Luxor Air banned from French airspace

[rotornut]

www.albawaba.com
March 29, 2004
Egypt's Luxor Air banned from French skies

Egypt's private carrier Luxor Air has been banned from French skies after one of its planes last week took "a completely abnormal" route at low altitude over the city of Nantes.

According to the director general of France's Civil Aviation Authority Michel Wachenheim, the airline's flying rights were suspended at the opening of investigations into a March 21 flight from Luxor, Egypt to Nantes, Western France.

The MD-83 aircraft made a two kilometer deviation from its scheduled flight path prior to landing and hovered over the city at a low altitude of 183 meters, Wachenheim said.

After a safe landing, the plane left Nantes quickly. "Visibly, they were very rushed," Wachenheim added. All 104 passengers disembarked unharmed.

France's Bureau of Accident Investigation has asked Egyptian authorities for information on the flight crew and background on the plane and airline, reported AP. French authorities have also notified other European countries about the investigation.

Luxor Air is an operator licensed by the Egyptian CAA in accordance with Egyptian civil aviation law. The airline specializes in charter flights, wet leasing and aviation services. — (menareport.com)



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[IB4138]

A hovering MD83!

Now that would have been a sight to behold.:)

[ATC Watcher]

and at 183 meters ! what a precision, must have been measured with laser binoculars ! Bannned from the country for a 1.2 NM deviation on the STAR ? Then I know of a lot or airlines that should be banned as well. I guess there is something a little bit more to the story. ;)

[DingerX]

Yeah, it wouldn't sound so precise at 500 feet, would it?

[Basic T]

Luxor Air is not allowed to fly into France anymore after a recent approach into Nantes.
The MD-83 flew at 600 feet when it passed straight over the heart of the city of Nantes.

:\

[midman]

Do they fly into the UK?

[AIRWAY]

Just a quick note, im sure you all know but Luxor Air is not " Air Luxor ( A Portuguese Airline )

[witchdoctor]

How jolly confusing, but now I shall avoid rushing for cover when Air Luxor pitches up for the summer schedule.:D

[Loc-out]

According to Belgium newspapers, Air Memphis (an Egyptian Cargo carrier of long standing) have been banned from Belgium airspace. Due incident at Cairo.

[ATC Watcher]

Attention to the poosible confusion : Air Luxor is indeed an established Portuguese charter company operating new A320 and A330s out of Lisbon and Luxor Air, is a new Egyptian company operating 2 old MD83 out of Luxor.

We are talking about the second one here.

And there was indeed more to it than the low path above the city at 600 feet ( which is not that extraordinary if you see the APP chart for runway 21 ) They were not the first and won't be the last to get caught in that situation.

They were just the wrong nationality at the wrong time at the wrong place...

[Cathar]

My understanding is that our DGAC had lifted the restriction on Luxor Air before the restriction had been reported in Flight

[latetonite]

ATC watcher, you are getting close. Apparently the captain performed an ILS, and made a circling approach with a presumed 500` ceiling. Looking at the charts, it does not appeal easy to stay legal. It might have been the wrong decision to do this approach with a 60 kt x-wind, but those decisions are never made with a coffee after a good rest in relaxing conditions. Face facts, every airplane from Egypt heading for Europe (or France for that matter) is now watched with binoculars. Do not forget it is charter flying, all this guy knows about the airport is the approach plate. It is no regular line flying to your preferred every day destination. And then I can imagine, just getting there safely and letting people asleep is an art of its own. The radar vectoring stuff most commentators are used to does not apply here. I know the captain personally, and although I did not speak to him after and about the incident, I would send my kids with him.
PM anytime.

[doubleu-anker]

ATC Watcher

Air Luxor is indeed an established Portuguese charter company, you say.

I don’t know. I’m not so sure.

Why would that company be called Air Luxor, if you were a Portuguese company?

You seem to be trying to extract Air Luxor, with obscene haste, from THE Air Luxor. Surely not. Why??:O

[ATC Watcher]

Interresting discussion.

First Latetonite : yes,thanks, you forgot to mention that the night this happenned was just before election night in France where the party in power knew they were going to loose badly, and I was told that someone in high places had just made a speech before promising things to the ainti noise lobby in Nantes which is very powerful ( even get a mention in the APP plates ...)

My sympathy to your friend. As I said wrong Nationality , wrong time wrong airport...

Doubleu :
Air Luxor of Portugal is indeed for me an "established" company since they go for about 15 years and they started as an executive jet company ( still have it) .
I also said "established "because they are member of IATA, are one of the few airlines to have ETOPS certification on their A320s ,bought directly from AI.

quote :
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why would that company be called Air Luxor, if you were a Portuguese company?
_____________________________________________________
The name comes from an extension of "Luxury "wich is "Luxo" in Portugese and was meant to be a marketing name mixing the idea of holidays and luxury .

Check their history at http://www.airluxor.com/group/fo/enu/historia.asp


quote :

___________________________________________________

You seem to be trying to extract Air Luxor, with obscene haste, from THE Air Luxor. Surely not. Why?
____________________________________________________

You make the mistake / confusion again : it is not AIR LUXOR but Luxor Air. 2 different things. I do not hastily want to separate them, they are I believe 2 different airlines .. As as far as I know, ( but I do not work for any of them and I am not in the financial secrets) Air Luxor of Portugal has no ties whatsoever with Luxor air of Egypt.


It is also not the first time two airlines use the same name ,for instance do not mix Delta airlines of US(DAL) with Delta air (DAT) of Belgium Thery have nothing in common....( except perhaps that they both use very old aircrfat , but that is another story :O )

something new just came up :


French investigators have released details of their initial examination of the incident in which a Boeing MD-83 of Egypt’s Luxor Air overflew the city of Nantes at low-level while trying to conduct a night-time approach in poor weather to Nantes Atlantique Airport.

The carrier has been banned from French airspace pending the outcome of the investigation.

Investigating authority BEA says the path of the aircraft, which was carrying 110 passengers and crew, has been derived from radar recordings and witness accounts as the on-board recordings were not preserved.

It reports that the aircraft was conducting a VOR/DME approach to runway 21, which is a constant track approach across the city until the final 2.3nm when a 10° left turn is required to line up with the runway.

The BEA relates: “Instead of following the published trajectory, the aircraft diverged from it at an angle of 30° [to the right] for more than a minute and a half while descending below the minimum authorised height. It then veered left and performed a go-around.

“In the course of its manoeuvres above the Nantes urban area it was seen below the cloud-base. That was at 500ft AMSL while the procedure requires one to remain, in that area, above 1,730ft.”

After going around the aircraft was repositioned by the approach controller and landed at the second attempt. The aircraft was refuelled and departed 30min later.

The BEA says it is working with the Egyptian authorities on the investigation

[Helipolarbear]

ATC Watcher....................Kudos!:ok:

[BADMOOD]

Check this!!
http://www.bea-fr.org/francais/actualite/actu.htm

The VORDME Rwy 21 shot by the egyptian crew is quite...hmmmm....amazing??