US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Frustrating flight delays and fire truck welcom

I was trying to fly out of CVG on Monday. Get to the gate and notice my flight to CLT was delayed. Then they made the announcement that CLT and PIT were delayed for mechanical reasons.

My delay was long enough that I would miss my connection to MCO at CLT. So they switched me to the PIT flight.

Got on board the PIT flight and the air conditioning still wasn't working. Then we got about 10 mins out and the left engine quit. Made quite a noise when it quit working. Pilot had a hard time keeping the J41 in the air.

No announcements of problems when you could look out the window and see we had one. After we landed to a runway lined with fire trucks the pilot made the announcement that he had been trained in one engine flights. Couldn't turn around correctly either on the ground.

Of course all of us then had missed the last flights of the day to anywhere. They put us up in a hotel for the night.

The gate agents were doing their best to help out but is this the new US Airways? I of course will be writing to US about all of this. It has me rethinking my strategy of sticking with US.

Welcome to the world of quasi-capable Express carriers...

It happens to the best of carriers one time or another. The most important thing is that they got you back on the ground safely.

The J41 is a horrible horrible aircraft. Never again will I do a J41. I have already had one emergency landing on an Atlantic Coast J41. (Landing gear failing to fully retract) My cousin had two J41 emergency landings in ONE DAY on an ACA J41 What a nightmare. Avoid them at all costs. An RJ is a 747 compared to the J41.

Edited to add: The fact that the pilot failed to inform the PAX of the emergency landing is incredibly bad judgment. I would DEFINITELY write this one up. He needs to take some time-off to drive a city bus.

It happens to the best of carriers one time or another. The most important thing is that they got you back on the ground safely.


I am thankful to be back on the ground safe and sound. I just think the situation could have been handled better.

I am thankful to be back on the ground safe and sound. I just think the situation could have been handled better.

Agreed, its better to keep passengers informed the entire way throughout but then there's "the minority" - the problematic passengers that will call crisis and state the airline is horrible if they hear any type of bad news. I've seen people freak out about hearing the plane went mechanical for a gauge light bulb not lighting up. Now I must say I myself got a sliiiiight twinge when one of my flights went mechanical due to one of the main circuit breakers burning up during the checklist. But no problems.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add I hate the J41 myself. I'd rather ride in a Beech.

I think once the engine was shut down while in the air some sort of an announcement should have been made.

Also since the a/c wasn't working when we got on board that should have been mentioned. The pilot that had flown the plane to CVG was sitting two rows ahead of me. He was called to the phone when the problems first started. I think when a plane is having problems staying in the air something should have been said.

It was obvious there were problems when the plane was swaying and had a problem maintaining altitude.

The fact that the pilot failed to inform the PAX of the emergency landing is incredibly bad judgment.

How would they prepare the passengers for an emergency landing (informing them about the brace position & best ways to evacuate, etc.) without telling them it is an emergency? Not good.

How would they prepare the passengers for an emergency landing (informing them about the brace position & best ways to evacuate, etc.) without telling them it is an emergency? Not good.


They didn't inform us it was an emergency landing!!! We all saw the engine stopped and didn't realize how serious it was until we saw the fire trucks and ambulances.

I addressed my concerns to Customer Relations. Hopefully there will be changes.