Emergency landing of an Air India B747-400

hakan · Post by **hakan** » 20 Dec 2005, 11:57

I have some patchy news that an Air India B747-400 had an emergency landing at Los Angeles airport.During take off rear tyre blown and the pilot had to circle the aircraft over ocean to dump the fuel and later tried a successful emergency landing at L.A. airport.Rear of the aircraft generated lots of flame after landing, but the fire brigade was able to cool down the aircraft.All crew and passenger were safe.

Anyone else has more info or pictures about this?????

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 20 Dec 2005, 12:07

You can watch some videos here: http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_354022709.html

It's reported to be VT-AIM

Chris

hakan · Post by **hakan** » 20 Dec 2005, 12:15

Thanks for the link.It is amazing to watch the video clip to see what happened.Thanks to the skilled pilots that there are no serious injuries.

website-info · Post by **website-info** » 20 Dec 2005, 12:24

just a small point, it's actually Air India not Indian Airlines (that's another airline in India)

T

hakan · Post by **hakan** » 20 Dec 2005, 12:28

website-info wrote:just a small point, it's actually Air India not Indian Airlines (that's another airline in India)

T

Thanks I have just edited the article.

itsdoctorv · Post by **itsdoctorv** » 20 Dec 2005, 13:58

Anybody knows how fast a 747 can dump fuel? And given a max TOM, how much needs to be dumped/burned to get to max LM?

Thanks!

Docv

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 20 Dec 2005, 14:42

hakan wrote:Thanks for the link.It is amazing to watch the video clip to see what happened.Thanks to the skilled pilots that there are no serious injuries.

Yes, i agree. It is the quick thinking and experience of the Pilot/s who made it possible. Kudos to them.

chunk · Post by **chunk** » 20 Dec 2005, 14:50

Probably just in case there was another knock on problem from the first one. Would you want them to continue if you were on the plane? Not sure if I would!

I wonder if this has anything to do with the overweight cabin crew mentioned in another recent AI article!!

regi · Post by **regi** » 20 Dec 2005, 14:59

blowing a tyre can cause serious structural damage. Maybe the landing gear could not be retracted safely.

regi · Post by **regi** » 20 Dec 2005, 15:00

I wonder now where all those Airbus bashers are after that blocked landing gear on the Airbus?

chunk · Post by **chunk** » 20 Dec 2005, 15:18

Was it not a blown tyre that assisted n the concorde crash?

Knight255 · Post by **Knight255** » 20 Dec 2005, 15:43

Anybody knows how fast a 747 can dump fuel?

I was wondering the same thing. I'm guessing that they dumped over 100,000 lbs. of fuel for that long-haul journey.

itsdoctorv · Post by **itsdoctorv** » 20 Dec 2005, 16:43

That would be an argument, but I can hardly see further problems originate from blowing a tyre

Yes but you have to remember that by opting to land back at your departure airport, you have KNOWN landing conditions. Especially with long haul, even though you might be flying to an airport suitable to make a landing with a blown tyre, the conditions in 8,10, 12 hours from now are not known with certainty. Winds could be stronger than expected, temperature higher, precipitation heavier, etc. Even worse, you might have to divert if your destination is closed due to weather or another emergency. You are now facing the prospect of perhaps landing at an airport with a smaller runway and lesser emergency services.

I would definitely be unimpressed if they had carried on to destination instead of going back to LAX.

DocV

744rules · Post by **744rules** » 20 Dec 2005, 17:04

itsdoctorv wrote:Anybody knows how fast a 747 can dump fuel? And given a max TOM, how much needs to be dumped/burned to get to max LM?

Thanks!

Docv

Max TOW 744 is about 394t
max landing weight is 285t (pax) and 302t (freighter)

I have to look up how fast fuel can be dumped, but if you look at the weights, the flight has to dump about 100t

PYX · Post by **PYX** » 20 Dec 2005, 18:23

regi wrote:I wonder now where all those Airbus bashers are after that blocked landing gear on the Airbus?

Apples and oranges. Blown tires happen every now and then to every aircraft. The Airbus blocked nose gear problem is a recurring one that would indicate a design or manufacturing flaw.