AA 17 emergency landing JFK 4 Jan 2016 (compressor stall - engine out)
Jan 11, 2016, 10:34 am
#31
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Jan 11, 2016, 12:46 pm
#32
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There's a different recording that doesn't have the second audio channel up at ATC: AMERICAN AIRLINES EMERGENCY - ENGINE PROBLEM ON TAKEOFF! - YouTube I don't fully agree with the transcription, but it's close enough, and the audio is easier to listen to.
The professionalism of these people never ceases to astonish me.
Jan 18, 2016, 8:29 am
#33
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I stumbled onto this video a little earlier today. Not quite apples and oranges as far the situation goes, but it does show that the boys and girls in the cockpit are damn good at what they do. The video, by Pilotseye TV (damn good videos for avgeeks and others who are interested, shows an LX A340 LX crew trouble shoot losing an engine and then making an emergency landing.
Jan 18, 2016, 10:45 am
#34
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So I woke up to an apology email from AA. Fairly sizable amount of miles deposited without asking. I actually would have preferred a phone call by someone knowledgeable about the event - this is a miss by AA. I think most people just want to understand at a detailed level what happened and why they were supposedly relatively safe - there was no mention of that, just "sorry for the inconvenience". When flight attendants are scared sh*tless and you stop on an active runway to have fire equipment inspect you, that's a real incident that needs more than just a "we're sorry!" email...
I requested someone call me - let's see if they actually do.
I requested someone call me - let's see if they actually do.
Mar 1, 2016, 9:03 pm
#35
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: NYC/SFO
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another first-hand account
I was on this flight with Mr 999 - meant to post about it and totally forgot. Now I stumbled across this thread while searching for something else!
As a precursor, I've experienced something similar before when SK flight I was on in 2014 lost one of its two engines shortly after take-off (B717). So I was apparently the only one on the plane with such experience 
I was sitting in 6D - first row of J and in direct line of sight of FA in the jump seat in the J galley. After we heard the loud "bangs" I immediately leaned over to my monitor and switched it to airplane interactive maps. The FA mouthed to me "are we going back" and I realized that from where she was sitting she could not see any map of us, so I had more information than she did. She did not look particularly worried though, just curious. I looked at the map - it looked like this by the end of the flight: https://twitter.com/asya999/status/684154512169275393 (1) but at that time we had just started making a hard left turn and going out to "sea". I told her "looks like we're doing a loop and heading back" and she nodded thanks. I asked if anyone was going to time-out and she said no, they all just started their shift (in retrospect, it appears she was talking about the FAs, not pilots).
I had assumed at the time that we had made the wide circle to dump fuel so we could land under-weight but I have learned since then that this plane along with many other planes does not have capability to dump fuel!
I learned a lot that day about overweight landings - both by googling it during the endless waits, by talking to my friends in the aero-field online and by talking to our co-pilot who chatted with me (during the ridiculous wait on the second plane).
This plane would have to undergo extra checks *after* the landing, but not because of the engine failure, but because it had to land overweight. The ridiculously feather-light and smooth and gentle landing was particularly impressive, keeping in mind that it was overweight.
One thing I didn't see anyone mention is the ridiculous comedy of errors after we were reloaded into the second A321T which they happen to have around. First our original flight was delayed quite a bit. Took off. Had the malfunction. Btw, Mr. 999 was in 11D (exit row, first row of Y) and saw the flames - very exciting (but he'd heard my story of previous loss of engine and we both had toured multiple flight simulators as part of MegaDOs and we know these things are routine to the pilots).
Flight came back. New flight scheduled for 8pm then 9pm. Then we boarded and sat around waiting for another hour for new captain because ours would have timed out and we were getting one who was supposed to go on the JFK-LAX flight and for some reason he was an hour late(r than expected) getting to us. Then he told us there was some cargo heating issue(2). Then we waited for maintenance forever. Then we finally pushed back, started taxiing and he told us some computer warning light came on, and we had to go back and this time the entire crew went illegal.
