El-Al Flight Turned Around
Jun 18, 2015, 4:30 pm
#16
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 294
One man's 5-star is another man's 3-star, but the Crowne Plaza City Center is a solid hotel right on the train line at the mall, 15 minutes from the Terminal 3 station... There's also the Leonardo City Tower right at Tel Aviv Mercaz station (don't know if that's where they put them)
Aug 29, 2017, 3:49 am
#18
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Jerusalem
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,281
Reviving this thread since the official investigation report was just published:
4X-ELA Engine Failure During Flight - June 17, 2015
Naturally it is quite technical but sheds light on the behind-the-scenes decision to return to TLV.
4X-ELA Engine Failure During Flight - June 17, 2015
Naturally it is quite technical but sheds light on the behind-the-scenes decision to return to TLV.
Aug 29, 2017, 3:56 am
#19
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: CPT,AMS
Posts: 4,410
Hrm, when you read the disclaimer saying that "This report has been translated to the English language for other parties' convenience, and should adhere to the Original report in the Hebrew language - In any case of abstruseness or miss-understanding, the original report in the Hebrew language is taking over" one really wonders if it's worth reading further 
And unusually they did not even publish the Hebrew version. Still an interesting read even if not the most reassuring one concerning the alleged proficiency of LY.
Aug 29, 2017, 10:06 am
#21
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Washington, D.C.
Programs: UA Premier 1K: PlAAtinum; DL SM, MM; Marriott Gold; CO Plat Emeritus; NW Plat Emeritus
Posts: 4,776
Interesting that there's basically no examination of the decision to return and that this recommendation -- "4.2 To consider a clear policy regarding flight continuation of several hours with a windmilling engine, as it occurred in this incident" -- is directed to Boeing and P+W, but not to El Al or CAAI.
Aug 29, 2017, 11:16 am
#22
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Jerusalem
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,281
Yes, in one place in the reports it does say: "Investigative actions were made on the issue of continuing the flight, for about five additional hours, with the engine Shut Down and Wind milling after having an oil pressure pump failure. The subject was treated with both the manufacturers of the engine and of the aircraft, as well as with operators operating the same engines. As no clear, solid comprehension was gained, these aspects were left to the operator to survey. The Chief Investigator decided not to get into details with all the mentioned above in this report."
This decision is even more perplexing as in other place in the report it states that "Dealing with fuel balance was a surprisingly substantial workload during all the rest of the flight and Captain 1 nominated one crew member as responsible for the fuel balance. According to the pilots, the procedures as directed in the Operating Manual do not deal with all of the scenarios and thus they found themselves balancing the fuel by "Trial and Error"" (my emphasis).
This decision is even more perplexing as in other place in the report it states that "Dealing with fuel balance was a surprisingly substantial workload during all the rest of the flight and Captain 1 nominated one crew member as responsible for the fuel balance. According to the pilots, the procedures as directed in the Operating Manual do not deal with all of the scenarios and thus they found themselves balancing the fuel by "Trial and Error"" (my emphasis).
Aug 29, 2017, 1:06 pm
#23
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: CPT,AMS
Posts: 4,410
I also couldn't understand the below:
The flight took off at 11:13 local time, so presumably the engine problem occurred about 5 hours later, making their landing at LHR at some time in the afternoon, what are they talking about?
Paris has over 75K hotel rooms, and LY couldn't find ~250? really hard to believe, and not to mention plenty of other airports to land in within a short distance.
At the same time, having landed at LHR (London Heathrow), they would have to deal with the issue of Duty Time Limitations, requiring at least 9 hours out of duty. London Heathrow airport would have been closed too early as well as the means for transporting the passengers to their accommodations.
Numerous other options were taken into consideration by the company’s Flight Operation division for accommodation for the passengers. They were not able to locate hotel rooms in Paris due to an international event taking place.
Aug 29, 2017, 2:47 pm
#24
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Posts: 3,360
Las Vegas has about 150,000 hotel rooms. When a convention is in town, it's not unusual for every hotel to be at 100% occupancy.
Aug 30, 2017, 6:23 am
#26
Join Date: May 2008
Location: ARN
Posts: 3,469
The report actually states that they landed in TLV at 21:11, which is 19:11 UK, so clearly they could have been in LHR around 15:00. And there are flights LHR-JFK as late as 20:10, so some pax could probably have been accommodated on the same day with no need for a hotel room.
