Swarm of bees grounds UK aircraft
Just to explain why the engine didn't surge until an hour after the bee strike. Palmair use EAC 737-200s it is probable that the bees managed to fly in front of the JT8Ds for an hour until they got tired.
Single bee strike grounds towplane
Slight thread creep, but fits in with this topic 
I42
I42
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Weymouth dorset
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I was there !
Hi everyone.
Have joined this forum having read the threads on the bee strike.
I was seated in 5a and I beleive the problem was with the port engine.
I do not come from an aviation background but I have 20 years experience as a firefighter and a good general understanding on mechanics and a feel for when things are "not quite right"..
On take off I thought I heard a noise that was unsual, my initial reaction was that the underbelly had scraped the runway as the pilot pulled the stick back and the nose wheel lifted.
I know this is probably impossible but thats what went through my mind.
We climbed normally and the flight was uneventful until after the channel islands.
As we aproached the Brest peninsula there was a series of loud bangs. The plane vibrated noticibly. I thought it felt like the cargo hatch was banging.
Everyone fell silent and the aircrew looked decidely edgy.
There was no announcement and the plane continued at the same speed and altitude.
The stewardess contacted the filght deck using the internal phone.
About 2-3 minutes later the same thing happened again.
This time the engines were throttled back and airspeed dropped.
The stewardess made an announcement and the seat belt lights came on.
about a minute later the captain came on the tannoy and said that there had been an engine malfunction and that we were returning to bournemouth.
We banked quite quickly and the engine note was significantly less (on my side of the plane).
We flew directly back to BOH without any circling as suggested previously and made a very soft landing without any reverse thrust used at all.
There were no emergency vehicles stood by and the landing was probably one of the better ones I have experienced recently, nothing like the ryanair method which seems to be hit the runway as hard as possible and then brakes and loads of reverse thrust.
Once back at the terminal we were advised to remain seated whilst an initial assesment was made. After about 20 minutes we were disembarked. The rest is history.
We took off at 09:15 ish (not 08:15 as reported) and landed at 10:25 the whole flight lasting almost 1 hour.
I hope this helps you guys
Regards
Geoff
Have joined this forum having read the threads on the bee strike.
I was seated in 5a and I beleive the problem was with the port engine.
I do not come from an aviation background but I have 20 years experience as a firefighter and a good general understanding on mechanics and a feel for when things are "not quite right"..
On take off I thought I heard a noise that was unsual, my initial reaction was that the underbelly had scraped the runway as the pilot pulled the stick back and the nose wheel lifted.
I know this is probably impossible but thats what went through my mind.
We climbed normally and the flight was uneventful until after the channel islands.
As we aproached the Brest peninsula there was a series of loud bangs. The plane vibrated noticibly. I thought it felt like the cargo hatch was banging.
Everyone fell silent and the aircrew looked decidely edgy.
There was no announcement and the plane continued at the same speed and altitude.
The stewardess contacted the filght deck using the internal phone.
About 2-3 minutes later the same thing happened again.
This time the engines were throttled back and airspeed dropped.
The stewardess made an announcement and the seat belt lights came on.
about a minute later the captain came on the tannoy and said that there had been an engine malfunction and that we were returning to bournemouth.
We banked quite quickly and the engine note was significantly less (on my side of the plane).
We flew directly back to BOH without any circling as suggested previously and made a very soft landing without any reverse thrust used at all.
There were no emergency vehicles stood by and the landing was probably one of the better ones I have experienced recently, nothing like the ryanair method which seems to be hit the runway as hard as possible and then brakes and loads of reverse thrust.
Once back at the terminal we were advised to remain seated whilst an initial assesment was made. After about 20 minutes we were disembarked. The rest is history.
We took off at 09:15 ish (not 08:15 as reported) and landed at 10:25 the whole flight lasting almost 1 hour.
I hope this helps you guys
Regards
Geoff
Last edited by vegit8; 3rd Jun 2007 at 08:52.
