Air show interrupted for NWA emergency

The folks who showed up for the Dayton Air Show on Sunday got a little extra action for free when a Northwest Airlines flight made an emergency landing putting the festivities briefly on hold. The Boeing 757 was heading from Tampa to Detroit when one of its engines had an in-flight computer failure. The flight crew shut down that engine and made a precautionary lading at the Dayton International Airport, right in the middle of their annual air show. The show's commentator announced over the loudspeaker, "All right, a piece of cake," as the crowd applauded the safe landing and rollout of the 757. The air show continued after a 25 minute delay, but the passengers of the Northwest flight spent the rest of their trip to Detroit on a bus.

(photo credit: James Mepsted via Airliners.net)

(story USA Today)

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757 nose cone crumpled by bird

A Northwest Airlines 757 took a birdstrike right to the nose yesterday on a flight from Detroit to Tampa according to a spokeswoman for Tampa International Airport. There were no injuries to the flight crew or the 182 passengers on board flight 478, but the aircraft has been removed from service until the dent can be banged out with a hammer. Must have been a big bird but the picture doesn't really show any blood or snarge consistent with a birdstrike though.

UPDATE 7 JULY 20:15Z: The New York Times is now reporting that a spokesperson from the FAA is ruling out a birdstrike. Of course, they wouldn't say what caused the damage. The plot thickens...

Picture property of CNN.com

(via CNN and KXAN)

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NTSB wants 757 wings checked

The National Transportation Safety Board released a recommendation to the FAA today that would require operators of Boeing 757 aircraft to make "a one- time visual inspection of the upper wing fixed trailing edge panel support beam clips for cracks, proper orientation, and spacers." This is of course following two high profile incidents recently in which 757s have shed wing panels in flight. The first occurred in March with a US Airways 757, and the second took place earlier this month when a Northwest Airlines 757 did the same. We brought you both of those stories here at PointNiner as they unfolded and I was starting to wonder when the NTSB would get on this one. I'm glad to see that today they finally have released something on it.

The NTSB also takes a hit on Boeing by asking the FAA to require "Boeing to issue more explicit instructions and figures that clearly illustrate the correct orientation of the clips and spacers that attach the Boeing 757 panel". Maybe they should just request airlines to stock more 100 mph tape.

The photo above was actually taken by a passenger on the US Airways 757 after it lost a section of its wing panel.

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Another 757 loses part of its wing

Northwest Airlines became the latest Boeing operator to lose a piece of their airplane while inflight yesterday when one of their 757s had to divert to Las Vegas after a 3 foot by 2 foot wing panel ripped off the aircraft according to a story by Flight International. The flight, with 193 passengers enroute from LA to Detroit, diverted to Vegas as a precaution. And it's a good thing too as the right wing panel ripped off underlying hydraulic lines before hitting the row 28 window then damaging the right side horizontal stabilizer. This, of course, follows a string of Boeings falling to pieces we told you about here at PointNiner that include a US Airways 757 that lost a section of its wing in March, and an American 767 that lost a fuselage panel earlier this month. Mechanics better start stockpiling 100 mph tape.

Photo: AirTeamImages

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Lavatory Fire

An aircraft operated for Northwest Airlines made an emergency landing this morning in Fargo, North Dakota. The Compass flight #2040 was on its way from Regina, Saskatchewan to Minneapolis when it was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger disposed of his doobee in the trash can a fire started inside a lavatory.

The 69 passengers, two pilots, and two flight attendants were doing fine. The passengers were put up in a hotel, and their flight was re-booked.

Sounds like someone forgot to watch/listen to the all-important safety briefing regarding no smoking in the cabin. At least they didn't tamper with the lavatory smoke detector -- a federal offense.

If I can find any actual pictures of the damage, I will put them up here.

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What the new Delta/Northwest will look like

We're not likely to hit too much on the Delta and Northwest merger announced last night here at PointNiner, but I did want to submit this picture I found on Modified Airliner Photos a few weeks ago of what the new airline could look like. By the way, the Delta names stays and the Northwest name disappears. The amateur artist did a nice job with this 787 to combine the best of the two. He took the famous Delta widget and made it the point in the Northwest compass. Who knows if this is what they'll end up doing though, but it would be nice to retain some heritage from both airlines in the new livery.



The above picture from Flightblogger does a nice job of showing you what the two airline's current fleets look like. It will be interesting to see what stays and what goes. Dear Delta, please axe the Diesel-9s.

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