Aviation Accidents, Safety and Disasters

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      U.S. Said to Seek Boeing Guilty Plea to Avoid Trial in 737 Max Crashes

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      The Justice Department told victims’ families that it would propose a nearly $244 million fine and three years of company oversight to settle a fraud charge.The Justice Department plans to allow Boeing to avoid a criminal trial if it agrees to plead guilty to a fraud charge stemming from two fatal crashes of its 737 Max more than five years ago, according to two lawyers for families of the crash victims.Federal officials shared details of the offer on a call with the families on Sunday afternoon before bringing the deal to Boeing, according to the lawyers, Paul G. Cassell and Mark Lindquist.The terms include a nearly $244 million fine, a new investment in safety improvements, three years of scrutiny from an external monitor, and a meeting between Boeing’s board and the victims’ families, said Mr. Cassell, a University of Utah law professor.The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Boeing declined to comment.Mr. Cassell, who represents more than a dozen of the families, said that he and the families found the deal to be “outrageous” and that it fell far short of what they had sought. He described the offer as a “sweetheart plea deal” because it would not force Boeing to admit fault in the deaths of the 346 people who died in the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in late 2018 and early 2019.“The families will strenuously object to this plea deal,” Mr. Cassell said in a statement. “The memory of 346 innocents killed by Boeing demands more justice than this.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Plane With 5 Aboard Crashes in Rural Upstate New York

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      The plane crashed around 2 p.m. on Sunday in Delaware County, N.Y., the Federal Aviation Administration said. Multiple crews were searching for the aircraft.Emergency responders were searching for a small plane carrying five people that crashed in a rural part of New York State outside the Catskill Park on Sunday afternoon, the authorities said.The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-46, crashed around 2 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation.It was not immediately clear what caused the crash or whether there were any injuries or fatalities. The search was initially focused on an area near Trout Creek, N.Y., which is about 45 minutes east of Binghamton, N.Y.Sarah Taylor Sulick, a public affairs specialist at the N.T.S.B, said that “it’s our understanding that the plane has not yet been located and the local authorities are conducting a search.”Preliminary information indicated that the plane left from Albert S. Nader Regional Airport in Oneonta, N.Y., with five people aboard, the authorities said.It was headed to Charleston, W.Va., when it crashed under unknown circumstances, Ms. Sulick said, adding that an N.T.S.B. investigator was expected to arrive at the scene on Monday.Dallis Wright, deputy coordinator for Delaware County Emergency Services, said emergency dispatchers received multiple calls Sunday that there was a plane in distress that appeared to be going down.The National Weather Service in Binghamton issued a request for a spot forecast at around 2:30 p.m. for an aircraft search in Delaware County.Multiple responders from local and state law enforcement agencies and fire and emergency services departments were on the ground on Sunday, using all-terrain vehicles, searching for the plane, Ms. Wright said.A helicopter that provides critical care to patients throughout New York and Pennsylvania was also on the scene.Delaware County, in south central New York, is a rural, mountainous region that is home to 19 towns and 10 villages. More

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      Are Planes Safe Right Now? How to Understand Flight Disruptions.

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      You should expect the unexpected while flying, but few disruptions should provoke serious concern, aviation experts say.Smoke in the cabin. A tire blowout. A cracked windshield. No shortage of problems can affect a flight, fueling traveler anxiety and contributing to thousands of daily delays and cancellations around the world.But for all of the frustration and alarm such events cause, it can be difficult to interpret and understand their severity. Here’s how aviation safety experts say travelers should think about disruptions when they occur.Problems happen.Several alarming air travel incidents have made headlines in recent weeks — a sharp plunge toward an ocean, an unnerving wobble that damaged the tail of a plane and an aborted departure after an apparent engine fire.But the most common mishaps and malfunctions, even if hair-raising, are not typically severe, experts said.A hydraulic leak, for example, is a familiar occurrence that pilots take seriously, but it is not as disruptive as it may sound. That’s because planes have backup hydraulic systems, which are used to power equipment like the landing gear, brakes, wing flaps and flight controls, allowing planes to take off, fly and land. A plane veering off a runway, in what is known as a runway excursion, makes for captivating video and a possibly terrifying experience for those on board. But it doesn’t necessarily cause significant damage to an airplane or threaten the safety of those on board.The same is true of the wide range of mechanical or maintenance issues that can come up before takeoff, which might force a pilot to hold a plane at its gate or return to the gate from taxiing. Those incidents are important to understand and address, but they are often minor, experts said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      12 Injured on Qatar Airways Flight From Turbulence

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      The Dublin Airport said that a Qatar Airways flight from Doha landed in Ireland after a dozen people were injured by turbulence.Twelve people were injured on Sunday during turbulence on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha that landed safely as scheduled in Ireland, the Dublin Airport said.The plane, a Boeing B787-9, was flying over Turkey when it encountered turbulence, injuring six passengers and six crew members, the Dublin Airport said on social media.The flight landed in Dublin just before 1 p.m. local time and was met by emergency medical workers, the airport said.Passengers were checked for injuries before leaving the plane, and eight people were taken to a hospital.Dublin Airport said that its operations were not affected and that the airline’s return flight to Doha was still scheduled to depart later on Sunday.Qatar Airways said in a statement that “a small number” of passengers on the flight, QR017, had minor injuries.“The matter is now subject to an internal investigation,” the airline said. “The safety and security of our passengers and crew are our top priority.”The flight lasted seven hours and 35 minutes according to Flight Aware, a flight tracking website. The flight continued for more than three hours after passing over Turkey, according to tracking data.The injuries come after a rare death from turbulence occurred during a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday.A 73-year-old man from Britain died and dozens of people were injured during the flight, which left from London and was flying over Myanmar when it hit what the airline described as “sudden extreme turbulence.”The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, made an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand.Singapore Airlines said in a statement on Sunday that 40 passengers and a crew member who were on the flight were still hospitalized in Bangkok. There were 211 passengers on the 13-hour flight.Though turbulence on a flight can be intense and severe, it is rare for it to result in a death.There were 163 passengers and crew members seriously injured by turbulence on aircraft registered in the United States from 2009 to 2022, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. More

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      Turbulence on Qatar Airways Flight Leaves 12 Injured

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      The Dublin Airport said that a Qatar Airways flight from Doha landed in Ireland after a dozen people were injured by turbulence.Twelve people were injured on Sunday during turbulence on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha that landed safely as scheduled in Ireland, the Dublin Airport said.The plane, a Boeing B787-9, was flying over Turkey when it encountered turbulence, injuring six passengers and six crew members, the Dublin Airport said on social media.The flight landed in Dublin just before 1 p.m. local time and was met by emergency medical workers, the airport said.Passengers were checked for injuries before leaving the plane, and eight people were taken to a hospital.Dublin Airport said that its operations were not affected and that the airline’s return flight to Doha was still scheduled to depart later on Sunday.Qatar Airways said in a statement that “a small number” of passengers on the flight, QR017, had minor injuries.“The matter is now subject to an internal investigation,” the airline said. “The safety and security of our passengers and crew are our top priority.”The flight lasted seven hours and 35 minutes according to Flight Aware, a flight tracking website. The flight continued for more than three hours after passing over Turkey, according to tracking data.The injuries come after a rare death from turbulence occurred during a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday.A 73-year-old man from Britain died and dozens of people were injured during the flight, which left from London and was flying over Myanmar when it hit what the airline described as “sudden extreme turbulence.”The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, made an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand.Singapore Airlines said in a statement on Sunday that 40 passengers and a crew member who were on the flight were still hospitalized in Bangkok. There were 211 passengers on the 13-hour flight.Though turbulence on a flight can be intense and severe, it is rare for it to result in a death.There were 163 passengers and crew members seriously injured by turbulence on aircraft registered in the United States from 2009 to 2022, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. More

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      Helicopter Carrying Iran’s President Has Crashed, State Media Reports

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      Rescuers are trying to locate the helicopter on which President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian were traveling, state media reported. Their status is unknown.A helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi crashed on Sunday, according to Iran’s state media and the country’s mission to the United Nations, but has yet to be found by search-and-rescue workers because of heavy fog.The helicopter was also carrying Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister.The state news agency IRNA reported that an enormous search operation involving 16 teams was underway to locate the helicopter. Inclement weather, the reports said, was hampering the effort. The teams had yet to locate the crash site after almost five hours.State media has yet to report on casualties or confirm the whereabouts or condition of the president. The cause of the crash is also unknown.“Given the complexities of the region, connection has been difficult, and we are hoping that the rescue teams reach the helicopter and can give us more information,” Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s interior minister, told state television.Mr. Raisi was on an official visit to the province of Eastern Azerbaijan, a mountainous region in northwestern Iran.A delegation of ministers traveled with him in a convoy of three helicopters, state media reported, adding that the two other aircraft had reached their destinations.In addition to the president and the foreign minister, the governor of the province was also in the helicopter, which crashed in an area called Varzaghan, state media reported. More

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      Justice Dept. Says Boeing Violated 2021 Settlement Over Max Plane

