crosswinds21 From Netherlands, joined Jun 2009, 684 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 18100 times:
I heard from someone at AA that today's (July 11) AA flight 175 from DFW to NRT diverted to SYA in the Aleutian Islands to due to indication of fire in the cabin. I haven't seen anything in the news about this yet and flightaware.com says "result unknown." Does anyone have any further details? This is certainly an interesting diversion and quite the unusual "airport" to see an AA 777!
SurfandSnow From United States of America, joined Jan 2009, 2588 posts, RR: 31 Reply 1, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 18037 times:
Probably not so interesting to the terrifying pax on board, many of whom were probably sleeping when the plane had to suddenly land and be evacuated! Also, this being summer, I imagine the pax from warm locales were unprepared for the chilly Aleutian temps...
Flying in the middle seat of coach is much better than not flying at all!
NW7E7 From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 532 posts, RR: 5 Reply 3, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 17009 times:
It's in ANC now...
AAL175
American Airlines "American"
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200 (twin-jet) (H/B772/Q)
Origin: Eareckson As (PASY / SYA)
Destination: Anchorage Intl (PANC)
Route n/a
Date Sunday, July 11 2010
Duration 1 hour 57 minutes
Status Landed over an hour ago.
Distance Direct: 1451 sm
Scheduled Actual/Estimated
Departure 11:04PM HADT 11:04PM HADT
Arrival 01:58AM AKDT 02:01AM AKDT
Speed
Altitude Unspecified
fxramper From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 7027 posts, RR: 93 Reply 4, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 16368 times:
bobprobert95 From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 61 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 16310 times:
I can tell you after Google mapping that place I wouldn't want to stop there. You might have to do something really wrong to get stationed out there!
KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11711 posts, RR: 52 Reply 6, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 15987 times:
SYA for almost 25 years was used by SAC RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft for reconn mission near Kamchaka to watch USSR RVs on ICBM tests.
ramprat74 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1457 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 15374 times:
mcg From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 671 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 15096 times:
How is the plane serviced in a place like Shemya? Are there air stairs for the passengers to get off the aircraft. Is there a fueler to fuel the aircraft?
ramprat74 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1457 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 14570 times:
The Air Force moved out of Shemya in 1995. All the airport needs are handled by contract people now. Their job is operations and maintenance of the 10,000 foot runway.
crosswinds21 From Netherlands, joined Jun 2009, 684 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 12744 times:
Wow, interesting stuff and interesting photo of the island. So when the aircraft was moved to ANC, I assume that the pax were on there as well and that a replacement aircraft was sent to ANC? This must be a logistical nightmare. Once the plane landed in SYA, then what? There aren't any "hotels" or "restaraunts" there!
UAL747 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 12667 times:
Quote: "The plane landed safely," American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said. "There was no reported fire in the cargo area."
The airplane arrived on Shemya at 3:52 p.m. The 197 passengers departed the aircraft while American employees checked out the airplane. Eventually, they reboarded the airplane, which then arrived in Anchorage early Monday morning.
American will fly in a fresh aircraft and crew to take the passenger on to Tokyo, leaving Anchorage at 8 a.m. Tuesday Alaska Daylight Time. It'll arrive at Tokyo Narita at 8:30 a.m. Japan time Wednesday. That's nearly two days later than originally scheduled.
"The passengers are being accommodated in hotels in Anchorage until their continuation flight to Narita, Japan," Huguely said.
mtnwest1979 From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 2122 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 12638 times:
I think Reeve Aleutian Airways was last US airline to probably go there. It doesnt seem to have been the most popular diversion locale since.
They (RV) used the 727-100s at the end of their existance, on an ANC-ADK-SYA-ANC routing.
As a sidenote, I had a black lab that I named her Shemya after this island.
Thule From United States of America, joined Feb 2009, 97 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 12012 times:
Let me get this straight: the Air Force moved out years ago, there's no "settlement" aside from airport buildings, and there's no scheduled air service there.
Quoting ramprat74 (Reply 9): All the airport needs are handled by contract people now. Their job is operations and maintenance of the 10,000 foot runway.
So... the only purpose of this place is an airport? An airport that's used for... a few diversions? Does any airline or private traffic ever use this for refueling?
I can just imagine the conversation:
"What do you do for a living?"
"I work on Shemya."
