Incident Log

[lbaspotter]

Cessna Citation 501 crashes at Birmingham Airport

Hi all

Looks like there has been a serious incident at Birmingham Airport this evening. Reports say that a Cessna Citation has crashed onto the runway and bust into flames. 2 people have been rescued, The aircraft was carrying an organ transplant which looks to have been safely delivered to the city's Queen Elizabeth Hospital by a police motorbike.

The airport will remain closed until at least 06:00GMT on Saturday, November 20th 2011. Inbound flights have been diverted to Manchester, East Midlands and Bristol Airports this evening.

Latest from BBC News website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11799829

Birmingham Airport shut as transplant aircraft crashes

Birmingham Airport has been closed until 0600 GMT on Saturday after a small private jet carrying a liver for transplant crashed on a runway.

Two people were taken to hospital after the plane came down in fog.

The airport said the aircraft had hit its landing system antennae. One eyewitness said the plane was on fire as it came in to land at 1535 GMT.

The organ was safely delivered to the city's Queen Elizabeth Hospital by a police motorbike

The aircraft burst into flames after landing in fog

'Big fireball'

The hospital said the liver would be used for transplant on Friday evening after being clinically assessed.

Eyewitness
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch will review whether to open the airport on Saturday morning, the airport's chief executive Paul Kehoe said.

The aircraft involved was a private Cessna Citation 501 which was travelling from Belfast to Birmingham.

Mr Kehoe said the plane hit the instrument landing system glide path antennae (ILS) and had come to rest about 130m (426ft) to the right hand side of the southerly-facing runway.

Eyewitness Dennis Gough, who was playing golf on a course by the runway at the time of the crash, said: "As it was coming to land [the aircraft] was on fire and as it approached the runway it looked like it was leaning to one side slightly.

"Then, once it hit the runway there were sort of flames alongside the runway then it broke into a big fireball."

One man, believed to be in his 50s, was seriously injured and was airlifted to hospital, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.

The second person, a man thought to be in his 30s, was treated for burns to his body and a back injury.

Passengers due to use the airport have been advised to contact their airline first.

"The incident occurred on arrival into the airport and the emergency services are in attendance," an airport spokesman said.

"The airport is currently closed."

Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive of Birmingham Airport, said passengers should contact their airline

'Flash burns'

Manchester Airport and East Midlands Airport said they were taking diverted flights from Birmingham.

Peter Buettner, who was on a flight from Hamburg to Birmingham before it was diverted to Manchester, said: "I was trapped on the plane for two hours. The only explanation we got was that there were no buses available to take us to the tunnel.

"Staff were not allowed to serve us drinks, due to custom regulations they said. Only after lengthy discussions between passengers and staff were we then given some water."

BBC journalist Joe Baldwin, who was a passenger on another plane at Birmingham Airport, said he was on the aircraft for about 40 minutes when news of the incident came through and they had to disembark.

He said: "What was particularly interesting was at the point when I got on the plane it was a winter afternoon but relatively clear but 40 minutes later by the time I got off the plane it was zero visibility - an absolute blanket of fog had descended."

Police said the A45 near to the airport was closed and commuters were advised to avoid the area.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cessna Citation 501 crashes at Birmingham Airport

This is the second serious Citation incident at BHX in the last couple of years or so. The two are not connected of course.

 

[lbaspotter]

Re: Cessna Citation 501 crashes at Birmingham Airport

Latest update. Airport runway and operations now closed until 12:00GMT Lunch time on Saturday 20/11/10

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cessna Citation 501 crashes at Birmingham Airport

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq-ZBLM6EVY&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cessna Citation 501 crashes at Birmingham Airport

Every cloud has a silver lining as they say....

[textarea]Transplant success after Birmingham Airport crash

A transplant operation was successful after the patient's new liver was saved from the wreckage of a plane crash at Birmingham Airport on Friday afternoon, the BBC reports. The organ was onboard the aircraft, which was flying in from Belfast, that hit the airport's landing system antennae and then crashed near the runway.

