11 JAN 2010 _________________________________________ *Plane arrives safely at Newark after landing gear failure *Boeing 737-800 Engine Failure (Sweden) *UAE to beef up airline safety inspections *Incident: ANZ A320 near Brisbane on Jan 10th 2010, cracked windshield *Aircraft makers slapped for lagging on fixing recorders *Martinair 767 slides onto grass during engine test run ***************************************** Plane arrives safely at Newark after landing gear failure Passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 634 brace for a crash after one of the landing gears refuses to deploy, but the plane lands smoothly. Newark, N.J. (AP) - A United Airlines jetliner landed Sunday without one of its landing gears fully deployed after a frightening few moments for passengers, who were braced in the crash position before an "unbelievably smooth" touchdown that drew cheers. All 53 people aboard got off the plane safely. Flight 634 from Chicago was approaching Newark Liberty International Airport about 9 a.m. when the plane began ascending again, said passenger Paul Wasylyszyn of Chicago. Then the plane began circling the airport, said Jim Falk of Middletown, N.J., who was sitting near the front. "Normally a big plane like that doesn't do a bypass, so we knew something was wrong," said Falk, 40. The captain came on the intercom, advising the 48 passengers that there was "an issue" with one of the landing gears on the Airbus 319 and that they were trying to fix it. "They did a great job," Falk said of the captain and crew. "There was no yelling, screaming, panicking or anything." The mood stayed calm even when passengers were instructed to prepare themselves for a crash, said Falk. He sent several text messages to his wife, who was on her way to pick him up, about what was happening. Passengers braced themselves, Falk said. They would land in three minutes, the passengers were told. And then: "We went down the runway, however they did it," Falk said. "If you didn't know they were missing a set of wheels, you wouldn't have thought there was something wrong," Wasylyszyn said. Passengers cheered and sighed when the plane came to a stop, Wasylyszyn said. Then they hurried out through the emergency exits. "I've had a lot of worse landings at Newark before," said another passenger, Paul Lasiuk, 46, of Chicago. "It was unbelievably smooth." United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said it was not immediately clear what caused the malfunction in the right landing gear. When the aircraft landed, part of its belly struck the runway, she said, and the right wing was damaged. United announced that it would refund the fares of all the flight's passengers. Falk said he was especially thankful to have an experienced pilot at the controls. United spokesman Michael Trevino said the airline would not release the name of the flight's captain Sunday. After the crew reported the problem, Newark airport was closed for about 20 minutes, said a spokesman. http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-newark-landing11-2010jan1 1,0,2341013.story ***** Status: Preliminary Date: 10 JAN 2010 Time: 09:30 Type: Airbus A319-131 Operator: United Airlines Registration: N816UA C/n / msn: 871 First flight: 1998-07-31 (11 years 6 months) Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 48 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 53 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Newark-Liberty International Airport, NJ (EWR) (United States of America) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, IL (ORD/KORD), United States of America Destination airport: Newark-Liberty International Airport, NJ (EWR/KEWR), United States of America Flightnumber: 634 Narrative: An Airbus A319-131, registered N816UA, was damaged when it landed at Newark-Liberty International Airport, NJ (EWR) with its right hand main landing gear retracted. The occupants were evacuated using the emergency slides. United Airlines flight UA634 departed Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, IL (ORD) left the gate at 05:51 on a domestic passenger flight to Newark-Liberty International Airport, NJ (EWR). The flight was expected to land at Newark about 09:00 local time. While on finals, about 08:54 the crew apparently experienced problems getting the undercarriage down and locked. The crew carried out a missed approach and climbed to an altitude of 2000 feet. The flight circled the area West of the airport before a new approach was carried out to runway 04L. The airplane landed with the right main gear retracted and came to rest on the runway with the nr.2 engine touching the runway surface. (aviation-safety.net) *************** Boeing 737-800 Engine Failure (Sweden) Date: 10-JAN-2010 Time: 1800 Type: 737-800 Operator: Ryanair Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Airplane damage: Unknown Location: Skavsta - Sweden Phase: En route Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Tammerfors Destination airport: Frakfurt Narrative: Plane from Tammerfors in Finland made an emergency landing at Skavsta Airport. The aircraft sufferd an engine failiure Sources: http://www.aftonbladet.se/senastenytt/ttnyheter/inrikes/article6407316.ab (aviation-safety.net) ***************** UAE to beef up airline safety inspections ABU DHABI, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Aviation authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have planned to set up a special inspection team to oversee foreign airlines that use the Gulf nation as a base, part of efforts to raise air safety standards after a cargo plane crash last October, state-run newspaper The National reported Sunday. The team will be tasked with making sure that all foreign airlines meet national safety standards and could also decide whether problem carriers should be blacklisted, the paper said. "It's part of a transformation of regulatory oversight, and the good thing is that we have the support of all the other airports," Ismail Mohammed al-Balooshi, the head of safety with the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), was quoted as saying. The GCAA aims to close a legal loophole that allows foreign airlines to fly in and out of the UAE without undergoing safety inspections, he said. Al-Balooshi added that the special inspection team, likely to be based in the northeastern city of Sharjah, will be introduced by the end of this year and will have as many as 60 investigators by 2011. Last October, all six crew members on board were killed when a Sudanese cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off from Sharjah airport, causing concerns over air safety in the UAE. As part of the UAE's air safety drive, the GCAA last week asked all foreign carriers with aircraft registered in the country to report any safety problems to the regulator through a new online system, The National said. The paper reported last November that at least six aircraft operators banned by the European Union (EU) regularly use airports in the UAE. According to The National, carriers banned by the EU include passenger and cargo aircraft operators based in East European and Central and South Asian nations, many of which have been barred from European airspace due to "serious safety deficiencies." http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/10/content_12785529.htm **************** Incident: ANZ A320 near Brisbane on Jan 10th 2010, cracked windshield An Air New Zealand Airbus A320-200, registration ZK-OJN performing flight NZ-171 from Auckland (New Zealand) to Cairns,QL (Australia) with 118 passengers, was enroute at FL340, when the left hand windshield (captain's side) developed a large Y-shaped crack in its inner pane. The crew initiated a normal descent to FL230 and diverted to Brisbane,QL (Australia) 750nm southeast of Cairns. The airplane landed safely in Brisbane 40 minutes after the crack developed. The passengers were taken to Brisbane hotels over night and were flown to Cairns the following day. The windshield was replaced over night, and the airplane returned to Auckland as positioning flight NZ-6292 on Jan 11th. http://avherald.com/h?article=4259962e&opt=0 **************** Aircraft makers slapped for lagging on fixing recorders U.S. aviation regulators criticized aircraft manufacturers including Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS for failing to prepare for a rule requiring them to upgrade flight recorders on new planes. The Federal Aviation Administration "is seriously disappointed with the manufacturers," the agency said in a Federal Register notice last week. The FAA issued a final rule in March 2008 requiring manufacturers to upgrade the "black boxes," recorders that help federal investigators determine the causes of accidents. The rule required changes such as giving cockpit voice recorders 10 minutes of backup power after aircraft systems are lost, and having flight-data recorders more frequently sample movements of controls such as tail parts and foot pedals. The board has said deficient recorders hampered several investigations, including the crash of Swissair Flight 111 near Nova Scotia, Canada. Voice and data recorders stopped working almost six minutes before the MD-11 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 1998. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100110/BIZ/1100315/1076/BIZ/Aircraft+ma kers+slapped+for+lagging+on+fixing+recorders ***************** Martinair 767 slides onto grass during engine test run One of Dutch carrier Martinair's Boeing 767s has slid on to the grass at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport during an engine test run. The 767-300ER, one of four in Martinair's fleet, was at the dedicated engine test-run area at Schiphol East when the accident happened around 08:30 today. Only two Martinair technicians were on board at the time. Both were unhurt. A Martinair spokeswoman says that the test run was part of the airline's regular engine inspection procedure. She understands that the aircraft was chocked, as is standard procedure for such tests. Ground conditions at the time were slippery, she says: "We're covered in snow and ice here." The aircraft was due to be recovered today, with a damage inspection taking place afterwards. Martinair says the incident did not affect its flight schedule. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC