Lufthansa A343 Diversion to Dubrovnik (Non Double Engine Failure?)
 

The Aviation Herald is reporting:

There must be a very good reason why a 4-engine, long range aircraft would divert to somewhere like Dubrovnik while being so close (in relative terms) to its home base. Any truth to the passengers' take that this was a double engine failure?

Being down to 2 engines was a very good reason to land at nearest available.... can you imagine the uproar if he had tried to turn back and lost another...... suggest you think before you print.

I suggest you read before you reply.

That was exactly my point, i.e. to know if this was a double engine failure or not. If it was, then the decision to divert to the nearest airport was the reasonable course of action.

jeez, I'd be keen to hear what happened here.....Dubrovnik certainly wouldnt be a choice of an enroute alt for me unlesso u were in the "land at the nearest suitable alt" scenario.

And why so ? a 3300m x 45 runway and ATC with Approach radar and full emergency services avail would qualify. If you're referring to the high ground around, can be a factor with strong winds , I agree, but not the case today though.(been landing there a few times.)

No sign of anything looking like a 340 on the airport webcams Airport Dubrovnik so if this did happen it was on it's way again fairly quick.

My only experience of DBV is as a (young) pax on British Airtours 707 in 1975! - a nosewheel became separated from the aircraft during landing in +RA :eek:

Why so? windsheer experience from the place both rwys.......on the ILS app you can get some very sporty, theres a massive dip in terrain before the threshold re shearand the circle to land is not what you want to be doing in an emergency. I know of a guy that got Alpha Floor doing a circle to land on the break off for a down wind there due to the viciousness of the winds.......likewise the rwy is very undullating.....granted it's long. I'd prefer maybe Split as an Alt. Venice even better but they must have had big probs to dive into DBV.

Thats my reading of the place.....horses for courses as the saying goes.:ok:

.....any other reason to divert do DBV ??
....3 engines alife going to MUC, just a short jump or even to FRA....don't see a problem so far
....but 2 engines gone :mad:

anyway it's very quite in the medias, ZERO. Just Another "good" LH censorship :yuk: money instead of public interest....I know they are the Best, and bad stuffs happens only to the others.

As per the LH website, that flight is listed as "in flight" for today and arrival yesterday was listed as on time. Are any other details available?

Apparently this was the 18th of January 2011.

Eyewitness report
 

Apparently a source for the "2 engines off" is the press secretary of the catholic bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam (Netherlands):

Source:
Noodlanding vliegtuig met bisschop Punt erin Archief 2011 [Actualiteit | Katholiek Nederland]

Guessing he means circled ... doubtless a translation matter. "Smoke coming from engines" is vague enough to mean ... anything.
Matches his testimony, that vagueness.
Of course. To shut down two engines, doubtless something a bit more complex, perhaps even dire, was afoot.
All translation matters considered, this is unhelpful, other than his report that two of the four engines were shut down / off.

"Therefore we were floating."

Actually, Herr Secretary, "therefore, we were still flying!" :} (Given two engines were still running). They'd have been floating if all four engines had been secured, and they were landing in, rather than "doing loops" in and about the Adriatic. :eek:

Hopefully something in more aviation-like language will be forthcoming to explain this divert.

Japan Airlines fly a 747-400 every now and then to Dubrovnic. In daylight with RWY12 in use and nice weather, I don't see why you wouldn't land in DBV.

Obviously trying to drum up a little support.

2 eng failures on
 

4 eng aircraft in the past were usually due to crew actions in haste

Vincenco,

Nice photo. Welcome to the forum!

Thanks! This foto is from airport webcam

A lot of reading interpretations throughout this saga. Of course the crew knows what they did and their report would show this. The rest of the sources of information leaking into these posts are likely speculative.

Most two engine problems end up as one shutdown for precaution while the other is on-watch for similarity.

I'm not sure what the picture above is suppose to show. Is it the same plane the same day after it landed or just a file photo?

translation
 

wozzo
Quote:
"I clearly saw smoke coming from the engine. The plane made some loops over the Adriatic Sea." (...) Lufthansa was according to Peeters very vague about the cause of the smoke. "Something would have gone wrong in the kitchen where meals are heated. But I think there was more to it. The pilot had two of the four engines off. Therefore it seemed we were floating. Everyone held his breath. We obviously have done some prayers."
Source:
Noodlanding vliegtuig met bisschop Punt erin Archief 2011 [Actualiteit | Katholiek Nederland]

I checked the translation and it is except for some wrong choosen words correct.
The loops of course were some circles over the adriatic sea.
What he left out is Mr. Peeters also reported to that Catholic Press office in the Netherlands, that fuel was dumped and that it was an impressive sight of which he took some pictures with his mobile phone.
Instead of using the word floating he should have used the word soaring / gliding.

It obviously was an normal landing at DBV and the passengers arrived at Addis Ababa one day late.
Forget about the prayers, a good catholic has to say something like that ??

