LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767-300 Makes Gear Up Landing

LOT B767-300 Not the Accident Aircraft

Hello All BlkAv8tor Checkin In!!!

On Nov. 1, 2011 a LOT B767 (Flt LO-16) had to make an emergency gear up landing in Warsaw Poland (WAW) after flying from Newark, NJ. (KEWR) The landing was flawless and textbook if one could ever be.

The captain had plenty of time to prepare for the landing after noticing the problem with the center hydraulic system after leaving Newark. 

Many people have wondered why the captain chose to fly all the way to Warsaw with a known problem instead of turning around and returning to Newark. Well there are many more factors that come into play when planning for an air return to the departure airport and this captain I'm sure with some consultation with his company and FAA officials here in the U.S. they all detrmined coming back to Newark would not be a wise move and here is why.

Airport layout must have come into play as well as how busy the airport of choice is normally. Newark, like JFK is very busy day and night and an emergency with a possibility of a gear up landing would cripple the Northeast airport and connecting flight as well. Newark is a major connecting and originating city for the major U.S. airlines and if it goes down or has a runway closed due to a disabled aircraft, that would shock the system here in the U.S. Going on to Warsaw was a good move in the sense that the traffic there is not as heavy but busy none the less. 

LOT B767-300 Belly Landing

Emergency services wise both airports could handle the emergency if it went wrong and there were injuries but Warsaw could deal with a runway out of service for at the most one day better than Newark. That being said Warsaw was the best option and it gave the airport and emergency services time to prepare. With excellent airmanship this accident is compared to the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson for a flawless "planned" ditching which was the first of it's kind in U.S. history.

Captain Tadeusz Wrona

Captain Tadeusz Wrona and First Officer Jerzy Szwarc, an experienced crew with the captain having more than 20 years of experience on the Boeings are in an elite fraternity that all us pilots hope to never join but if we do then we all hope for the same outcome! As updates become available I will post them here.

Bravo gentlemen for a job well done!!!

As always Be Proactive Not Reactive and Enjoy Your Flight!!!

Blkav8tor2003 

 

Below is an excerpt from avherald with some video from youtube of the landing. the full technical report can be read there as well.

LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767-300, performing flight LO-16 from Newark,NJ (USA) (KEWR) to Warsaw (Poland) (WAW) with 220 passengers and 11 crew, was on approach to Warsaw's runway 33 when the crew aborted the approach at 3000 feet reporting an unsafe gear indication for all three gear struts at about 13:10L (12:10Z) and entered a holding to troubleshoot the problem for about 80 minutes.

The airline reported the aircraft was piloted by Captain Tadeusz Wrona and First Officer Jerzy Szwarc, an experienced crew with the captain having more than 20 years of experience on the Boeings. About 30 minutes after departure from Newark the crew reported the failure of the center hydraulic system. It is unclear why the gear could not be lowered, this is being investigated.

Haitian Evacuee The Culprit in JFK Security Breach

Hello All BlkAv8tor2003 Checking In!!!

So another person sets off alarms by going through security doors...Yes "doors!" This man went through two doors and eventually made it all the way home! How does this happen, especially going into secure areas and making it out of the terminal onto some type of transportation and all the way home? Police found him there and now he is up on charges. Read the full story at The Gothamist.

My question is how did he get down onto the ground level from the terminal level and was never challenged by anyone before exiting to the street level? Then he obviously had to open another door or two to get outside the airport operations area (AOA) and set of additional alarms alerting security officials to his latest position. After working in the would of the airlines I can say for a fact that it is drilled into your head when you first get your airport I.D. that if you can't see someones airport I.D. then you challenge them to prove they are allowed to be there...in uniform or not!

How this happens at the one of the busiest airports in the world is beyond me. Mr. Jules Bouloute will be in some kind of trouble for sure but I hope several security employees and airline personal are in trouble for allowing something like this to happen. Security is already heightened and this is not the time to be complacent and assume anything. I will be interested to see what comes of this crazy event at JFK!

Enjoy your travels and remember "Be Proactive Not Reactive!!!

BlkAv8tor2003

A Haitian evacuee has been arrested for shirking security protocol at JFK, causing hours-long delay in terminal 8. Yesterday afternoon 57-year-old Jules Bouloute walked through a door that led to a restricted area, setting off an alarm. The terminal was evacuated and passengers waited for hours to be re-screened. Bouloute, who narrowly escaped Haiti after Tuesday’s earthquake, is now facing threats of a legal nature.

To get out of Haiti, Bouloute fled to the Dominican Republic and then flew to Orlando on Friday. He spent the night there, then proceeded to his home in Brooklyn, via JFK, reported the NY Post. He arrived safely at the terminal, but instead of leaving he made a detour through a door that was clearly marked “For Authorized Personnel Only.” Surveillance footage captured Bouloute passing through a first door, near Gate 5, at 3:06 p.m., a source told the NY Daily News. A minute later he strolled through a second door, setting off an alarm, and walked out at ground level.

See Full Story at The Gothamist