by Lufthansa Flyer | Apr 10, 2012 | Industry News |
Korean Air flight 072 originating from Vancouver, heading for Seoul tonight was forced to make an emergency landing at a Canadian Base after a bomb threat was apparently called into the Airline’s call center. The plane landed safely and the airline is trying to determine the next steps. This is the second bomb threat in as many days for flight 072. On Monday, a bomb threat was called in before the flight departed, leading to a 2 hour delay in order to rescreen passengers and inspect the aircraft.
Here is CNN’s brief article on the developing event:
(CNN) — NORAD jet fighters intercepted a Korean Air passenger jet and escorted it to a safe emergency landing at a military base on Vancouver Island in British Columbia after the airline received a bomb threat, officials said Tuesday.
Two F-15 fighter jets escorted the Boeing 777 to 19 Wing Comox on Vancouver Island in British Columbia because of a threat associated with the aircraft, a NORAD spokeswoman said.
The incident occurred at approximately 5:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m ET), said Maj. Holly Apostoliuk of NORAD in Canada.
The F-15s that conducted the intercept were scrambled from Portland, Oregon, she said.
Penny Pfaelzer, a spokeswoman for Korean Air, said the airline received a bomb threat at its Los Angeles call center.
The incident occurred 25 minutes after Flight KE072 took off from Vancouver International Airport, when the U.S. call center received a threat that an explosive was on board the aircraft, she said. “After discussion with the related departments, we decided to turn the aircraft,” she said.
The plane landed at Comox, which is 70 miles northwest from Vancouver.
The airline will decide about continuing the flight after discussion with the airport and the related authorities, she said.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Apr 10, 2012 | Airlines, Industry News |
According to an Airliner.de article today (In German), it appears that Austrian’s board will decide the fate of the carrier on April 19 during a scheduled board meeting.
As had been discussed in an earlier blog entry, Austrian (part of the Lufthansa Group) has been debating whether or not to move the airline to it’s Tyrolean subsidiary and apply Tyrolean’s business structure to Austrian.
Austrian has been operating at a loss for some time and a decision to save Austria’s national carrier needs to be made. Under the proposal submitted to the board, The Austrian logo and flight numbers would remain in tact, but the airline would change it’s name to Tyrolean Airways, to match the subsidiary name.
The primary driver for this move is to improve operational performance and reduce expenses. Tyrolean also has a far different structure in place in terms of employer/employee agreements. It is believed that adopting Austrian to the Tyrolean platform will help save Austrian and keep their planes flying. From the employee perspective, especially the pilots, it will require them to adapt to a compensation model that is not nearly as generous as Austrian’s current arrangement. This can lead to an exodus of pilots from Austrian, especially since they are eligible to receive special compensation based on triggering events such as a merger or “re-tooling” of the airline’s structure. Emirates has made it no secret that they would be interested in this outflow of Austrian pilots.
No doubt that there will be much more to this as the meeting date nears.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Apr 6, 2012 | Airlines, Industry News |
Following up the story I posted earlier this week where a United Expressjet flight from Peoria, Illinois had made an emergency landing at Denver, it was revealed today that the Air Traffic Controller in charge of the flight had initially dismissed the aircraft’s emergency call as a prank. Apparently prank calls are problematic because anyone with a two-way radio with aviation frequency ability can call in an emergency if they are in range of an airport. I personally have one of these radios and can attest that this is completely possible. When I was learning to fly, I always carried this kind of radio as a back up in my flight bag.
In today’s story from the Associated Press(AP), it was discovered that there was a fair amount of confusion in the communication between ATC and the aircraft. The pilot had called in a “smoke in the cockpit” emergency and requested emergency clearance. When ATC tried to confirm the details, it apparently used a different flight number that led to the confusion. Which then led to the assumption that it was a phony call.
Fortunately the aircraft did make a safe landing and only one passenger needed to be taken to a hospital. This story definitely puts into the spotlight the risks that exist in clear communications between aircraft and ATC, not to mention the potential for a 3rd party to wreak havoc by interfering with aircraft and controllers on the ground.
Here is the AP article:
DENVER (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after an air traffic controller was accused of ignoring a request for an emergency landing in Denver after a commercial airline pilot reported smoke in the cabin.
The controller thought the call was a prank and dismissed the emergency call minutes later, according to recordings obtained by KUSA-TV (http://on9news.tv/HkWYhP).
The United Express plane from Peoria, Ill., was evacuated Tuesday after the plane landed at Denver International Airport. An FAA report said firefighters extinguished a fire in the instrument panel.
The recordings show that the controller apparently misunderstood the call letters of the airliner. According to KUSA-TV, a voice from the cockpit, either the co-pilot or pilot, is heard saying, “Emergency, smoke in the cockpit, roll trucks please” as the plane came in for a landing.
A controller in the tower responds, asking, “Who was that?”
The voice responded “5912” — the flight number that air controllers were tracking.
After some confusion, the controller responds about 10 seconds later, asking: “United 12, what’s your position?”
After no response, more time elapsed before the controller says, “Did you hear that? I know that’s BS. I know it is.” Controllers said they were not aware of a United Flight 12.
Airline analysts say fake calls are a problem that can originate from anyone near the airport with a radio.
Controllers apparently realized the mistake when the pilot made another emergency call saying the plane had already landed and was evacuating on the runway. It was only then that fire trucks responded.
One of the 21 passengers was taken to the hospital.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the investigation has been turned over to the FAA, which said it would comment later Friday. The airline did not respond to requests for comment.
