Welcome back to the first FAN column of 2024! Project AeroFlight wishes everyone a Happy New Year. Without further ado, let us jump into the hottest stories from the past few weeks.
By: Haotian
Published On: 7 January 2024, 9.00pm (GMT +8)
Unaccompanied 6 Year old boards wrong Spirit flight, ends up in Orlando instead of Fort Myers
He was due to fly to Fort Myers, where his grandmother was picking him up. Photo: Airbus (airbus.com)
A 6 year old boy, who was flying to Fort Myers, Florida (RSW) to visit his grandmother for the Christmas holidays, ended up in Orlando, Florida (MCO), which was 160 miles away from where he was supposed to be.
The grandmother, who was at Fort Myers Airport to pick up her grandson, who was flying in from Philadelphia, was shocked to find out that the boy was not on the Spirit flight that he was supposed to be on.
After frantically asking a flight attendant inside the plane, who told her that she "had no kids with her", her grandson gave her a call from Orlando, to let her know that he had landed.
In the end, the grandmother had to drive all the way to Orlando Airport to pick up her grandson.
Spirit issued a statement, stating that the boy was under the care of a flight attendant at all times, even though he was on the wrong flight. It continued:
“We take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our Guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family for this experience.”
First Airbus A350-900 to be written off
The Japan Airlines A350-900 was burnt beyond repairs. Photo: Kyodo News (kyodonews.net)
On the 2nd of January 2024, Japan Airlines (JAL) flight 516 from Hokkaido New Chitose Airport (CTS) bound for Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND), crashed with a coast guard plane. It happened on runway 34R of Haneda Aiport, at 5.47pm (GMT +9), according to Flightradar24.
All passengers and crew, which make up a total of 379 people, have been safely evacuated from the blazing aircraft. However, 5 out of 6 crew on the coast guard plane unfortunately did not make it. The crew who managed to escape has also been severely injured.
The Japan Coast Guard plane, a De-Havilland Canada Dash 8 Q300, registered JA722A, which was carrying supplies to the Niigata Airport located at the west coast of Japan, where it was struck by an earthquake on 1 January 2024. It was not cleared onto the runway, rather cleared to hold short of holding point C5.
Pilots on the JAL plane were unaware of the fire when it first broke out and were only made aware of it when informed by the crew members.
The pilots claimed that they had no visual contact of the Japan Coast Guard plane on the runway, although one of them spotted "an object” on the runway right before the collision, according to JAL.
This is the first ever reported hull loss from an A350.
Investigations are ongoing for this unfortunate event. Project AeroFlight sends our sincere condolences for the victims' families and loved ones, and hopes for a speedy recovery for those injured.
USAF Rockwell B-1B Lancer crashes while landing, all crew ejected safely
A B-1B Bomber similar to the one in the crash. Photo: U.S. Strategic Command (stratcom.mil)
On January 4 2024, at around 5.45pm (GMT -7), while a United States Air Force (USAF) Rockwell B-1B Lancer was landing in Ellsworth Air Force Base as part of a training flight, it crashed upon touchdown. All 4 crew within the aircraft was safely ejected, and no injuries were reported. The Air Force Base has confirmed that a board of officers will be tasked to investigate this event, and will release more information once available.
Three crew were treated for minor injuries and subsequently released, while one crew was hospitalised for non life-threatening injuries.
Col. Derek Oakley, commander of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth, said in a statement:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the aircrew and their families as they recover from this event. It is important that we support each other as we work to learn more about what occurred.”
This incident is the USAF's first major incident of 2024.
Images from the cameras used by South Dakota’s Department of Transportation (DOT) have circulated on social media, showing the fire at Ellsworth Air Force Base. However, the picture does not show the state of the aircraft after the crash, nor did it state if the B-1B Lancer would be written off.
The images from South Dakota's DOT. Photo: OSINT Expert on X. (x.com/OsintExperts)
The B-1B Lancer’s prototype made its maiden flight on December 23, 1974. Ronald Reagan saw that the USAF awarded contracts to Rockwell to develop the bomber, which marked the delivery of the first ever B-1B Lancer in 1984. Rockwell only built 104 of these aircrafts, including prototypes, before Boeing took over the job.
Yet another COMAC C919 is delivered to China Eastern
B-919E, the newest addition to China Eastern's C919 fleet. Photo: Air Data News (airdatanews.com)
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has recently delivered its 4th C919 jet to China Eastern. This comes just under a month after the third COMAC C919 aircraft was delivered on December 9 2023, exactly one year after the first C919 aircraft was delivered.
The newest C919 jet is registered B-919E, coming after the previous 3 aircrafts, registered B-919A, B-919C, and B-919D.
The COMAC C919 aircraft took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) at 9.44am (GMT +8) on its ferry flight on 2 January 2024, to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA), where the aircraft landed at 10.02am (GMT +8).
The aircraft is expected to operate the current C919 route, from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) to Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (TFU).
China Eastern has announced that as of 31 December 2023, the COMAC C919 in its fleet has completed 655 flights, and carried close to 82,000 passengers. The airline has ordered 100 more of these C919 jets, with a deal that could be worth up to USD 10 Billion.
Boeing 737 MAX 9 grounded by FAA after side panel blows out midair
This is the 2nd 737 MAX variant to be grounded. Photo: Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a statement on 6 January 2024, which ordered the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets for inspections. This comes one day after an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft's side panel was blown out mid-flight. 215 of such aircrafts are currently operating worldwide.
The Alaska Airlines flight, AS1282, was operating a flight from Portland (PDX) to Ontario (ONT) made an emergency landing back in Portland Airport shortly after the blowout. In the photos shared online, oxygen masks can be seen deployed.
The aircraft with the missing side panel. (Photo: @strawberrvy on instagram.com)
Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported, and all 177 passengers and crew were safe.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement:
“Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB’s investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.”
The grounding will affect about 170 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircrafts. The aircrafts operating within the USA, as well as those operating into the USA, will be affected.
This is the first time a large scale grounding of aircrafts has happened in almost 5 years. The last time involved the Boeing 737 MAX 8 which was grounded after repeated crashes of the particular aircraft prompted an investigation.
This incident was considered a rapid decompression, and almost never happens.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has started investigations on this explosive decompression incident.
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have since grounded these jets.
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