The transplant organ was safely delivered to the hospital by a police motorbike following the crash. Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital said the liver was not damaged and was able to be transplanted ‘successfully’.

The pilot of the crashed plane was seriously injured and another man had minor injuries. Thousands of people had their flights affected as the airport's runway was shut for nearly 24 hours. Flights are now returning to normal.

Source[/textarea]

 

[lbaspotter]

Diverted plane comes off taxi-way (Tuesday 21/12/10)

Yet another incident at Birmingham airport today,

A Emirates Airlines, Boeing 777 that diverted inbound from London Heathrow due to the on going freezing weather conditions accidently taixed on to the grass and got one set of wheels suck in the grass after a routin landing..

Source BBC News = http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12053570

A plane diverted from London Heathrow due to the freezing weather conditions has partly come off the taxi-way at Birmingham Airport.

The Emirates aircraft, a Boeing 777-300ER, was carrying 282 passengers and landed routinely at 1354 GMT, Birmingham Airport said.

While proceeding to the terminal, it "inadvertently" taxied on to the grass, leaving a set of wheels stuck.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Incident from back in Feb involving one of the Antonovs which were a regular at the time.

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/bul ... ur_dwf.cfm

Summary:

Whilst negotiating a gap between parked aircraft under the guidance of a marshaller and two assistants, the aircraft’s right wing struck the tailplane of one of the parked aircraft. The aircraft did not follow marshalling signals precisely and the marshaller and his assistants, one of whom was not trained in his assigned role, did not stop the aircraft before the collision had taken place. The gap provided less than the recommended minimum wing tip clearance.

 

[Ray Finkle]

A Helvetic F100, HB-JVC, made an emergency landing this morning arriving with no flaps.

 

[Ray Finkle]

BHX currently shut due to an Aurela 737 sliding off whilst vacating the runway. All arrivals were put into a hold with Monarch 959 apparently declaring a fuel emergency and diverting to East Mids. Looks like it may be shut for several hours.

 

[channex 757]

I wonder how it skidded of like that? May it of not slowed down enough on its landing roll or aquaplaned around the corner?

 

[Ray Finkle]

The runway is hopefully to open in the near future to departures only from 'Bravo' intersection, giving a reduced distance take off. Looks as though most arrivals have gone to Liverpool and East Mids which is apparently filling up rather quickly.

The BHX website has this at the top

Flight disruption

An incident involving Monarch flight ZB467 arriving from Nice and operated by AURELA Airlines occurred at 13.11 this afternoon. Passengers have disembarked the aircraft by the steps and are currently being looked after in the terminal, no one was hurt. Flight arrivals and departures are affected with possible delays and diversions to other airports; passengers and those meeting friends and family at the airport should contact the airline directly. More information will be provided as soon as it becomes available.
Last updated: 9 minutes ago [21st September, 2012 @ 14:48 GMT+1]

 

[Aviador]

Thanks for the pictures Ray.

At least everybody is safe which is the main thing. 'channex 757' I've just being reading about Glasgow Prestwick being closed (yesterday?) because of flooding on the runway so your theory might be right.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's slightly unusual to see a 737 vacating right at the end of the runway, aircraft that size usually vacate at the Bravo turn off.

Reports are Monarch have now suspended the use of Aurela.

 

[Aviador]

It looks like the aircraft was still going at a fair speed as it tried to vacate at the end of the runway onto the taxiway. It looks like the aircraft may have landed late or it may have even suffered from brake failure.

Complete speculation of course and we'll only find out what really happened after a full investigation.

 

[channex 757]

Looking at the pictures, it looks as if the flaps aren't deployed. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

 

[tleeds]

Interesting news from the BBC Article posted just over an hour ago..!

[textarea]Birmingham Airport plane skids off runway

Flights were suspended for two hours at Birmingham Airport after a plane skidded off the runway.

The airport said the Monarch-chartered flight ZB467, from Nice in France, skidded off the runway at 13:10 BST.

The airport said the Boeing 737 was operated by Lithuanian firm Aurela Airlines.