"Doing what?"
"Maintaining a runway."
"Why?"
"So I can get paid."
Yellowstone From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 3071 posts, RR: 7 Reply 14, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 11878 times:
Quoting Thule (Reply 13): Let me get this straight: the Air Force moved out years ago, there's no "settlement" aside from airport buildings, and there's no scheduled air service there.
So... the only purpose of this place is an airport?
Not quite - there's also a Cobra Dane radar installation there, to monitor the Russian ballistic missile program.
Hydrogen is an odorless, colorless gas which, given enough time, turns into people.
BMI727 From United States of America, joined Feb 2009, 14352 posts, RR: 26 Reply 15, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 11752 times:
Quoting bobprobert95 (Reply 5): I can tell you after Google mapping that place I wouldn't want to stop there.
You would if you thought that your plane was on fire.
Quoting Thule (Reply 13): So... the only purpose of this place is an airport? An airport that's used for... a few diversions?
Kind of. I think that Wake Island is the same way, but I think Boeing pays to operate that airport to make transpacific ETOPS easier.
Why do Aerospace Engineering students have to turn things in on time?
Aeroflot777 From Russia, joined Mar 2004, 2957 posts, RR: 30 Reply 16, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 11631 times:
Wow. That looks like an interesting place to divert from an A.net airliner enthusiast perspective. However, if I was a naive, regular pax - that would be a horror. There is nothing on that island. Looking at the Google Maps overview of the airport is almost even more horrific.
ewrkid From United States of America, joined Dec 2008, 594 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 11633 times:
Quoting BMI727 (Reply 15): You would if you thought that your plane was on fire.
Exactly, your train of thought isn't to divert somewhere that people will be comfortable and warm, it's to get that baby down ASAP! Seems like AA handled it well considering the circumstances
NW7E7 From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 532 posts, RR: 5 Reply 18, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 11388 times:
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21495 posts, RR: 24 Reply 19, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 11294 times:
Quoting Aeroflot777 (Reply 16): That looks like an interesting place to divert from an A.net airliner enthusiast perspective. However, if I was a naive, regular pax - that would be a horror. There is nothing on that island. Looking at the Google Maps overview of the airport is almost even more horrific.
NW used Shemya as a refuelling stop on their transpacific flights in the 1950s. They actually leased and operated the airport for several years after the military pulled out (they later returned). I think NW ended their activities there in the early 1960s after jets made the stop unnecessary.
Following excerpt from NW's history timeline from their former website.
1956
January 1: Northwest leases Shemya Island in the Aleutian chain from the U.S. government for use as a fuel stop on the North Pacific route, thus becoming the first airline to operate its own airport.
contrails15 From United States of America, joined Oct 2008, 1181 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 11118 times:
I take it, whoever works this airport is going to have lots of down time. I'm going by the above picture.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21495 posts, RR: 24 Reply 22, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 10796 times:
USAF article from 2009 on Shemya, now officially known as Eareckson Air Station. It says there are about 140 personnel there employed by a contractor, and only a few uniformed military personnel. http://www.elmendorf.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?id=123159775
777STL From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 3036 posts, RR: 3 Reply 23, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 10528 times:
Quoting N9801F (Reply 21): It seems odd to me that they left SYA for ANC (1,455 mi) when it's about the same distance to NRT (2,013 mi).
The "risk" seems the same, and the disruption to pax and ops is vastly lower with SYA-NRT.
You'd think it would be easier to fix a 777 in NRT than ANC - especially since NRT is a much bigger AA station than ANC.
The disruption would be greater if they had flown that aircraft to NRT and it had gone out of service there. AA would then have to cancel whatever US bound flight that aircraft was scheduled to operate thus inconveniencing even more pax. This way, AA can take the broken plane back to DFW and fix it with their own facilities and the fresh aircraft can then fly the pax onward to NRT and resume the normal schedule.
Aaron747 From Japan, joined Aug 2003, 7646 posts, RR: 28 Reply 24, posted (2 years 10 months 2 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 10514 times:
Quoting N9801F (Reply 21):
You'd think it would be easier to fix a 777 in NRT than ANC - especially since NRT is a much bigger AA station than ANC.
Any ideas????
If the aircraft needed any serious inspection or work it would no doubt be cheaper to do in ANC given the facilities there. Clearly the cheaper and better option than NRT if you ask me. I don't even want to know what NRT's resident carriers would charge for such services.
