during the period 1963 - 2001, there were 14 other unpowered jet airliner landings in various places in the world where the jet became a glider. When we tallied up the number of passengers and crew involved in the 14 landings, they added up to 1,329, of which 148 were killed and 1,180 survived. If we think about a huge jet aircraft having no power and being forced to set down on land or water, with many passengers surviving, it is rather remarkable. Pilot skill and good training were favorable factors. The two common causes of the jet engine failures were fuel exhaustion and ice or hail ingestion. Birds were not mentioned in this report. Since the Internet account is quite lengthy, I will present just a few representative landings. Case # 1: Aug. 2001, Air Transat. The jet-powered airliner was cruising across the Atlantic Ocean at 39,000 feet on a scheduled flight from Toronto to Lisbon when the right engine stopped. The left engine quit 13 minutes later. Both stopped as a result of fuel starvation caused by a leak in the fuel system. After the second engine stopped, the crew were able to glide the jet for 20 minutes, or about 115 miles, to Lajes Airfield in the Azores, and avert a mid- ocean ditching. None of the crew or 293 passengers were seriously injured. Although the landing gear was damaged during the high-speed landing, the crew was able to stop the aircraft on the runway. Case # 2: July 1983, Air Canada. The plane ran out of fuel because the crew miscalculated the amount on board. They made a safe emergency landing at an abandoned airfield with no serious injuries. The number of passengers was not reported. Case #3: May 1988, TACA Airlines. The flight was approaching the New Orleans airport when it encountered precipitation with large hail. Both jet engines failed at 16,000 feet. The crew had to execute an emergency landing on a grass strip of a levee in the Intercoastal Waterway. During the landing, none of the 45 persons on board were injured. The aircraft was repaired and actually flown off the levee. Case #4: April 1977, Southern Airways. During a flight over Georgia, a DC-9 twin jet flew into a thunderstorm and both engines failed after ingesting hail. The pilot made a forced landing on a road, but struck some trees on the roll. Two of the four crew members and 60 of the 81 passengers died. Case #5: Oct. 1963: Aeroflot. The Russian airliner was on a flight from Estonia to Moscow when a landing gear problem required diversion to Leningrad. Having to hold airborne about 13 miles from Leningrad Airport, the plane ran out of fuel. Similar to the US Airways “Hudson River miracle,” the Russian crew managed to safely land the jet on a nearby river where it remained floating. The jet was towed to the shore and all 52 occupants survived. Case #6: Dec. 1991: SAS Airlines. On departure from Stockholm, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark, both jet engines lost power due to ice ingestion. The ice had formed on the surfaces of the wings overnight and had not been fully removed before takeoff by the de-icing crew. During takeoff, clear ice broke off the wings and was ingested by the jet engines shortly after becoming airborne, resulting in engine failure. The crew made a no-power landing, causing the fuselage to break. However, none on board were killed. During 40 years of flight, I have studied all phases of aviation safety and the accompanying statistics. Year after year, aviation has a far better safety record than that of cars and drivers. When one thinks of the thousands and thousands of takeoffs and landings, it is a remarkable record. There is an old saying in aviation: “The most dangerous part of a trip by air is the drive by car to the airport.” Those who have never flown, or who do so infrequently, tend to fear flying. Humans tend to fear what we don’t know or understand. Trust the statistics. -- Joseph A. Diblin, of Northumberland, was a four-engine pilot during World War II and has worked as a test pilot and civilian flight instructor. Contact him at 473-2594. |
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When jetliners become gliders.
On Feb 15, 7:45*am, wrote:
Finally, Mr. Diblin has researched the actual stats. Supprised us there have been 14 such incidents in 38 years, but actually remembered almost all. How many flights do you recall? How about a successful airliner ditching captured on film? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkR4F3_fEUQ More than 50 years before Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger saved 155 people by ditching a US Airways jetliner in the Hudson River, there was Richard Ogg. The Pan Am pilot successfully ditched a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser in the Pacific Ocean in 1956, saving all 31 people aboard. The heroics became the subject of a book, a movie, television features and training videos. 9B |
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