Monarch said it was the same 737 which left 150 people stranded in Tenerife last month when a door broke. It said it had suspended the use of Aurela.

None of the 135 passengers involved in Friday's incident were injured.

Passengers said there had first appeared to be problems with the aircraft's brakes as it was being taxied in Nice, and described it as a "very old plane".[/textarea]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-19676990 - 21/09/2012 17:10GMT

It could just be the passengers opinions, with the media adding their own twist with words, but it does show signs that there were concerns before the aircraft even departed, and with consistent problems being highlighted a week before can only mean an event, such as the one that has happened today, was inevitable..!

They say is was an old plane, but old planes can be flown methodically and regularly without any problems e.g. Jet2 and a lot of airlines in the US with their old aircraft. As long as the aircraft is maintained correctly there shouldn't be a problem..

If they are suspending the use of this aircraft, they will need to find one pretty quickly to cover the rest of the flying programme as well!

Monarch crews aren't trained on this aircraft, so am I right in thinking that this aircraft is operated by Aurela crews..?

The link to the Tenerife issue is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-19319612

Update

Just seen in the article that Monarch say: "the plane was being taxied to the terminal in Birmingham when "one set of wheels left the taxi way bringing the aircraft to a stop"...

 

[Ray Finkle]

Monarch crews aren't trained on this aircraft, so am I right in thinking that this aircraft is operated by Aurela crews..?

As far as I'm aware it's Aurela crews with a member of Monarch cabin crew also on board.

Apparently Monarch will now be using a Titan Airways 737.

 

[Aviador]

Monarch crews aren't trained on this aircraft, so am I right in thinking that this aircraft is operated by Aurela crews..?

As far as I'm aware it's Aurela crews with a member of Monarch cabin crew also on board.

Apparently Monarch will now be using a Titan Airways 737.

Ray is right. The operating crew are responsible for the safety of the aircraft and passengers, Monarch will have provided the in-flight service during the flight.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Laser pen attacks at BHX have trebled seeing 220 in the last two years, with targets from the police helicopter to the C-17/Tristar medevac flights. This is by no means a problem exclusively to Birmingham but it highlights a growing and very dangerous issue. I've had a laser pen shone at me whilst driving a car at night and even then being 'blind' for those brief moments wasn't nice, I can't imagine what it must be like in the cockpit when on final approach.

Thugs are using powerful lasers to target airliners, police helicopters and even military transporters bringing wounded troops into Birmingham.

There have been more than 220 separate laser attacks reported in the West Midlands in the last two years, according to alarming new figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The worrying statistics, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed one attack on the police helicopter last year came from the open window of a mosque in Small Heath.

Laser beams were also spotted coming from bedroom windows, hotels, moving cars and even an unnamed Midland sports stadium as planes came into land in Birmingham.

Chillingly, there have also been three separate attacks against military aircraft bringing in injured troops for treatment in Birmingham.

The first was on May 4, 2011, when a plane was targeted by a green laser as it made its final approach to the airport.

The second attack was on September 15 that year when another military aircraft was flying at 4,000 feet, west of the M6 near Cannock.

Two weeks later there was a third incident when a plane flying at 2,000ft was targeted by a laser as it came in to land.

In some of the 220 incidents pilots have been targeted by multiple lasers with the cockpit lit up with red, blue and green lights.

In one attack in July 2011 the police helicopter was targeted by FOUR different beams as it hovered one mile south-west of the airport.

Nearly 700 incidents involving aircraft in or above the West Midlands were reported to the Civil Aviation Authority, including bird strikes, emergency landings, a bomb threat and the closure of the airfield because of a flying kite.

There was also a missed landing because a dog was loose on the taxiways – and the Air Ambulance hospitalised a bystander who was injured by flying pallets when it took off.

But nearly a third of all incidents relate to laser attacks.

Full article: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/lo ... ry-4828393

 

[Ray Finkle]

Atlantic Airlines 737 is holding over Redditch with flap problems.