JKK3374 PIK-ALC 27/12/03

[G-AMMY]

A friend told me that the above flight diverted to Valencia due to some sort of engine problem. Does anyone have any further details or information about what happened?

G-AMMY

:D

[Pistonprop]

From The Evening Telegraph:

Dundee couple in holiday jet scare
A Dundee couple thought they were going to die on board a smoke-filled holiday flight to Spain as the jet made an emergency landing in Valencia after engine failure, writes Graeme Strachan.
Doug Farquhar and Marilyn Timmons described the week-end mid-air panic which broke out on the Spanair flight from Prestwick to Alicante as the plane started to fill with smoke following an explosion.
They told how they thought their “last days had come” as the flight made an emergency landing amid a full-scale emergency at Manises Airport in Valencia.

Fire crews, ambulances and police raced to the airport as the plane began its descent.

The drama unfolded 30 minutes before the Spanair McDonnell Douglas MD-83 jet was due to land in Alicante on Saturday.

The 169 passengers heard a “loud explosion” and the aircraft began to plummet.

One of the two pilots on board flight 3374 made a mayday call and passengers were asked to adopt the crash position as the plane limped to a safe landing in Valencia.

The incident is under investigation.

It is believed the engine break-up was caused by a detachment in the left motor.

The Dundee couple were en-route to Benidorm for a week-long break.

Once they arrived in the Spanish resort around 5 am after being driven from Valencia by bus, Mr Farquhar called his brother-in-law Joe Miller in Dundee to tell him of the mid-air drama.

“Doug’s the most laid back person you could meet,” said Mr Miller today.

“Nothing bothers him — but he was clearly upset. He got a fright.

“Marilyn was crying on the phone. She is still upset, even speaking about it.

“They thought their last days had come. They are not very well.

“They were half-an-hour away from Alicante when they heard a loud explosion and one of the engines blew out.

“The plane started to descend pretty drastically.

“Smoke was coming in the cabin through the air vents. It was filled up with smoke.

“People were screaming — most thought they were away. They were asked to adopt the crash position.”

Doug said the female pilot did very well. She pulled the plane back up and was able to make an emergency landing in Valencia.

“Luckily, nobody was hurt,” he said.

Mr Miller said the Dundee couple were “not looking forward” to flying home.

“We were a bit shocked and are still trying to take it in.

“We are just so glad they are okay. We are thinking of them.”

Spanair reported the landing was completed with success and “without consequences”.

A spokeswoman for tour operators Seguro Holidays said, “We are looking into the incident but we can’t actually comment at the moment.

“We can’t comment until we get further details.”

The drama made the headlines in the Spanish Press.

A similar incident occurred in July 2002 when an MD-87 jet from Malaga to Munich with 103 people on board was forced to make an emergency landing in Manises due to a technical failure.

Fast-growing operator Seguro is Glasgow Prestwick’s largest holiday tour operator.

It has more than 30,000 holidays on sale from Glasgow Prestwick to Gran Canaria, Majorca, Benidorm and The Algarve.

It later emerged that a suspected bird-strike may have caused the engine failure and the jet has been withdrawn from service.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said, “The pilot recognised something hit one of the engines and decided to make an emergency landing.

“It was standard procedure and the plane landed safety. Seguro Holidays will be writing to everyone who was involved to explain what happened. We are just relieved that the pilots handled it so well.”

[jetstream7]

So at 30 mins out from AGP, there was a bird strike...?

What kind of altitude would the flight have been at, and what kind of birds are found at that height...:confused:


In summary...more cr:mad: p in the media, so many thanks to Joe for his informed report...

As an aside, wonder if it had been a male pilot, then would this have been highlighted...

[arcniz]

Jetstream

Perhaps you are being a bit harsh on the Evening Telegraph writer. As inflight emergency stories go, I think this one is fairly straightforward and moderately balanced for what could have been a real pot-boiler. Granted, "plummet" is a bit rich.

From the POV of a passenger, a little "plummeting" goes a long way in causing terror, especially when accompanied by a loud bang or two. And smoke filling the cabin is enough to get just about anyone's heart thumping, whether it's Jesus or Brit'ny Spears or one's self doing the driving.

That inflight situations occasionally scare the hell out of certain passengers is a reality. I think the healthy spin to put on it is that some incidents are bound to occur with so many planes flying so many different places, but skillfull crew, well thought-out procedures, systems redundancy, etc. convert virtually all of these mechanical situations into positive outcomes. (sound of trumpets)

[Waldo.P]

Did they have an engine failuure.Or an engine explosion?

[AN2 Driver]

Jetstream,

re bird strike:

2 possibilities come to mind.

1- the plane might have caught a bird on departure which caused damage that caused the engine to fail much later.

2- Years ago I was working for an operator that has long gone since and operated 2 Caravelles. One of them had a bird strike at FL240 or so, way higher than normal anyhow, on descent into Malaga. Engine damage was considerable and the engine was changed. We were told at the time by some Spanish pilots that some kind of vulture can fly up to very high altitudes and is typical for the Iberian Peninsula.

In any event, such occurrences are quite scary for the passengers.

Best regards

AN2 Driver

[Sassenach]

My colleague's brother in law was on the flight. He says that they were told the engine dropped a turbine blade, and that the engine has only recently been fitted to the aircraft. Apparently no safety demonstration had been given before the flight, and the crew did not behave as professionally as one might have hoped during the emergency.

Valencia was closed when the aircraft landed and it took about 40 minutes before the fire engines arrived. The doors were opened without the slides armed, and the passengers had to wait for a long while until steps were produced.

I'm glad I wasn't on board!

[A300Man]

A safety demonstration WAS given prior to the flight. This is an absolute certainty.

[FlapsOne]

The pax would never know - they were probably reading newspapers at the time!

I still think emerg briefs should be printed on page 3 of the SUN to get attention!!!!!!!!!

[Timothy]

I had a turbine failure climbing out of SVQ some years ago, loud bang followed by fluctuating gauges, so immediate shutdown, emergency declared, divert into MAD and absolutely no attendance from AFS whatsoever. We simply taxied onto stand on one engine as if nothing had happened.

There was an AF A300 on another runway with no nosewheel and AFS in attendance, but hey! couldn't they have spared us a teeny weeny bit of attention?

Will