Airbus loses part of engine casing over Germany

[TallDutch]

Airbus loses part of engine casing over Germany
By DPA
Oct 4, 2007, 13:59 GMT



Dusseldorf - A Greek-bound German holiday jet lost part of its engine casing in midair on Thursday, forcing the pilot to make an unscheduled landing, aviation officials said.

The metal parts fell off the LTU Airbus A330 shortly after it left Dusseldorf for Thessalonika with 114 passengers on board.

Two 1-metre-by-1 metre chunks of the metal casing were found in a field near the town of Dormagen.

'We can count ourselves lucky that nobody on the ground was injured,' said a police spokesman.

Local residents alerted police, but the pilot had noticed the parts falling off and returned to Dusseldorf where he landed the plane safely, an airline spokesman said.

The spokesman said their was no danger to the aircraft at any time. An investigation was under way to determine what caused the incident.

The passengers were able to resume their journey on another aircraft five hours later.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/euro ... 362432.php

[earthman]

... LTU Airbus A330 shortly after it left Dusseldorf for Thessalonika with 114 passengers on board.

Now that's a load factor to be proud of...

[Flanders]

... LTU Airbus A330 shortly after it left Dusseldorf for Thessalonika with 114 passengers on board.

Now that's a load factor to be proud of...

Exactly, I was thinking the same. This must be below break-even I guess?

[Denmen]

... LTU Airbus A330 shortly after it left Dusseldorf for Thessalonika with 114 passengers on board.

Now that's a load factor to be proud of...

Exactly, I was thinking the same. This must be below break-even I guess?

Maybe the return flight needed more capacity...
For example on my last holiday to Kos(Greece): On the returnflight the aircraft was just over 50% loaded, but the aircraft arrived fully loaded from Amsterdam, like three other 737-800's in 1 hour time at KGS...
I know this because i asked the reson for this.

[L-1011]

Maybe the journalist made a mistake while writing his article? Hasn't LTU some A320's? The loadfactor would then be more reasonable for the season

[earthman]

Maybe the journalist made a mistake while writing his article? Hasn't LTU some A320's? The loadfactor would then be more reasonable for the season

According to the Dusseldorf airport website, thursday's LTU flight 230 to Thessaloniki was carried out using an A330-300. There is a later flight 230D to Thessaloniki, also using an A330-300. I guess this is the replacement flight.