Ozjet plane forced to land after wing failure

[cambruzzo]

ABC News Au is carrying the following report. Perhaps it landed on one wing and a prayer? "
"
Passengers on a Boeing 737 operated by budget airline Ozjet were warned to expect a possible crash landing in the ocean after part of a wing malfunctioned over the Pacific near Norfolk Island on Saturday.
Bad weather forced the Brisbane-Norfolk Island flight to be diverted to Noumea in New Caledonia, and a leading-edge slat on the plane's right wing then got stuck, causing some vibration.
Passengers were briefed for a possible ocean landing, but the plane landed safely at Noumea.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating the failure.
Bureau spokesman Joe Hattley says investigators have confirmed the slat had broken and the black box recorder will be examined.
"The aircraft is currently stuck in Noumea so we're waiting for Ozjet to repair the aircraft then fly it back to Australia," he said.
"It will bring the recorder with it and then it will be taken to the ATSB laboratories in Canberra for downloading and analysis.""

url is http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/01/2129726.htm

[cwatters]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22994455-12377,00.html

OZJET Airlines says a problem with a plane on a flight from Brisbane to Norfolk Island last Saturday did not pose a great danger.

Passengers on the 737 said they were told to don their life jackets and prepare for a crash ocean landing.

Travellers spoke of fearing for their lives minutes after bad weather forced the aircraft, carrying about 100 passengers, to abort its landing at Norfolk Island.

OZjet told the ABC today that the plane was unable to land because of bad weather and then a flap on the plane's right wing did not retract correctly, causing a vibration in the aircraft.

Passengers were prepared for a possible emergency landing, but the flight landed safely in Noumea, where it had been diverted, Ozjet spokesman Tony Healey told the ABC.

"It was not of great danger to anybody at the time," he said.

"Once they were able to identify what it was, they got to a height where they could see exactly what the problem was and follow the procedures which were in place to ensure that there was a safe arrival."

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is examining the incident.

Bill and Wendy Petersen, of Birkdale in Queensland's Redlands Shire, said the plane started shuddering violently after its right wingflap bent. "We thought we were gone, everybody on the plane," Mr Petersen said.

"It was rocking all around the place. What can you do? You can't get off it. You just have to see it out, whatever the outcome. It's no good screaming. You think about your kids at home and everything.

"It was a serious, serious situation that could have finished up with all of us dead ."

The passengers spent a night in Noumea and returned to Brisbane on Sunday on another Ozjet plane.

[fireflybob]

From the information given the title of this thread is misleading - it was not a "wing" failure but a leading edge slat that failed.

If the wing had failed I would be rather concerned but a slat is no bid deal!

[Mr A Tis]

Are the Ozjet B737-200s still the ex Sabena ships of around 1975 vintage?

[Avman]

but a slat is no bid deal

In itself perhaps not. However, it will increase drag and the fuel b/o will increase. That may become a big deal on a lengthy(ish) over water sector.

[Boney]

Fireflybob

Beg to differ.

Slat hanging out had the drivers working very hard to keep it level in a missed approach IMC. No big drama??? You are joking aren't you?

[Slats One]

A short and tubby 737 with a slat hanging out- very wobbly and much harder work than it is on a computer sim!

The directional yaw instability of an unset blamange methinks...

[fireflybob]

Sorry I wasnt meaning to belittle the efforts of the crew in dealing with a slat/flap failure in any way.

The term "wing failure" implies to me that maybe the main spar had failed whereas this was a flap/slat failure - so much for newspaper headlines.

[barit1]

so much for newspaper headlines.

That's caused by a printing press failure, eh? :rolleyes:

[Blues&twos]

"It was rocking all around the place..."

Assuming this bloke isn't talking out of his ar** (and I know this is a newspaper quotation we're talking about), would movements of this description be expected under these circumstances? If so, would they be caused by genuine control problems (by a slat remaining extended) or by the pilots "feeling out" the controls??

I'm no expert - hence the question - just curious.

B&t

[liklikbalus]

Wot about the aborted Pom-Bne incident 31.12.07, again caused by vibration? See "The Drum" in PC 02.01.08

[World of Tweed]

Think about it fellas....

The Slat or Leading Edge Flap (LE) is the single most important part of the High lift devices fitted to a modern airliner wing. (even the 737!)

It increases the camber of the wing far more dramatically than the early stages of trailing edge devices and therefore reduces the Vstall to a greater extent. They are so important that Boeing place a 'gate' on the flap lever to prevent you being able to select them up without having to use a 2 step action - prompting you physically to be sure that is what you want to do.

Control issues would vary depending on the severtiy of the assymetry and aircraft type but in general some form of out o trim condition can be expected to exist in roll and yaw, posisbly pitch with regard to the short body of the 737. Also fuel burn is likely to be affected whilst in the assymetirc condition. The Non Normal Checklists Alternate extension procedures would try and extend the offending flaps further to a minum safe landing configuration - but still the appraoch will likely be at a higher speed than normal.

All this is pretty hard work for the crew - Aircraft tend to become a handful when one wing is producing more lift than the other!

Hats off to them.

[Norfolk623]

Mr A tis, yes they are all ex Sabena. OZD ( Norfolk Air) is one year older, 1974

[satos]

Remember years ago when a trident pax jet operated by BEA (then later taken over by British Airways) raised its L/E droops too early after take off resulted in it crashing due to stalling its wing.
Yes,L/E slats are a very important part of an aircraft.

[gas-chamber]

How interesting that this thread has been buried and one has to go looking for it. No one has really mentioned that the crew, particularly the Captain, saved a bunch of people from a watery grave. It is unlikely that they would have survived a ditching in those weather conditions.
As for the Port Morseby incident, it's all very quiet on Pprune. Why ? That airplane is still parked up there, so it must have something wrong with it.

[Sleeve Wing]

>How interesting that this thread has been buried and one has to go looking for it. No one has really mentioned that the crew, particularly the Captain, saved a bunch of people from a watery grave. It is unlikely that they would have survived a ditching in those weather conditions.<
You of all people, Gas-chamber, should know that that is what Captains and crews are paid for !!!!
Successful outcome - quietly goes away;
but get it wrong..................!! :rolleyes: :ugh:

[captjns]

Kudos to the crew for bringing the situation to a safe ending.:D:ok:

[INNflight]

serious situation that could have finished up with all of us dead

Ooooh.....so is speeding or crossing a red light :ugh:
Sounds like this pax is straight from that "plane incident article generator" thingy....all the same.

[Winged Bird]

Are you sure that the POM plane is still there, ABC reported that all the broken aircraft were back in operation on friday the 4/01/08.

[AirScrew]

On a commercial a/c like a 737, is it possible to deploy the slat(s) so that the working slat then matches the failed slat, or are they automatic as on some light a/c??.
This would reduce the speed envelope, and increase drag and fuel consumption, but would stabilise the approach.

a) is it possible?
b) is it advisable?

[HarryMann]

Good question, imagine the answre is yes, but with reservations (systems to ensure even deployment under normal circumstances)

Anyone?

[Schiller]

Airscrew

The leading-edge devices (flaps and slats) move automatically as certain trailing-edge flap positions are reached. There is normally no facility for moving them independently. However, it is possible to move them out (only) all together using an emergency system if the flaps do not deploy, and in doing this, because of the smaller hydraulic pump involved, the devices may deploy unevenly at first causing a slight lateral instability, easily dealt with.

Handling the aircraft with assymetric l/e devices isn't much of a problem.