Red Air crash landing at Miami International

[Dolores]

A Red Air airplane suffered significant damages after landing at Miami International on 21 June 2022. The Dominican airline flight had flown in from Santo Domingo. The airline said the plane had crash landed at 5:45pm with 130 passengers and 10 crew members on board. At least three people were injured, yet none of them seriously, an official airline statement said, as reported in Diario Libre. The airline reported that Flight 203 presented technical difficulties and experienced a fire after the landing. The MD 80 airplane was 31 years old, according to Flight Global.

The company said: “We would like to inform that the 130 passengers and 10 crew members were evacuated and attended to according to established protocols and the due processes applicable to these cases have been complied with. We at Red Air express our absolute solidarity with the passengers and crew of...

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[beeza]

My guess is bad maintenance. Even with a hydraulic failure, you should still be able to extend the landing gear. This is a periodic test done in the hangar and called up on a routine basis. The aircraft is jacked up and the gear is extended to simulate the emergency procedure. The gear is supposed to be able to fall down with gravity and the springs assist in the locking of the mechanism. Over time, those over-centre springs weaken and cannot pull the down locks into place, which is the reason this test is called for. The nose gear collapsed on landing, so it was down, but not locked.

I bet one of two things: the test was not done, or the test was done, failed, but couldn't get hold of new springs because they are expensive and they have to be new, not robbed off another aircraft.

Nothing wrong in flying old aircraft if you can support them with a strict and rigorous maintenance program and parts back-up. However as with most things Dominican (or Venezuelan), the concept of preventative maintenance is something that goes against their culture.

 

[NanSanPedro]

My guess is bad maintenance. Even with a hydraulic failure, you should still be able to extend the landing gear. This is a periodic test done in the hangar and called up on a routine basis. The aircraft is jacked up and the gear is extended to simulate the emergency procedure. The gear is supposed to be able to fall down with gravity and the springs assist in the locking of the mechanism. Over time, those over-centre springs weaken and cannot pull the down locks into place, which is the reason this test is called for. The nose gear collapsed on landing, so it was down, but not locked.

I bet one of two things: the test was not done, or the test was done, failed, but couldn't get hold of new springs because they are expensive and they have to be new, not robbed off another aircraft.

Nothing wrong in flying old aircraft if you can support them with a strict and rigorous maintenance program and parts back-up. However as with most things Dominican (or Venezuelan), the concept of preventative maintenance is something that goes against their culture.

Completely agree with your old aircraft comment. Over 20 years ago I was using DC3s to go back and forth to Haiti. I probably took 15 - 20 trips from 1999 - 2011. Never an issue.

 

[KyleMackey]

Landing looked pretty good. A lot of passengers were getting their luggage carry-ons from the overhead compartment prior to exiting lol. loco.

 

[Joseph NY2STI]

Evacuating a burning plane and keeps the camera rolling. Quite an intrepid reporter there!

 

[windeguy]

I asked my wife if she would ever fly on a Dominican Airline. She says no.

Those passengers were lucky to get off with minor injuries.

 

[rubio_higuey]

Evacuating a burning plane and keeps the camera rolling. Quite an intrepid reporter there!

And hauling his carry-on, which is strictly prohibited during evacuation

 

[rubio_higuey]

I asked my wife if she would ever fly on a Dominican Airline. She says no.

Those passengers were lucky to get off with minor injuries.

Dominican airline managed by Europeans/Americans/Colombians, I would have no problem - Arajet
Dominican airline managed by Venezuelans - I wouldn't get anywhere near such plane

 

[cavok]

Landing looked pretty good. A lot of passengers were getting their luggage carry-ons from the overhead compartment prior to exiting lol. loco.

The gear was down in the video. They sure floated a loooooooong way before touching down. Reports are that it was a hard landing.

 

[beeza]

The gear was down in the video. They sure floated a loooooooong way before touching down. Reports are that it was a hard landing.

Down yes, locked, obviously not. Two different stages of gear extension.

 

[cavok]

Down yes, locked, obviously not. Two different stages of gear extension.

You really don't know whether it was locked or not. So far, there are no reports that the crew had an unsafe gear indication. It's relatively easy to collapse a nose gear on landing. Hard to imagine the main gear collapsing, but I suppose if the landing is hard enough it's possible. There's going to be plenty of info coming out on this one shortly. I think we'll all have a pretty good idea what happened soon.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

Jim had the fish

 

[cavok]

Jim had the fish

On Red Air, he'd be lucky if he got mani.

 

[chico bill]

Down yes, locked, obviously not. Two different stages of gear extension.

Likely it was down and locked or at leased the pilot was not aware of any warning otherwise - I suspect metal failure. Too many rough hits on bad landings or maybe a faulty part was used in a prior repair ?(Does China make parts for airliners now ?) Maybe after-market bolt ?
Anyway that plane will never fly again

 

[chico bill]

You really don't know whether it was locked or not. So far, there are no reports that the crew had an unsafe gear indication. It's relatively easy to collapse a nose gear on landing. Hard to imagine the main gear collapsing, but I suppose if the landing is hard enough it's possible. There's going to be plenty of info coming out on this one shortly. I think we'll all have a pretty good idea what happened soon.

Agrred - if it wasn't damaged so bad from the grinding on the runway

 

[Sailor51]

There are lots of reasons tro retire an airliner. Mostly the number of pressure cycles it has climbing to altitude and returning.
Still a 28 year old plane sitting for 3 years in N.M. desert (for 31 total) never should have been in the air. Maintainance anyone? Remember Adam air? [Phillipines] They didn't even train their pilots properly.
We'll see what NTSB has to say.

 

[cavok]

Likely it was down and locked or at leased the pilot was not aware of any warning otherwise - I suspect metal failure. Too many rough hits on bad landings or maybe a faulty part was used in a prior repair ?(Does China make parts for airliners now ?) Maybe after-market bolt ?
Anyway that plane will never fly again

As a matter of fact, A FedEx DC-10 had a main gear collapse on landing at FLL not too long ago. The NTSB determined the cause was a fatigue crack that was missed on the previous inspection.