On Monday, UA497 from New Orleans bound for SFO, was off the ground less than 4 minutes before declaring an emergency with smoke in the cockpit. After just a few minutes more, all of the Airbus A320s electronics shut down, leaving the plane with only manual control. Today the Times-Picayune posted the ATC (Air Traffic Control) transcript and audio file on their website. Luckily the plane with 106 aboard landed off of the runway, without any injury to its passengers. While statistics show that air accidents are rare, when you fly as much as we do, it’s things like this that remind you how fortunate you are to have experience in the cockpit.
Last modified: December 30, 2013