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      The department said the company had failed to design and enforce an ethics program to prevent violation of U.S. fraud laws.The Department of Justice said on Tuesday that Boeing was in violation of a 2021 settlement related to problems with the company’s 737 Max model that led to two deadly plane crashes in 2018 and 2019.In a letter to a federal judge, the department said that Boeing had failed to “design, implement and enforce” an ethics program to prevent and detect violations of U.S. fraud laws in the company’s operations. Creating that program was a condition of Boeing’s settlement, which also carried a $2.5 billion penalty.The determination by the Justice Department opens the door to a potential prosecution of a 2021 criminal charge accusing Boeing of conspiracy to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration, though Boeing can contest Tuesday’s decision.In a statement, Boeing said that the company believed that it had honored the terms of the settlement, adding that it was looking forward to the opportunity to respond.“As we do so, we will engage with the department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement,” Boeing said in its statement.The Justice Department declined to comment. Paul G. Cassell, a lawyer representing families of victims of the fatal plane crashes, said that his clients were planning to meet with the government on May 31 to discuss next steps in the case.When the government reached its settlement with Boeing in January 2021, many families of the crash victims said that the Trump administration had been too lenient on the aircraft manufacturer.“This is a positive first step and, for the families, a long time coming,” Mr. Cassell said. “But we need to see further action from D.O.J. to hold Boeing accountable.”The crashes of the 737 Max 8 planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people, prompting the F.A.A. to ground the entire 737 Max fleet. An investigation found that both crashes involved mistaken triggering of a maneuvering system designed to help avert stalls in flight.In another settlement, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that Boeing had offered misleading reassurances about the safety of the 737 Max in public statements after both crashes, despite knowing that the maneuvering system had posed a continuing safety issue.The Justice Department reached its finding at a tumultuous time for Boeing, which has faced intense regulatory scrutiny since a door panel blew out of a 737 Max 9 plane during an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Ore., in January. In March, the company said its chief executive, Dave Calhoun, would step down at the end of the year, along with Stan Deal, the head of the division that makes planes for airlines and other commercial customers.Mr. Calhoun replaced Dennis A. Muilenburg, who led the company during the 2018 and 2019 crashes. Boeing fired Mr. Muilenburg, whose performance during the crisis angered lawmakers and alienated victims’ families.Mark Walker More

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      Delta Flight Loses Emergency Slide After Takeoff From J.F.K.

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      The plane had taken off from Kennedy International Airport when crew members noticed problems near its right wing, Delta said. What became of the slide is unknown.A Boeing 767 plane flown by Delta Air Lines lost an emergency slide on Friday, prompting it to return to New York not long after taking off, officials said.The flight, Delta Air Lines 520, had left Kennedy International Airport in New York and was headed to Los Angeles when its crew discovered an issue related to the aircraft’s right wing emergency exit slide. Crew members also detected an unusual sound near the wing, Delta Air Lines said.Pilots declared an emergency to air traffic controllers and the flight returned to Kennedy and landed safely, the airline said.After the plane landed, it became apparent that the aircraft’s emergency slide had “separated” from the plane, Delta Air Lines said. The plane was removed from service and the airline said it would “thoroughly evaluate the aircraft.”“Delta flight crews enacted their extensive training and followed procedures to return to J.F.K.,” the company said in a statement, adding that it would “fully cooperate” with retrieval efforts and investigations.It was not clear on Saturday what caused the slide to detach or where it had fallen.The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday that it would investigate what happened.The flight, which had been scheduled to take off at 7:15 a.m., returned to the airport at 8:35 a.m. after its crew reported “a vibration,” the F.A.A. said in a statement. The 176 passengers disembarked and traveled to Los Angeles on a different plane.Slides have previously fallen from planes while midair. In July, an emergency slide from a United Airlines-operated plane crashed into a home near O’Hare Airport in Chicago. In 2019, a slide from a Delta plane fell into a yard in Massachusetts.A spokesman for Boeing referred inquiries about the plane that lost its slide on Friday to Delta Air Lines. That plane, a version of the Boeing 767, was manufactured in 1990.With travel shut down in 2020, American Airlines announced at the time that it had moved forward with plans to retire its 767 fleet.Boeing has also faced heightened scrutiny recently over the manufacturing of its Boeing 737 Max jets. Two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people raised safety concerns about the planes.In January, a fuselage panel tore off an Alaska Airlines flight, exposing passengers to a frightening ordeal as winds whipped through the cabin. Nobody was injured, but the pilots were forced to make an emergency landing, and the F.A.A. grounded some 170 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes as a precaution.Since then, Boeing has said it would make changes to its quality control processes and regulators have pushed the manufacturer to make improvements to safety. More