Cubana-low level fuel dump

[cornwallis]

I was out walking the dog in West Kent this evening and I saw a Cubana IL-96 with his gear down and appearing to dump fuel over where I live.He turned back towards the west into a downwind leg for LGW o8R.He looked quite low to be dumping fuel!Does anybody have an explanation of what was going on?

[STN Ramp Rat]

Apparently it had just departed Gatwick and was returning with “severe control problems” fortunately it landed safely

[cornwallis]

He was quite low and I could see individual wheels on the gear legs.He came from the south flew over my home and then turned north westwards towards a final for 26 and then turned again for positioning into a downwind for 08 .He was dumping fuel all the time.I am glad that it was a safe outcome.
(Not sure why this topic ended up here as I AM a professional pilot not a spotter!)

[Out Of Trim]

Heard today on the grape-vine that the IL96-300 has been impounded.
Reg is CU-T1250 - and is now parked at LGW on the 170's. :eek:

[firstchoice7e7]

sure that wasnt the iraqi airways , that has been impounded at LGW

Iraq's air dream to London turns sour (http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/iraqs-air-dream-to-london-turns-sour-20100429-twpf.html)

[cornwallis]

The Cubana had covers on the engines when I went past last night,so it may be there for a while.

[valentino666]

They flew directly over my house in Eastbourne. Didn't realise it was an IL96 at the time and assumed it was a B747. I started a thread about it which was also moved here and I'm a professional pilot as well. Maybe they found out I was made redundant!

[cornwallis]

Is the aircraft still at Gatwick?

[Charley B]

Havent seen or heard it go-- so possibly yes!
The Iraqi airways has gone ,it departed this afternoon!
I would like to know about the Cubana one as well!

[TSR2]

I would like to know about the Cubana one as well

I'm sure the passengers do as well. Cubana are not noted for customer service.

[cornwallis]

I looked for its flightpath on the Gatwick webtracker but it is not shown.I would have thought that for a routing to Cuba it would have been on a Southampton departure which would have taken it north of LGW not over Eastbourne!!

[Charley B]

I thought that too!!
Sometimes it does go off on a LAM departure and go out across the pond from higher up in the uk-I have seen it go behind here before)
I think another Illyushin came in the day after and rescued the stranded Pax(I read this on another forum)
I missed it all as was not watching at the time!

[vespasia]

AFAIK Cubana is still at Gatwick and likely to be there for some time until fixed. It was certainly still there at 0700 when I left. I don't know about an Iraqi being impounded but the one which left today was almost certainly the same one which arrived in the small hours of this morning.

The Cubana experienced serious control problems immediately after departure from gatwick so the SID was immaterial - the aircraft planned to make an immediate return and turned downwind for 26L. This would have resulted in a (very) overweight landing, so the crew changed the plan to dump fuel. They were routed over the channel for this purpose but the problem remained so after a short time they decided to return and land as the safest option. Thankfully, all turned out OK:ok:

[Coffin Corner]

It is still in LGW, I've been operating into there over the last few days and was in there today.
Infact, I actually took a picture of it on take off from my cockpit window whilst taxying in, then when we were preparing for departure I saw the fire engines down the bottom waiting but couldn't see the runway due to the stand we were on. Then when we asked for Push it was denied due to an "inbound emergency". It landed safely on 26L

CC

[LGWWelsh]

Yes it still there and will remain in place until the CAA are happy with it's airworthiness.

[Fenders]

The Cubana left at around 1230 today for Moscow.

[cornwallis]

I heard that the MOR was filed by LGW ATC and not the crew and also that both of the pilots were on the controls trying to keep it airborne.AAIB are investigating.

[Charley B]

I watched it go today and did wonder why it went towards the East!!
Cubana were using an Euro Atlantic 767 aircraft on Weds instead of their own!

[mark1484]

Does anybody know how long Cubana will be using Euro Atlantic B767 on the LGW - HAV route? Since the control problem incident, I haven't noted the IL96 been used on the route. Is the aircraft still under repair or do Cubana change AC for the summer season?