Maybe it's because I've been more focused on travel (and spending too much time on Twitter) since starting this blog but we've had a ton of incidents over the last couple of days involving airplanes striking the ground, birds, or other aircraft.
Air Transat A330 and Emirates 777 Collide in Miami
I first saw news from Miami regarding a collision between an Air Transat A330 and an Emirates 777 on April 13th. The A330 had just arrived from Toronto when it made contact with a parked Emirates 777 preparing for a flight to Dubai. Both aircraft sustained substantial damage and have since been grounded. Fortunately, the Emirates plane was empty and nobody on the Air Transat plane was injured.
Cargolux 747 Engine Strike During Landing in Luxembourg
On Saturday a Cargolux 747, arriving from Dubai Al Maktoum, had a rough landing in Luxembourg and bounced after making contact with the runway. The wing flex caused the Number Two engine to strike the runway. The pilots were able to safely perform a go-around and landed safely 15 minutes later.
EVA Air 777 and A321 Collide in Taipei
Late Sunday night, two EVA Air aircraft had an incident when an A321 being towed across the apron hit a parked 777 with the right winglet. Both aircraft were unmanned during the incident and none of the crew on the ground was injured.
Singapore Airlines Cargo 747 Aborted Takeoff in Kenya
In what was possibly the craziest of all of these, a Singapore Airlines Cargo 747 had a bird strike when departing Nairobi, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The aircraft, bound for Amsterdam, aborted the takeoff and came to a stop on the runway. The aircraft became stuck on the runway and, as a result, the airport was closed.
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport only has one runway and it was shut down for roughly 8 hours before reopening, causing traffic to divert to nearby airports. Nairobi is a major hub for Kenya Airways and has service to many airports around the globe, so relying on one runway can cause disruptions even for minor issues, which this was not. Nobody was injured in this incident.
Delta and Aeromexico Planes Collide in Mexico City
Earlier this afternoon, A Delta 757 bound for New York-JFK and an Aeromexico 737 while preparing to take off from Mexico City International Airport. Fortunately, there were no injuries other than a dented 757, though this story is still developing.
Summary
Aviation is one of the safest possible forms of travel and that is reinforced by the fact that there were no injuries in any of these incidents. However, it seems strange that we have had so many incidents in the span of just a couple of days. Hopefully we don't see any more of these incidents and things can calm down a bit.