By the way I am married to a Dutch girl since 48 years, that´s why !
Jo

<<press secretary of the catholic bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam >>

He doesn't moonlight as a journo for The Star by any chance?

moonlight ??
 

Don´t think so, would be considered a severe sin to ly to the public !!Ha, Ha. No I think he is authentic as far as I can see in the dutch report.
Jo

webcam foto 19.Januar 2011 in 14h37.40

There is nothing fundamentally "wrong" with DBV but if it was indeed "smell of unknown origin" it seems like a peculiar choice. We obviously don't know their exact location at the moment they decided to divert but Italy, Zagreb / Croatia, Greece, Austria or even Germany might have been suitable.

Waiting for the origin of the smoke to be known can prove unreasonable in the end.

Having been there plenty of times I can confirm that the picture is Dubrovnik and that LH certainly do not normally fly there with the A340. Judging by the webcam the weather was pretty nice.

Land at next suitable airport means just that. Wise advice when in doubt is get on the ground asap. Greece and Germany are not exactly close not to mention the high ground in between and the nearest italian airfields like Bari or Brindisi are not obviously more attractive to anyone who knows them well.

I do agree that the Croatian coastal airfields can be a nightmare when the Bora wind is blowing. But on a normal day it is an ideal diversion airfield, easy to find nice straight in ils from the north and a really nice city.

Rant? I think it's sarcasm and I think he hits the nail on its head.
A 4-engined longhaul plane, not even an hour out of it's homebase, makes an intermediate landing at a, let's say, B-category airport.... there's obviously a very good reason.
Then A321 in his post starts flaming LH about being the "best" and with "disgusted" smileys. What's that got to do with it?
His dudeness adresses that and rightly so.

Good job folks :rolleyes:

S'pose you got an SMS too :ugh:

@GolfYankeeSierra

what is your view then if the claims made by A321 were accurate. Should one post it, start a new thread or is that a theme nobody wants to see on pprune?

It's very easy to dismiss such claims but what does the aviation community gain as a whole by allowing such dismissal if the claims are true?

Smell of unknown origin (or so the rumour goes), land at nearest suitable field asap. I can't for the life of me think why any professional would have a problem with that.

Well, my view on this?
Apart from it being totally untrue (and I am not German, nor work there) it smells of either a big frustration or perhaps inappropriate nationalism.
But then, not being British, you'll get used to these qualifications quickly on this forum.

honestly:
I thought my post was more than clear. But it amazes me to see, the outcome. Obviously some of our members here cannot read or not think or maybe none of both, or they wear LH-coloured-blinders :bored:

For shure our colleagues in this A343 had a f#&§$..ing good reason to go to DBV. They are professionals and qualified like all, well, most of us. They did a good job :ok: For shure.

So going to a B or even C class airport like DBV, where you can almost see MUC from this position in the air. There must be something else than just a minor MASTER CAUTION. Something very, very severe.

Now my point again: the well-known :yuk: LH-way of communication to the medias and to the public in general. :mad:
The general public has the right to be informed about such an incident.
Have to mention it again: in no single media, at least not in Germany and not even in the "blood-weeping" BILD newspaper you could find anything about this obviously very SEVERE incident.
How come ? - Why not ? - How much money did they pay ? - How many free tickets for all the overqualified :oh: journalists did they issue ? So to turn back the clock and to make this incident undone. - At least for the general public.......I cannot eat that much I would like to.....:yuk:
They always do their utmost to cover-up any not so good news. because: They are the Best and the $hit happens only to the others.

Almost every small stuff you can find in the medias, small HYD failure, inflight return to to maybe unruly pax....just really minor items.
Even if the wellknown "sack of rice" bursts somewhere in China this creates almost a mediahype. But now - obviously severe stuff - nothing. :ugh::mad:

Being a professional pilot I would really like to know the real reason behind this "emergency" diversion. Just for aviation related interest only.
Guess this is one of pprune paramount also.:ok:

And please, to some of our community members, please do not comment that this was just a "normal" diversion.

I don't see why it benefits LH to 'hush up' the incident? Their professional flight crew made a decision to divert. Simple as that.

I would guess that this will result in a case being open by the DFS ?

...you probably mean BFU, do you ?

Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung

Sorry BFU. Is there an investigation on this specific case?

....any news at all about this emergency landing ?

Nothing wrong with DBV
 

Having been to it many, many times I can't see why anyone would think of diverting elsewhere if it was the closest, and suitable. While weather conditions could play a big part (think Ron Brown accident), it looks from the picture, that on the day of the incident the weather was acceptable.

The next closest would have been TIV but at 8,200' for the RWY he would have trouble getting out with passengers.

How long is this thread going to go on for ?

A lot to do about nothing

Crew made right decision No one injured A/C continued after investigation.

No problems

If we started a thread after every A/C landing with smoke or funny smell in Cabin the site would be full

...its good to have professionals like learjet on pprune.:hmm:

A big A340-300 just departed from FRA to Addis Ababa lands in Dubrovnik

and our expert just says:

:ok: