Wed, Dec 28, 2005
Much Ado About Nothing, Revisited
A Frontier Airlines Airbus A318,
departing from Orange County Airport in Southern California enroute
to Denver Colorado, is the latest focus of a cable-news/media
frenzy.
The A318 informed ATC, shortly after departure, that they were
getting cockpit indications of an unsafe/open cargo door and
decided to make a precautionary landing in order to check the
matter out. Since the A318 is unable to dump fuel, per se, the
situation was dragged out long enough for various cable networks to
build up some semblance of suspense and start pulling some
interviews with the usual allegedly aero-knowledgeable suspects.
Thankfully, an FAA spokesman brought some sanity to the matter by
downplaying the emergency nature of the event despite being goaded
by media questions, while the aircraft made a pretty uneventful
landing at LAX just a few moments later.
The aircraft involved was Frontier flight #263, carrying 114
people and maintained cabin pressure throughout the event. It is
currently unknown yet whether the indication was the result of an
improperly closed door or a faulty annunciator.
Frontier Airlines has a fleet of 44 aircraft and went
“all-Airbus” in the spring of this year. Frontier began
the transition from a Boeing fleet of 737-300 and 737-200 aircraft
when it announced on October 19, 1999 that it had signed a Letter
of Intent (LOI) to purchase 11 new Airbus aircraft, with options
for an additional nine. On November 4, 1999, Frontier further
cemented its decision to transform its fleet to a single aircraft
type when it announced it had signed an LOI for an additional 15
leased A319 aircraft.
On August 21, 2003, the airline announced its largest order to
date – 29 A319 and A318 aircraft. The airline received its
first Airbus A319 in June 2001 and when all orders are completed in
2008, Frontier’s fleet will consist of 62 Airbus A319 and
A318 aircraft.
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