What In God's Name Is Going On With Air Travel Right Now?
Boeing failures, trapped passengers, and canceled flights: it's been a rough month for air travel.
It's been a rough month when it comes to air transportation. Since the start of the new year, we've seen everything from door plugs blowing off at 16,000 feet and airplanes colliding on runways to cracked windshields and people getting stuck in bathrooms. Lest we forget a flight I was on had a five-hour delay for reasons known only to God and Delta.
Anyway, no matter how you slice it, January 2024 has been the month from hell for air travel, and we've still got over a week to go. Who knows what can happen next? Well, since we cannot look to the future, we will look to the past.
Here's a roundup of every flying mishap the world of air travel has encountered in the first three weeks of the year. Let's hope everyone involved gets their shit together for the rest of 2024, because this is an untenable pace for airplane bullshit.
Happy clicking, my friends.
January 1 - Man Found Dead In Airplane Engine At Salt Lake City Airport
If you're traveling around major U.S. holidays, especially during the winter, you need to be prepared for flight delays and cancelations. It sucks, but that's just the way it is. Sometimes, airlines mess up and lie to you about it, but other times, a massive storm rolls in and messes everything up. On Monday, though, NBC News reports that Delta passengers in Salt Lake City, Utah had to deal with a completely unexpected reason for their flight being canceled — a dead body found in one of the plane's engines.
Details of what exactly happened are currently limited as investigators work to piece together the series of events that led to the man's death. For now, we know he reportedly broke through an emergency exit to get onto the tarmac. Passengers were already on board the plane when authorities found him "inside the engine's removable metal covering." By then, he was already unconscious, and attempts to save his life failed. He died at the scene.
By Collin Woodard
January 2 - Japan Airlines Plane Bursts Into Flames After Collision At Tokyo
While landing in Tokyo, a Japan Airlines jet hit a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft, causing the passenger jet to explode, killing five Coast Guard members on the other plane. Japan Airlines said all 367 passengers and 12 crew members on the plane were safely evacuated at Haneda Airport on January 2, according to the New York Times.
Footage of the incident shows the Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 on fire as it slid across a runway. Flight 516 departed New Chitose Airport in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido and was scheduled to land at Haneda at 5:40 p.m., The Times reports. Footage from the incident showed firefighters trying to put out the flames. While no one was killed on the A350, at least 17 of the evacuated passengers were injured.
By Andy Kalmowitz
January 7 - Boeing 737 Max Planes Grounded After Door Plug Blows Out At 16,000 Feet
Passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight leaving Portland, Oregon endured a harrowing ordeal when a door plug blew out the side on the flight's Boeing 737 Max 9 just minutes after takeoff. The massive hole in the fuselage's side at 16,000 feet caused the cabin to depressurize, the lights to flicker and oxygen masks to drop from the ceiling. Luckily, no one was sitting directly next to the plug as the back of an unoccupied seat was ripped out of the aircraft.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 ended its scheduled service to Seattle, Washington and immediately made an emergency landing in Portland. All 171 passengers or six crew members made it off the aircraft without serious injury. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the force of decompression was so violent that it threw the locked cockpit door open. Several items were sucked straight out of the Boeing, including at least two phones.
By Ryan Erik King
January 9 - More Loose Boeing 737 Max 9 Door Plugs Discovered In Alaska And United Airlines Inspections
Following the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout last week, airlines have launched independent probes into the airworthiness of their Boeing 737 Max 9 airframes. Investigation into the cause of Friday's catastrophic failure unveiled the possibility of loose hardware allowing the door plug to become dislodged, shifting upward and disengaging the twelve "stops" intended to keep the airborne human transport tube whole. In looking at its own fleet of 737 Max 9s, United Airlines discovered at least five aircraft with loose door plug hardware. Both United and Alaska have grounded their commercial fleets and cancelled hundreds of passenger flights until the issue is sorted. That's not great.
The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the Alaska-operated Boeing flight uncovered that the plane had been giving pilots a depressurization warning light at least three times in the last month. The pilots ignored the warning and manually pressurized the plane in order to make the warning light go away. Because of the warning light, Alaska restricted this particular plane to regional flights only, so that the plane could quickly land at an airport if an emergency arose.
By Bradley Brownell
January 13 - String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
In the wake of recent major Boeing quality control news, including loose hardware, door plug failure, and the debacle that was the development of the 737 Max, it isn't a good time for further failures by the company. A piece of news out of Japan that would probably normally be swept under the rug, an unrelated 737-800 with a cracked windshield, became international news this weekend.
The flight took off from Sapporo-New Chitose airport bound for Toyama, but reversed course after the crack was discovered in the outer layer of window. The pilots landed the plane safely and none of the 65 onboard were injured. Alternative flights were arranged for the passengers to reach Toyama.
By Bradley Brownell
January 15 - Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
As Korean Air Lines flight KE766 to Seoul was pushing back from its gate at New Chitose Airport on Tuesday, its port side wing came into contact with the starboard vertical stabilizer of a stationary Cathay Pacific Airways aircraft bound for Hong Kong. This comes just two weeks after a near-catastrophic collision at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, and days after an aircraft with a cracked windshield was re-routed back to New Chitose.
"Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers nor crew onboard, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past," Cathay Pacific said in a statement.
By Bradley Brownell
January 15 - Virgin Atlantic Flight Canceled After Passenger Notices Missing Bolts On Airbus A330
A Virgin Atlantic flight bound for New York City was canceled right before it was set to take off on January 15 after a passenger noticed that several screws were missing from the Airbus A330's wing. Phil Hardy, a British traveler, was sitting onboard Virgin Flight 127 at Manchester Airport in England when he noticed four missing fasteners during the flight's safety briefing, according to the New York Post. That's when he decided to let the cabin crew know.
Engineers were quickly called out to check on the widebody jet before taking off for JFK Airport, Virgin Atlantic reps told The Post. That's when the 41-year-old saw engineers climb onto the plane's wing and use a screwdriver to tighten down some fasteners. Both Virgin and Airbus said there was no impact to the safety of the aircraft despite the missing screws.
By Andy Kalmowitz
January 16 - Man Trapped In Airplane Bathroom Nearly Entire Flight Receives Napkin-Scrawled Apology From Cabin Crew
A passenger on a commercial flight got stuck in the lavatory of a Boeing 737. SpiceJet, a low-cost Indian carrier, was operating an hour and 45-minute trip from Mumbai to Bengaluru earlier this week when the unidentified male passenger got up from his seat after takeoff to use the bathroom, the Indian Express reports. After all the efforts to free the man from his unfortunate predicament were exhausted, a flight attendant slipped an apology note under the door.
The note scribbled out on a napkin also warned the trapped passenger that the plane was preparing to land.
By Ryan Erik King
January 18 - A Boeing 747 Shot Sparks Through The Sky When One Of Its Engines Failed
An Atlas Air Boeing 747-8 cargo plane shot sparks through the Miami sky last week after one of its engines failed shortly after taking off from Miami International Airport. The plane was heading to Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico, though it is not known exactly what cargo this plane was carrying at the time of the engine failure. Luckily, the pilot landed the aircraft safely back at the Miami airport after the catastrophic engine failure.
After a string of very public failures, Boeing can't seem to catch a break. Most recently, a door plug failed on a Boeing 737 Max on a flight from Portland to Seattle, leaving a gaping hole in the side of a passenger-carrying plane. That lead to United Airlines and Alaska Airlines grounding their commercial fleet of their Boeing 737 Maxes. The Daily Beast reports,
By Logan Carter
January 20 - Boeing 757 Nose Wheel Pops Off And Rolls Down Hill Before Takeoff
The nose wheel of a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 came off while waiting to depart from Atlanta, Georgia last Saturday. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. The venerable 757 is entering its fifth decade of service, with the newest airframes being 20 years old. While the investigation is still in its early stages, Delta maintenance will likely be the focus for federal officials.
Delta Air Lines Flight 982 was scheduled to fly from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia on Saturday. However, the airliner never left the runway for the City of Gold, as an FAA preliminary report succinctly states, "Aircraft during line up and wait, nose wheel came off and rolled down the hill, Atlanta, GA." The flight was immediately canceled and everyone onboard, including 172 passengers, safely deplaned.
By Ryan Erik King
January 21 - Trans-Atlantic Air France Flight Ends With Frightening Tailstrike Incident
Picture this: You've been relaxing on the red-eye from Paris to Toronto, hopping that jet stream from CDG to YYZ. It's been a fairly uneventful flight, not much to complain about, aside from a crying baby a few rows away, a dude down the row thought it was a good idea to take off his shoes a few hours ago, and the person next to you is hogging the armrest. It's just a flight. That is, until the pilot smacks the tail of the aircraft into the tarmac and has to turn around to give it another shot.
Thankfully no injuries were reported after Air France Airbus A350-900 flight AF356 touched down on Sunday. The damage to the aircraft wasn't inconsequential, but it proved still airworthy after bouncing off the frozen Canadian runway. After hitting the ground, the pilot pushed forward on the throttle and got the plane back up in the air instead of risking further strike. It then initiated a 15-minute go-around and came back in to land again, this time without issue.
By Bradley Brownell
January 22 - Airport Security Truck Driver Smashes Into An Airbus A320, Causing $330,000 In Damage
There's pretty much just one rule to driving on an airport runway, and it's "don't hit shit." A subset of that rule is the notion that the eighty-ton aircraft pretty much always has the right of way. Early on Monday morning an airport security staffer at Sydney International took a wrong turn in their company-issued Mitsubishi Triton pickup, running headlong into an empty Jetstar Airways Airbus getting a tow. The driver was transported to the hospital, but no major injuries were reported.
The 5:30 AM crash caused a cascade of delays for hundreds of passengers flying into and out of Sydney Monday morning. The plane involved in this vehicle-on-vehicle battle was scheduled to make six legs for the day, and all of those needed to be cancelled as a result, reports Sky News. Most of the passengers affected were moved to later same-day alternative flights, making this more of an inconvenience than a tragedy.
By Bradley Brownell