San Francisco Metblogs » airlines

Fire, ‘hard landing’ for JetBlue plane in Sacramento

Mark Pritchard — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:41:34 +0000

Sacramento’s KCRA is reporting that 15 people suffered minor injuries today when a JetBlue flight from Long Beach to Sacramento made a “hard landing.”

At least one of the plane’s tires blew and caught fire on landing, possibly due to brake trouble. Earlier reports which suggested there was a fire on board the plane appear to have been a misunderstanding.

The plane had 86 passengers and crew aboard. This KCRA page has twitter-like updates. And a complete story on CBS News.

Hero pilot lives in Danville

Mark Pritchard — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:39:34 +0000

The airline pilot who successfully ditched the disabled US Air flight in the Hudson River today, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, lives in the East Bay suburb of Danville. Read all about him in his hometown paper, the Danville Weekly.

Sullenberger, a former Air Force fighter pilot, is being widely acclaimed as a hero for steering the disabled plane away from residential areas and to a safe crash-landing in the river a few miles from its takeoff point at LaGuardia airport in Queens. One hundred and fifty passengers and crew escaped with no serious injuries.

Obscure SFO-related firm screws up other airports too

Mark Pritchard — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:33:11 +0000

In the current SF Weekly, Matt Smith documents how a mysterious corporate entity called SFO Enterprises, formed by San Francisco International Airport managers to extend their reach beyond SFO itself, ruined a project to upgrade the airport in the capital city of Honduras. According to Smith’s article, the project was so messed up that it led to at least one fatal incident when an airliner ran off the end of a runway, killing five and injuring 65. Smith goes on to detail the project, the tortured relationship between the Honduran government and SFOE, and the economic “chaos” that resulted when the government shut down the airport for large jets after the accident.

A Google search points to many SF Weekly articles on the mysterious SFO Enterprises going back at least to 2001, but this latest one is so damning it’s a wonder Mayor Gavin Newsom doesn’t do something.