Hello All,

 

 

Does anyone have any information as to what happened on board American 957 yesterday night? It would appear to be a normal problem that the crew returned to the airport because of, however the flight path (according to FlightAware) is highly erratic, especially around Miami - I'm not sure whether or not that was right after takeoff or on approach. Last night FlightRadar24 sent a notification saying the crew had squawked 7700, signalling a general emergency. I have attached an image of the flight plan. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

-abasa12

Weather?

strange :Thinking:

It appears he was vectored back into the airport. The holding loop was just to get him into the pattern more than likely. So it more than likely wasn't a dire emergency. But you never know. Good catch, you must have been planning on flying that flight. Cpt. Out.

 fuel burn off likely also

however the flight path (according to FlightAware) is highly erratic, especially around Miami

 

I can't tell if that is departing or arriving. Even with a large emergency, an aircraft with a crew shouldn't be moving like it did just west of Miami.

I can't tell if that is departing or arriving. Even with a large emergency, an aircraft with a crew shouldn't be moving like it did just west of Miami.

I reviewed the flight file, and the erratic turns were on final approach to Miami. This could just be a coincidence, but it seems to follow the water/river west of the airport. You should be able to download the Google Earth file and see for yourself.

According to the top of the page that was a departure flight. KMIA/SCEL. That being said it does make you wonder what happened, to cause the turn around.

Those zig-zag's west of KMIA appear to be S-Turns for either separation, or maybe they couldn't slow her down so they shallowed out the descent and done some s-turns to extend the distance to the threshold.

 

What was the descent profile to the threshold? Steep, shallow or flat? What was the speed profile?

 

Diego