American Airlines engine fails; plane lands safely (MD-80 Tucson 2/21/00)

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http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/082-8914.html

Tuesday, 22 February 2000

American Airlines engine fails; plane lands safely

An American Airlines jet made an emergency landing in Tucson yesterday after one of its two engines failed while the jet was about 130 miles from Tucson.

The jet, an MD-80 carrying 80 passengers from Dallas, landed without incident at the airport at 3:30 p.m., said Jeff Bowen, a spokesman for the Tucson Airport Authority.

The MD-80 series became the subject of intense scrutiny by the Federal Aviation Administration after one flown by Alaska Airlines crashed into the Pacific Ocean last month, killing 88 passengers and crew.

But that scrutiny was not directed at the plane's engines. The FAA ordered inspections of stabilizers in the tail sections of the 1,101 planes in the MD-80, MD-90, DC-9 and Boeing 717 series.

The engine failure on the Tucson-bound American jet caused no problems for passengers. ``The plane has two engines, so it was able to land with one just fine,'' Bowen said.

``It actually came in about 13 minutes ahead of schedule and it landed normally and pulled into its gate just like any other flight.''

Emergency vehicles were alerted but not needed, Bowen said.

``Our fire department is always out there in full force in these situations should anything happen,'' Bowen said.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), February 22, 2000

Answers

On track for 12-19 more by the first of March.

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-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 22, 2000.


Wow! This is almost unbelievable. Notice the official minimizing the problem....

``It actually came in about 13 minutes ahead of schedule and it landed normally and pulled into its gate just like any other flight.''

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 22, 2000.


Zounds. Rate of "incidences" most definitely going ^ UP ^. Even with pollyanalIzing scrutuming!

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), February 22, 2000.

Chuck the Night Driver -

Are you still ruling out for sure embedded chip/computer problems on these MD-80s? I just think there's too much conincidence in these problems, their timing, to rule out some underlaying problem with the chips. I'd rest assured if I had confidence that TPTB/officials in this country were still honest. But I think it's the rare one that is, and s/he is often fired it seems.

Cynical? ya, sure. Justified cynicism I think. Maybe I'm nuts.

The truth is out there. We'll just never know it. Like with TWA 800.

-- Programmer Farmer (wondering@out.loud), February 22, 2000.


does anyone in this forum know any professional pilots? are there any pilot forums where they might be discussing these problems?

when will the pilots stand up and say they want answers before they keep flying these lame ducks?

should we be posting on their forums???

what can we do to increase exposure of these problems to the general public.

it is almost a responsibility of ours on this forum to try to disseminate this information.

i mean it's become pretty obvious...the md80 is a dangerous f'in plane to fly now.

o)<

mike

-- mike (mike@knuckledragger.com), February 22, 2000.



Mike asked "does anyone in this forum know any professional pilots? are there any pilot forums where they might be discussing these problems?

when will the pilots stand up and say they want answers before they keep flying these lame ducks?

should we be posting on their forums???

what can we do to increase exposure of these problems to the general public.

it is almost a responsibility of ours on this forum to try to disseminate this information.

i mean it's become pretty obvious...the md80 is a dangerous f'in plane to fly now.

We do have a number of pilots here on TB, including some very experienced in heavy jets. also, there are a number of aviation fora. try rec.aviation.piloting or alt.aviation.safety news groups. You can find them through remarq. or Dejavu. These groups do not appear to be concerned with the MD-80, and a browse through the NTSB archives also shows nothing really unusual, other than that more notice is being taken of incidents now.

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), February 22, 2000.


this latest round is just too incredibly "coincidental". there is someone on www.michaelhyatt.com who has been trying to keep a running listing of the airline incidents. when you add these to it--maybe the pilots on this board might consider sending it to the Airline Pilots Association. how do you guys have the courage to fly these days? brave souls.

-- tt (cuddluppy@aol.com), February 22, 2000.

I'm as skeptical as the next guy about all these flight incidents with the MD80 series stabilizer problems, porposing etc., but honestly folks, anyone in the airline industry would be able to tell you that emergency landings are more routine/common than you think. That is your flight crew doing their due diligence when there is any little indication that something *might* be wrong with the plane. Simple, precautionary measure...and anyone on that plane ought to be grateful for this occurence.

Where do I get my info from?...how about from multiple family members who have made their living in the air for the past 30 odd years.

-- (massdelusion@juno.com), February 22, 2000.


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