HBIHLtoEZE From Switzerland, joined Aug 2004, 280 posts, RR: 2 Posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 5573 times:
Hi,
well this is my first trip report, so please, do not hesitate with criticism...
anyway, it all started on a beautiful winter day in Düsseldorf. For once it was very sunny in the Ruhrgebiet area, a glorious, gorgeous day with cristal clear, refreshing air and a hearty, cool wind blowing.
Condtitions were so ideal for photography that I went a little earlier to the airport to shoot some pictures, and I was richly rewarded:
Iberia's retro jet is a true bijou, and a Tupolev 154 stuns me everytime.
Well, the day's perfect start should not apply to the afternoon: soon after taking off on the RJ100 HB-IXP there was a strange noise, well, I cannot describe it sufficiently: the engines sounded kind of differently, less loud maybe, less humming, and then we hit some turbulences. Little did I know and I fell asleep - I easily fall asleep up in the air (for me the last resort of quietness, of heavenly silence, a perfect place to relax). After maybe 20 minutes the captain's voice woke me up: He announced that we were to return to DUS as we were experiencing an engine failure (when looking in cockpit direction the outer engine on the right). Everyone stayed calm on board (even though my seating neighbour, a fine lady, admitted that she was nervous as she sat on a Cessna 20 years earlier when suddenly the propeller stopped propelling, that's what she told me at least and I tried to calm her by telling her about the gliding abilities of today's jets - mentionning the Gimly Glider and the Air Transat A330 getting to the Azores after gliding for hours) and so we went back where we started from, circling over the Ruhrgebiet, for around half an hour and then touched down again on Germany's third busiest airport. I made some pictures while we were circling:
and from X-ray Papa on the ground - with an engine opened:
Then Swiss (and Lufthansa) proved that they do know what they are doing: they managed to avoid chaos - everybody was accommodated on other flights to their destinations in a orderly, professional way - I must say I was impressed.
(This situation, returing due to an engine failure was new to me, however, I experienced two flight cancellations before, both with Air France, and both times it took ages for them to rearrange everything).
For me, it meant only a delay of three hours in the end - as I was booked right on the next LH flight to ZRH, LH 3770, operated by Eurowings on BAe 146-200 D-ACFA. This older Jumbolino has, as opposed to SWISS, a 6-abreast design, making the galley narrow. The seat was comfy, however, and the ride smooth. As soon as we were above the clouds I was napping again...
Well, this incident only helped to strengthen my belief in this airline (and its parent) and I am already looking forward to flying them again...
Cheers
[Edited 2008-01-13 14:23:09]
Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 24928 posts, RR: 60 Reply 1, posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 5467 times:
Hey nice mini report on your drama. Nice to know they were professional getting everyone re booked etc.... At least you had another 3 engines to get you back to DUS !!!
OA260
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
RoseFlyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 8748 posts, RR: 52 Reply 2, posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 5465 times:
Thanks for the trip report. It's interesting to hear about an engine failure. I'm almost surprised that they did not continue on the ZRH. DUS-ZRH is less than 300 miles, so after 20 minutes in the air, you'd be well on your way to your destination, unless of course they were holding and diagnosing the problem.
3 engines isn't a disastrous situation, but getting on the ground quickly is always a good idea. The response that BA got after losing an engine and then trying to continue flying LAX-LHR was pretty bad PR.
If you have never designed an airplane part before, let the real designers do the work!
Ndebele From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 2895 posts, RR: 25 Reply 3, posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 4572 times:
Good to see that Swiss (or LH ground handling) re-booked the passengers so quickly and professionally - once something goes wrong, it's nice to be in the hands of a quality carrier. I mean, re-booking the local passengers to the next DUS-VIE flight certainly isn't that difficult, but I'm sure there were some worldwide connections involved as a s well.
LO231 From Belgium, joined Sep 2004, 2299 posts, RR: 25 Reply 4, posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 5 days ago) and read 4492 times:
Quoting Ndebele (Reply 3): Good to see that Swiss (or LH ground handling) re-booked the passengers so quickly and professionally - once something goes wrong, it's nice to be in the hands of a quality carrier.
So true, however I've experienced total chaos and lack of information when it happened to me, I was to fly LX to ZRH ( for a ZRH meet if some remember, which I reched 8 hours late) and the plane went tech.
The staff at BRU was not LX staff, as LX uses I think Aviaprtner for that, so those employees had absolutely no idea about LX or LH operations back then.. Resulting in 2.5 hours worth of rebookin AR8 50% load of people to different flights..
I'm glad you didnt experience it the hard way..
Great report, and for the next time, happy sleep....ahrm, flying time!
Regards,
LO231
Got both LO 788 frames already, next SN BRU-VCE-BRU
BrianDromey From Ireland, joined Dec 2006, 3808 posts, RR: 10 Reply 5, posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 4340 times:
Quoting LO231 (Reply 4): The staff at BRU was not LX staff,
I think a similar situation would pronounce at DUB! The LX crew there (Sky Handling Partner) are clueless. They cant even book J class pax into J seats, but can book Y pax into the middle seat in J, which is always to be kept free! In a situation like this, God only knows where ppl would end up!
Glad to see all were OK, although I too am surprised you guys did not just continue to ZRH, you did have three engines left and ye had to hold for a while. Maybe weather at ZRH was not great?
Brian.
Next flights: MAN-ORK-LHR(EI)-MAN(BD); MAN-LHR(BD)-ORK (EI); DUB-ZRH-LAX (LX) LAX-YYZ (AC) YYZ-YHZ-LHR(AC)-DUB(BD)
Fiatstilojtd From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 4312 times:
Quoting BrianDromey (Reply 5): I think a similar situation would pronounce at DUB! The LX crew there (Sky Handling Partner) are clueless
I can only confirm that from my own experience. Even if you only show up with the print out of the E-Ticket E-Mail because the Ticket Desk (which in LX's case is kind of hidden at DUB) was not yet open at 9.10 am. They have no clue what to do. So I don't even want to know what happens f they have to rebook a fully loaded Airbus if it goes tech at DUB.
HBIHLtoEZE From Switzerland, joined Aug 2004, 280 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 3871 times:
Thanks for your answers.
Now, a day later I think it is rather special what happened to my flight - taking off and returning to the same airport due to a technical problem.
I am also asking myself why we did not continue to ZRH - all in all we spent almost as long in the air as we had gone on to ZRH...
Nevertheless, I am grateful that I made it back with a acceptable delay only - they might have been so well organised as DUS do have a considerable LH operation and is still not too big.
Cheers
PS: HB-IXP was not in service today in and out of ZRH? Does anybody know where it was repaired or ferried to? Thank you.
Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.
B747forever From United States of America, joined May 2007, 16575 posts, RR: 11 Reply 8, posted (5 years 4 months 1 week 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 3101 times:
Nice TR
The pics are really good.
Good that everything went well and that they re booked you all!!
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