PlasticPilot.net

Avatar

Fuselages made of composite are like plastic - I'm the Plastic Pilot who flies the plastic planes
This is my website, and it's about modern general aviation, glass-cockpits, FADECs, but also aviation in general

Photos of Swiss Airbus Emegrency Landing because of bomb threat

On the 23rd of August, a Swiss Airbus 320 flying from Zurich to Malaga as LX 2114 made an emergency landing in Geneva, because of a bomb threat. Eventually, it revealed a false alert, but the airport was closed for 65 minutes, and the suspense lasted for quite a while. I landed one hour before, and when I left the clubhouse the passengers had already evacuated the plane using the slides, but the aircraft itself was still on the runway.

The resolution of this picture is rather low, as I took it from a position 1500 meters away, with a standard lens. At this moment, the fire brigade was waiting away from the runway. I have no information regarding where the inspection took place: on the runway, or later on.

A bit later, some ground staff climbed on board for inspection. Some of them also inspected the wings, probably to check the opened emergency exits. The small yellow dots on and below the right side wing (left on the picture) are the high visibility jackets of the ground staff. One of their role was also to remove the slides, before pulling the plane to a less critical place.

Given how close they are, I suppose (and hope) that the level of danger was already low. The tractor is already in place on this picture. No one there could tell me if the driver was from the fire brigade, or from the standard staff. This is anyway a high-risk job, just like getting on-board a potentially bombed plane.

The aircraft was finally pulled to an area close of threshold 05, passing in front of the main terminal, and other parking position. Because of this path, and of the long time spent on the runway, I suppose that at least a first inspection took place on the runway. I took better pictures while the planned passed-by.

The two black holes over the wings are the emergency exits - the ones that the passengers open by themselves and throw out of the plane, as shown on the safety procedures.

If you enjoyed this post, don't keep it secret !


Category: Air Accidents, On Airports and Airlines
Tags:



One more Qantas incident - The law of series ?

Three days after the in-flight depressurization of a Qantas Boeing 747, it was the turn of a Qantas 737 bound to Melbourne that had to return to Adelaide, after a door opened in flight. Flight QF692 landed safely, no one got hurt. The news was released by the AFP, and is relayed by skynews only by the time I’m writing this post.

I’m quite sure that most general audience media will jump on that occasion to make good results, particularly during a time of year which is not full of other news. An airline having two incidents within three days is the holy Grail of media, just like landing in London City is mine.

Is there a link between the two incidents ? It’s way too early to say anything. The investigations are just starting, and despite various rumors, no official, reliable information is available. The two aircraft were not of the same type (Boeing 737 vs. Boeing 747), and were not operating the same kind of flight (Domestic vs. Intercontinental).

Had the first incident not occured, would anyone mention the second one ? I don’t know how many planes come back to land daily, but given the total number of flights, there are probably a few dozen of them. So please, don’t take part in the propagation of silly rumors.

I feel like I’m constantly repeating myself here, but the only responsible attitude is to wait for the official reports. Because of the media pressure, and because commenting and making hypothesis is in human nature, it’s not easy to refrain. As a blogger, I could get much more visitors by claiming I know the truth about accidents, but that would be wrong, and morally arguable.

Be sure that I’ll wait for the reports, and comment them when they’ll be issued. Until that, 7600, if you see what I mean …

UPDATE: Click here to read the BBC coverage… not surprisingly, most of their online article refers to the first of the two incidents…

If you enjoyed this post, don't keep it secret !


Category: Air Accidents
Tags:


   

Partners


     

Blogs networks