Month: February 2022

Travelrisk from Bee impacts aircraft velocity measurement resulting in rejected takeoff

Incident: TAAG B737 at Maputo on Feb 9th 2022, rejected takeoff due to bee in pitot tube

A TAAG Angola Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration D2-TBJ performing flight DT-582 from Maputo (Mozambique) to Luanda (Angola), was accelerating for takeoff from Maputo’s runway 05 when the crew rejected takeoff at about 80 KIAS due to an airspeed disagree between captain’s and first officer’s instruments. The aircraft slowed safely and returned to the apron.

The airline reported a bee was found in one of the pitot tubes forcing the crew to reject takeoff. The passengers disembarked and were taken to a hotel. The aircraft was handed to maintenance to return it into an airworthy condition and was returned to service.

The aircraft departed again the following day after about 28 hours on the ground and reached Luanda with a delay of 28:15 hours.

A pitot tube, also known as pitot probe, is a flow measurement device used to measure fluid flow velocity.

Reported by The Aviation Herald on 12 February 2022.

TravelRisk live snake on Air Asia flight in Malaysia

Air Asia’s slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly” took a new dimension on Air Asia flight AK-5748 when a snake appeared on the flight.

On 10 February 2022, an Air Asia Airbus A320-200, registration 9M-RAN performing flight AK-5748 from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Tawau (TWU) in Malaysia, was enroute at FL330 over the South China Sea about 250nm westnorthwest of Kuching (Malaysia) when a snake appeared in the overhead lockers in the passenger cabin. The crew diverted the aircraft to Kuching for a safe landing about 45 minutes later.

A replacement A320-200N continued the flight and reached Tawau with a delay of about 5:50 hours.

The occurrence aircraft was still on the ground in Kuching about 28 hours after landing.

Video posted on YouTube shows the outline of a small snake in the structure of the overhead lockers, above passenger heads.

The Airbus A320-216(WL), with tail number 9M-RAN was put it to service in May 2019 and belongs to lessor Castlelake.
Reported by The Aviation Herald on 11 February 2022.