If you need someone to blame / throw a rock in the air / you'll hit someone guilty
25 mayor: I was stationed on "The Rock" in '68 for one year*. Quite an experience. We had AS 727 combis that did the regular weekly run back and forth from ANC
26 mtnwest1979: Excellent to see first hand experience from there! When I saw years ago that when the Navy was at Adak and there were over 5,000 people there, with a
27 Pensacolaguy: Just heard about this..I'm glad that the aircraft was able to successfually land at Eareckson As Airport (Shemya, AK) [PASY/SYA]. The replacement airc
28 mayor: Once they left SYA, there aren't alot of places to divert to if they had any additional trouble, heading west. Heading east there's Adak and Cold Bay
29 jeffrey1970: I would not mind spending a night in Anchorage. It is a beautiful city.
30 nonrevman: I am hoping that an airliners.net enthusiast was on board and will post a trip report. It would especially be interesting to read about the experience
31 CWAFlyer: A co-worker of mine used to be a C-130 engineer in the Coast Guard. I've heard him talking about flying into Shemya quite often.
32 ThreeIfByAir: According to some of the news reports, the luggage and cargo was unloaded at Shemya due to the fire suppression system being expended. How did they un
33 9252fly: I've seen ULD's loaded and unloaded from aircraft using fork-lifts. It's a lot slower though.
34 rfields5421: Why do so many people think a diversion landing has to be terrifying? Sure Shemya isn't much to visit - it wasn't much in 1973 and 1974 the last times
35 777STL: I flew this route back in December. If only.....
36 francoflier: How's Adak like? I often wonder about these 'mysterious' airports when crossing the pacific, particualrly since they're our only enroute alternates w
37 mayor: Here I am on Shemya, circa '68, doing my studies
38 jetset: While not a US carrier, I did find another significant diversion to Shemya 1993, April 6. A China Eastern Airlines MD-11, on a flight from Beijing to
39 Numero4: For some reason I was certain it was Korean Airlines (maybe because of Flight 007), so I couldn't find it. Thank you very much sir! On a sidenote, I
40 N9801F: Thanks, mayor - I think this is the #1 reason. I'm guessing SYA-NRT requires ETOPs, whereas SYA-ANC does not. And since the cargo fire suppression sy
41 sw733: Yeah no kidding, I am on AA175 every 8 weeks or so connecting on to HKG...granted, if I had important meetings to make, I would be a bit frustrated,
42 DFWEagle: The passengers were evacuated and all cargo and luggage was removed from the aircraft. Since the cargo fire suppression system had been activated, al
43 mayor: Man, I'm pissed.......we never had a K-loader when I was there......just a forklift!!
44 mtnwest1979: About the same but there are a few more folks and buildings from what I have seen of ADK. Plus AS flies out to ADK 2x week, EAS IIRC. I have a dvd of
45 Cubsrule: Assuming ADK is an acceptable alternate, you don't need SYA; ADK, ANC, and PKC cover the north Pacific just fine. But as Francoflier points out, ADK
46 Oshkosh1: Having been in the Navy...and VISITED Adak...the running joke on the base was that "there was a woman behind every tree" There were like 3 trees on th
47 sw733: Well, based on mayor's nerdy pics, 3 was more than they needed in the whole Aleutians
48 MLD9S: I haven't seen this posted yet....unless I missed it. Apparently, (according to one of the crew members from the plane) the aircraft involved in this
49 AVLAirlineFreq: So...how did the cargo and luggage get to ANC? And how long did that take?
50 Chase: Looking at the picture posted above, I see only one runway. Ditto with the map at the bottom right here: http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/PASY
51 BMI727: It appears to be an old and disused part of the airport. If you look closely, you can see a taxiway linking that to the main portion, and buildings h
52 mayor: There was an old, north/south (more or less) runway when I was there but it was out of use, then. All we had was the 10,000 ft. main runway. More than
53 C172Akula: According to the Calgary Herald today, another AA flight from DFW-NRT diverted to YYC yesterday around 3pm. They had to shut down one of the engines.
54 AALuxuryLiner: It looks like AA 61 is now enroute from YYC to KIX according to Flightaware. http://www.flightstats.com/go/Flight...764&airlineCode=AA&flight
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