UA plane turns back to SYD after bird strike

[Andyzx]

A United Airlines passenger plane was forced to return to Sydney Airport on Monday morning after apparently striking a number of birds when taking off.
Emergency service workers were called to the international terminal about 10.50am to meet United Airlines Flight 840, which had taken off at 9.40am.
The plane, bound for Los Angeles, was carrying 308 passengers and crew.




Read more: United Airlines plane returns to Sydney after 'bird strike' during take-off

 

[samh004]

Whose job is it to minimise bird strikes?

Pretty cool video too!

 

[blackcat20]

I hear one of our members was on board...

 

[Andyzx]

Pretty cool flight path too. or was the captain a little under the weather... i am sure he was not and was fully in control

 

[dfcatch]

Meh.... What fuss....

 

[russ]

Whose job is it to minimise bird strikes?

The birds'

 

[juddles]

View attachment 74327


Pretty cool flight path too. or was the captain a little under the weather... i am sure he was not and was fully in control

suspect that is a fuel-dump pattern?

I doubt they like you venting over the CBD

 

[dfcatch]

suspect that is a fuel-dump pattern?

I doubt they like you venting over the CBD

They turned SE and went into that holding pattern at 8,000 for about 30 mins before saying anything or starting to dump fuel.... I had suspected something was up and that we'd be returning, but no one else noticed.

I believe the flight crew were trying to visually confirm impact.

And yes - the rest was dumping.

 

[quick_dry]

Maybe it's just my perception being skewed, but it seems like it is more surprising for UA840 to actually get out and go all the way than it is for it to be cancelled for some reason or another.

 

[samh004]

They turned SE and went into that holding pattern at 8,000 for about 30 mins before saying anything or starting to dump fuel.... I had suspected something was up and that we'd be returning, but no one else noticed.

I believe the flight crew were trying to visually confirm impact.

And yes - the rest was dumping.

I know JB747 will say their first priority is in the coughpit rather than communicating to the passengers, but half an hour of circling after a take off and then the fuel dump (presumably before speaking up) can't be that appropriate to the sanity of those onboard.

Some sort of calming explanation of why they're not on course anymore seems like it would go a long way in not frightening people to death and letting their imaginations run wild.

The safety of all onboard should cover their mental states, surely? Just a thought.

 

[jb747]

went into that holding pattern at 8,000 for about 30 mins before saying anything or starting to dump fuel

I know JB747 will say their first priority is in the coughpit rather than communicating to the passengers, but half an hour of circling after a take off and then the fuel dump (presumably before speaking up) can't be that appropriate to the sanity of those onboard.

Some sort of calming explanation of why they're not on course anymore seems like it would go a long way in not frightening people to death and letting their imaginations run wild.

The safety of all onboard should cover their mental states, surely? Just a thought.

I suspect that there's a bit of time compression going on here. They enter the first hold at 00:14, and 30 minutes later, they are on the last leg of the second pattern. In that time, I expect they've just about completed the dump, as well as resolving the issues as best they can.

Time that seems like ages in the cabin, flashes past in the coughpit.

 

[samh004]

Time that seems like ages in the cabin, flashes past in the coughpit.

I knew you'd make better sense of it than me

 

[harvyk]

I know JB747 will say their first priority is in the coughpit rather than communicating to the passengers, but half an hour of circling after a take off and then the fuel dump (presumably before speaking up) can't be that appropriate to the sanity of those onboard.

Some sort of calming explanation of why they're not on course anymore seems like it would go a long way in not frightening people to death and letting their imaginations run wild.

The safety of all onboard should cover their mental states, surely? Just a thought.

In a choice between sorting out a problem or keeping the pax happy, I'd much perfer my pilots sorting out the problem, my curiosity of the problem be damned.

 

[dfcatch]

[/B]



I suspect that there's a bit of time compression going on here. They enter the first hold at 00:14, and 30 minutes later, they are on the last leg of the second pattern. In that time, I expect they've just about completed the dump, as well as resolving the issues as best they can.

Time that seems like ages in the cabin, flashes past in the coughpit.

JB - they were in the hold for at least 10 mins or so prior to both dumping AND communicating with the cabin.

I only noticed because I had the map on the screen, and had noticed we had leveled at 8,000 and I was patiently waiting for both the seatbelt sign to be extinguished and also the wifi to go active as I had emails to complete.

Sam - no one else in the cabin noticed (from what I could tell) until the announcement and fuel dump which commenced in conjunction with the announcement.

The dump itself didn't take long, despite the FO's estimate of around 40 mins.