Welcome back to another FAN column! Much has happened in the past few weeks, and this will bring you a simplified version of it. Without further ado, let us jump into the hottest stories from the past few weeks.
By: Haotian
Published On: 21 January 2024, 9.00pm (GMT +8)
Boeing 737 MAX 9 found with loose bolts after inspections
United has found loose bolts on several 737 MAX 9 aircrafts. Photo: Star Alliance (staralliance.com)
United Airlines has found, on several 737 MAX 9 aircrafts, loose bolts, it said on January 8th 2024, after conducting an investigation on the fleet of 737 MAX 9s which have been grounded since 7 January 2024, after an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9's side panel blew off in-flight.
Anthony Brickhouse, who is an air safety expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University commented:
“It was really important to figure out whether it was that specific aircraft from Friday night, whether it was an issue with Alaska Airlines’ fleet specifically or whether it’s a broader issue that could impact all MAX 9s that have that door. The fact that United has now found some aircraft with loose bolts, that just means that the investigation is going to be expanded. It just illustrates how important it was to ground similar MAX 9s and do those inspections. A lot of times in the industry money and profit are placed before safety. And grounding a specific aircraft isn’t a light decision. It’s a very big decision and it involves money and a lot of cancelled flights. But Alaska Airlines and United Airlines did the right thing in grounding their fleet.”
John Cox, an aircraft safety expert from the United States, added:
“This changes a lot because it is now a fleet problem. This is a quality control problem.”
All Boeing 737 MAX 9 models have been grounded by the FAA. It is unclear when these aircrafts will be ungrounded, but the future of this particular aircraft type seems bleak.
2 passenger aircrafts collide at Hokkaido in heavy snow
The Korean Air A330's winglets clipped the tail of the parked Cathay Pacific 777. Photo: CNN (cnn.com)
On 16 January 2024, at about 5.30pm local time, a Korean Air Airbus A330 aircraft collided with a Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 aircraft, amidst heavy snowfall in Hokkaido New Chitose Airport. The accident happened when the Korean Air plane was preparing for take-off. The fire department said that the Cathay Pacific aircraft was parked on the tarmac when it was struck by the moving Korean Air plane.
There were 289 passengers on board the Korean Air plane and fortunately, no injuries were reported.
No further details, including the damage to the aircraft or what caused the taxiing aircraft to collide with the parked one, were immediately available.
Airport firefighters were called up following the accident.
Cathay Pacific has announced that its 'flight CX583 from Sapporo to Hong Kong will not operate as scheduled.'
On that day, more than 40 flights had been cancelled to and from Hokkaido New Chitose due to heavy snow.
The accident comes barely 2 weeks after a Japan Airlines A350-900 collided with a Japan Coast Guard Dash-8 aircraft.
Atlas Air Boeing 747 catches fire, returns to Miami
N859GT was operating a 2 hour flight to San Juan from Miami. photo: Air Cargo Eye (aircargoeye.com)
An Atlas Air Boeing 747-8F, registered N859GT, suffered an engine fire after takeoff from Miami International Airport at about 10.32pm local time, and subsequently made an emergency landing back at the airport on 19 January 2024. The Atlas Air flight 5Y95 was headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Miami International Airport late on Thursday.
The plane with five crew members turned back to Miami at only about 3700 feet and landed safely. Fortunately no casualties were reported.
John Cox, a U.S. air safety expert, commented that even though a single engine failure is typically not a cause for concern, this incident seemed like an uncontained engine failure.
“On the interior of that engine there are a lot of rotating parts including blades. An engine is designed to try and contain a blade separation and they do testing and certification for it. But it does happen that you get an uncontained engine failure. When you do, it does elevate the investigative significance of it."
N859GT, an 8 year old aircraft, has no previous records of incidents.
Jetblue and Spirit's merger declined, appeal filed
JetBlue and Spirit's USD 3.8 Billion merger deal has been declined. Photo: The Hill (thehill.com)
Jetblue's attempt to acquire Spirit Airlines has been denied by Judge William G. Young, who, on January 16 2024, announced the verdict, claiming the merger would be uncompetitive for passengers in the United States.
However, Jetblue and Spirit have appealed the merger block, as they claim:
“We continue to believe that our combination is the best opportunity to increase much needed competition and choice by bringing low fares and great service to more customers in more markets while enhancing our ability to compete with the dominant U.S. carriers.”
In July 2022, JetBlue announced its plans to acquire Spirit, which was initially supposed to be acquired by Frontier Airlines. A lawsuit was filed to block the merger, and after a trial in 2023, the judge finally gave his verdict.
Spirit is America's leading low-cost airline. However, it has been predicted that Spirit will not be able to hold on by themselves for much longer, so either a merger, or a filing for bankruptcy, must be made.
Lufthansa Cargo grounds their Airbus A321-200P2F after Cracks in Fuselage
The A321-200P2F was swiftly grounded after cracks were discovered. Photo: Air Cargo News (aircargonews.com)
Lufthansa Cargo has grounded two of its A321-200P2Fs after discovering a crack in their fuselage, raising concerns for the conversion from the passenger version to the freighter version. The grounding of Lufthansa Cargo’s freighters is the first for the A321.
Lufthansa currently operates a fleet of 4 converted Airbus A321-200 freighters, and the inaugural delivery, was in January 2022.
The cracks were discovered during a routine inspection in early January 2024. This prompted Lufthansa Cargo to ground all four of their A321-200P2Fs. Two of the four aircrafts subsequently returned back to service, while two still remain grounded. The aircraft which the first crack was discovered on was the aircraft registered D-AEUC.
D-AEUC, which is 15 years old, had remained parked in Serbia since 26 December 2023, while the second grounded aircraft, D-AEUI, which is 11 years old, had remained parked in Frankfurt since 9 January 2024.
An expert in passenger-to-freighter conversion told Simple Flying News:
“I doubt very seriously it’s ‘nothing.’ Usually, when you find the same cracks on an 11-year-old aircraft and an unrelated 15-year-old aircraft, something is up,” the source said. “This area of the EFW A321 has a permanent ballast fixture which is very heavy and probably has concentrated loads on the structure.”
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