Posted on 12/27/2005 3:43:04 PM PST by clawrence3
Frontier Airlines Airbus 318 carrying 114 passengers and crew landed safely after being diverted shortly after takeoff from John Wayne Airport because a light indicated a cargo door was unlatched, officials said.
Flight 263, bound for Denver, took off from John Wayne Airport at 11:11 a.m. and the pilot reported that the cargo door indicator light had come on, said FAA spokesman Mike Fergus. The plane was directed to burn off its excess fuel and return to John Wayne Airport.
Emergency equipment and personnel from the Orange County Fire Authority were positioned at the John Wayne runway in case of an accident, but they were told to stand down at about 11:25 a.m. when the flight was diverted to Los Angeles International Airport.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Oh, O.K. - there's also a huge statue of the Duke at the airport : )
Getting a joke in edgewise is getting soo tough on FR these days! ;)
If I were the pilot, I would have. But on the "nosegear" emergency landing at LAX, the passengers watched the whole thing on CNN.
That's why I was asking - the passengers are subjected to breathless reporters saying how doomed they are - it's terrible (IMO).
What they had was a light...just like a open door light in your car...must be a slow news day...
In other news, a snowmachine hit and killed a man in Circle, Alaska today. There are not a lot of people in Circle, but there is one less now.
Perhaps a Dumbcrat.....
Come to think of it, news from Circle is never good news. Last time there was news from Circle it was about an armed standoff. Before that it was about someone who lost control of his chainsaw and split his nose.
Takeoff is similar at Chicago Midway. Plane's @ full throttle for a couple of minutes, then everything is eerily quiet...sounds like they turn the engines OFF.
Yes, John Wayne Airport (Orange County Airport to some) is in Irvine, CA.
And, John Wayne himself is in Newport Beach only a few short miles away from the airport. He's on a nice hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
~:-]
Circle is, oddly enough, located at the Arctic Circle. Not only do they get the endless night this time of year, but they also get the midnight sun in June, although you may have to drive down to Eagle Summit to see it above the Yukon-Tanana Highlands, and the mosquitoes may block it out anyway.
Now, at the same time, I absolutely think it should be the Captain's call - he is responsible for his aircraft and if he thinks that a panic is possible or something like that that could impede his ability to safeguard his passengers and plane, then I think he should have the right to cut things off. But it's something that should be decided by the Captain at the time - and most of the time, I think you're better off letting the passengers see what is happening.
To me it's a matter of respect. And when it comes down to it, most people are capable of acting appropriately - sure, they might be scared, but most people can handle the fear.
Straight up? Well, even if they ARE using full power, that's unusual performance for an airliner. So unusual in fact, that I am slightly sceptical, as in "Whoa, Dude, whatcha smokin'?".
It's a blast. I love flying out of JW Airport.
The procedure is equally troubling to the flight crew. A case where public pressure intimidated the FAA into promulgating regulations that are both unsettling to passengers and can be a source of fatal delays should a contemporaneous loss of power occur.
Unnecessarily steep angles of attack and sudden, substantial changes in power settings, regardless of engine design, are a significant factor in diminishing safety of flight near the ground. An unexpected, momentary power loss, aggravated by obscene deck angles can make for busy hands and frayed nerves in the cockpit during departure.
A fellow named Eisenhower, a corporate legend, once taunted Swiss officials over similar noise abatement procedures. Legend has it that soon after the gear was retracted during takeoff from Zurich, Eisenhower substantially reduced power on the Boeing 707 under his command and glided quietly into a valley off the end of the runway. Just meters above the low terrain he reapplied full power to all four Pratt & Whitneys and roared across the city at low altitude in a thunderous commotion. Both he and the aircraft were not invited back.
I'd suspect union tampering but many aircraft are services out of the country now down in South America.
POSTED: 1:24 pm MST December 27, 2005
UPDATED: 6:39 pm MST December 27, 2005
DENVER -- A Frontier Airlines plane headed to Denver Tuesday morning made an unscheduled landing in Los Angeles after an indicator light warning of an open cargo door flashed on, authorities said.
An emergency was never declared for Flight 263, but the plane burned fuel over the Pacific Ocean for about a half-hour as a precaution. Iit landed safely at LAX at about 1:50 p.m. Denver time.
This Frontier Airbus landed safely at LAX after a cargo door indicator light came on and diverted the plane from its path.
The indicator light, which was flashing intermittently, warns pilots that the cargo door is open but officials don't believe that was the case because if that was true, the cabin pressure would have been unstable and the passenger cabin would have experienced depressurization.
Officials believe the light or a sensor malfunctioned, but forced the plane to land anyway because they wanted to be sure. All other gauges were normal.
The Airbus A318, which had 119 people aboard, left John Wayne Airport in Orange County at 10:50 Pacific Time and was scheduled to land at Denver International Airport at 1:55 p.m. local time.
A Frontier spokesman said the pilot headed to the Los Angeles airport instead of returning to Orange County because Frontier has more maintenance crews at LAX.
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