Then we were told flight was canceled, we got rebooked on the 7am flight out the next morning, me in F, Mr. 999 in Y in middle seat
but we did get food vouchers, car vouchers to get to hotel, hotel room, and all things considered, it was handled pretty well. We both got the same miles in our account by the time we were awake the next morning (15K - so not related to status or class of service as I'm EXP on paid ticket and he was general member traveling in Y on my miles). And the F FA kept asking if I wanted to take anything back to Mr 999 because she felt bad about our ordeal (and that he got stuck in a bad seat, especially compared with mine!)
Anyway, definitely not my definition of fun. But I never for a second felt like our lives were in danger - and I think AA handled it fine, they had food and water for us, as far as I know everyone was reaccommodated - these things happen... not too often, but they do happen. And the pilots up in the cockpit train for *far* more perilous scenarios than that.
(1) I also posted on twitter picture of all the fire trucks with lights on that came out to meet us
(2) annoying part was that since there were no pets in front cargo hold, the heat didn't have to be fixed, he told us, but maintenance had to fill out the paperwork to note it or some such. Ugh.
Just curious, any guidance from the flight attendants during the emergency?
I was sitting in 6D - first row of J and in direct line of sight of FA in the jump seat in the J galley. After we heard the loud "bangs" I immediately leaned over to my monitor and switched it to airplane interactive maps. The FA mouthed to me "are we going back" and I realized that from where she was sitting she could not see any map of us, so I had more information than she did. She did not look particularly worried though, just curious. I looked at the map - it looked like this by the end of the flight: https://twitter.com/asya999/status/684154512169275393 (1) but at that time we had just started making a hard left turn and going out to "sea". I told her "looks like we're doing a loop and heading back" and she nodded thanks. I asked if anyone was going to time-out and she said no, they all just started their shift (in retrospect, it appears she was talking about the FAs, not pilots).
I had assumed at the time that we had made the wide circle to dump fuel so we could land under-weight but I have learned since then that this plane along with many other planes does not have capability to dump fuel!
I learned a lot that day about overweight landings - both by googling it during the endless waits, by talking to my friends in the aero-field online and by talking to our co-pilot who chatted with me (during the ridiculous wait on the second plane).
This plane would have to undergo extra checks *after* the landing, but not because of the engine failure, but because it had to land overweight. The ridiculously feather-light and smooth and gentle landing was particularly impressive, keeping in mind that it was overweight.
One thing I didn't see anyone mention is the ridiculous comedy of errors after we were reloaded into the second A321T which they happen to have around. First our original flight was delayed quite a bit. Took off. Had the malfunction. Btw, Mr. 999 was in 11D (exit row, first row of Y) and saw the flames - very exciting (but he'd heard my story of previous loss of engine and we both had toured multiple flight simulators as part of MegaDOs and we know these things are routine to the pilots).
Flight came back. New flight scheduled for 8pm then 9pm. Then we boarded and sat around waiting for another hour for new captain because ours would have timed out and we were getting one who was supposed to go on the JFK-LAX flight and for some reason he was an hour late(r than expected) getting to us. Then he told us there was some cargo heating issue(2). Then we waited for maintenance forever. Then we finally pushed back, started taxiing and he told us some computer warning light came on, and we had to go back and this time the entire crew went illegal.
Then we were told flight was canceled, we got rebooked on the 7am flight out the next morning, me in F, Mr. 999 in Y in middle seat
but we did get food vouchers, car vouchers to get to hotel, hotel room, and all things considered, it was handled pretty well. We both got the same miles in our account by the time we were awake the next morning (15K - so not related to status or class of service as I'm EXP on paid ticket and he was general member traveling in Y on my miles). And the F FA kept asking if I wanted to take anything back to Mr 999 because she felt bad about our ordeal (and that he got stuck in a bad seat, especially compared with mine!)Anyway, definitely not my definition of fun. But I never for a second felt like our lives were in danger - and I think AA handled it fine, they had food and water for us, as far as I know everyone was reaccommodated - these things happen... not too often, but they do happen. And the pilots up in the cockpit train for *far* more perilous scenarios than that.
(1) I also posted on twitter picture of all the fire trucks with lights on that came out to meet us
(2) annoying part was that since there were no pets in front cargo hold, the heat didn't have to be fixed, he told us, but maintenance had to fill out the paperwork to note it or some such. Ugh.