Also, this is completely OT but it doubles down on the point about a certain lack of professionality and lack of relevance in the conclusions and recommendations of those guys. Full report here: http://aiai.mot.gov.il/REPORT/RAI_61-15.pdf
In May 2015 an Arkia ATR arriving from Eilat arrived for a visual approach on runway 12 in the night (standard procedure, happens all day, every day), but the crew didn't pay proper attention and lined up with runway 08 instead. When the captain and the tower realized the mistake, they didn't go around, but rather turned the a/c to line it up with runway 12.

For those without an aviation background - there is sth called a stabilized approach, which more or less means that you have your flaps, your gear, your engines configured the way you want them for landing, and are lined up with the centerline of the runway and at an appropriate height. Depending on the company, the aircraft, the airport and the weather this height can vary, however it is extremely critical and crucial for safe operation of the aircraft to respect these limitations and not continue an approach that has not been stabilized when reaching the required altitude/decision height. In that case there is only one choice - go around and try again. What happened here is that the crew continued the approach towards 12, and weren't stabilized until an altitude of 100ft, when they should have been at 500ft. This is a classic example of what is said to be very common with airlines in developing countries and is usually referred to as "unsafe operations".

Two interesting conclusions here - The AIAI mentions it as a problem in their conclusions, but however doesn't see it as a serious occurence. They even praise the crew and the tower for continuing the approach despite the wrong alignment. I am not a certified expert for aviation safety, but this is complete insanity. At the very least, they should have their wrists slapped. These regulations exist for a reason, and once you start ignoring approach DH's, it's a very slippery slope that leads straight to disaster.

The other one is, that no matter how hard you wanna hammer El Al for having former pilots as CEOs, I can tell you for a fact that back in Shkedys days El Al had an incident not even remotely as serious, and the guys responsible for it were let go for good as soon as the initial investigation showed they had been playing fast and loose with the relevant minima.

I too read the report. The incident is classified as a serious error by the crew, and there is certainly no acceptance of their decision to try and correct the error by aligning with the correct runway at a low altitude, breaking minimums and rules for a stabilized approach.

The report does say that this was done with good visibility, without excessive bank, and with full situational awareness, somewhat mitigating the risk and the severity.

How LY chooses to implement the recommendations is a different matter. They clearly broke many rules and procedures by not aborting the approach, but it appears they didn't take a huge risk by doing so.

4x-ELA
 

Where is ELA? Flight aware has no info for last 14 days.

Underwent a C-Check and should be back in service by the end of the week

In a nutshell, these guys (LY) used someone to check and repair CFM engine blades who wasn't actually certified by CFM to do so.

"Also, the report holds a lot of critique and points for future improvement regarding the way the crew and El Al handled the aftermath of the incident."

This sounds scary. Who repaired the engine blades?

"However, there have also been some professional deficits in the final report that have sparked some serious discussion about their ability to reach relevant conclusions and recommendations. "

Does it mean that those investigating the incidents are not doing their activity properly....? Doesn't sound good, either.

El al flight from Amsterdam has taxiing accident
 

http://bit.ly/21cTJ2y

This mornings El al flight 338 from Amsterdam had a taxiing accident due to fog, and supposedly the wing has been damaged as per the above article on ynet.

Picture of the wing:
http://twitter.com/yosefbadichi/stat...421632/photo/1

LY398 (MAD-TLV) goes tech last night, as does the replacement aircraft...
 

Apparently passengers left to sleep on the floor all night, until told aircraft can't be fixed and the replacement flown in from London went tech too!

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4769322,00.html

Wow.
the Amsterdam incident is pretty significant...and then to have 2 planes down in London...wow..

Madrid, not London.

UP flight from PRG to TLV landed in ATH following a technical issue with the aircraft.
Apparently the same aircraft had issues the day before and passengers were deplaned.

Aircraft is one of the the wet leased Privilege Style ones.

LY396 from Madrid was diverted to ATH today. 4X-EHH a 737-900 - I don't know why - still there as far as I can see

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4962b008&opt=0
Fumes on board from the galley. Left athens after 4 hours and continued on to TLV.

Anyone knows why LY311 was cancelled for this morning March 31st?

Possibly something to do with that 739 diverting to ATH.

EHH is brand new, that's weird