The FAA wants to revoke the air carrier certificate of the company that owned a Boeing 737-200 that ditched off Honolulu last year. The FAA naturally had a good look at Rhoades Aviation’s operation after the dual flameout that preceded the ditching last July 2. The agency claims to have found hundreds of illegal flights and numerous violations. It also said the carrier, which operated a freight business called Transair, flew 33 flights with engines that weren’t airworthy. Rhoades has until June 8 to appeal.
Rhoades was under investigation before the ditching and the agency had served it 30 days’ notice of suspension two weeks before the mishap. The carrier was grounded after the ditching. The aircraft, a 45-year-old first-generation 737, was heading for Kahului Airport on Maui, a 94-mile trip with significant stretches over water. The engines quit shortly after takeoff and the crew was trying to get back to Honolulu but fell about two miles short.
These pilots were more heroic than the landing on the river in NY. Night landing on the water at night with no one around to Pick them up before the plane sank.
We have different definitions of hero.
I’d like to know more about their survival (I’m assuming they did?)
They did. Coast guard was on it
The reason the Comanche was so hard to find is white airplanes on a white (snow) background are perfectly camouflaged! When some of the snow melted away, voila!, les plane!
You wanted https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/family-finds-plane-wreck-searchers-missed/?unapproved=30067&moderation-hash=ffbfe8da345427db801ab6c807f799d1#comment-30067 thread.
The 737C in HI was underwater, but a big white object, I don’t recall how deep.
Can’t accuse FAA of being premature in this case? :-o)
Any news on inspection of the engines?
(Though both quitting near same time could be a systems problem.)
Shame to lose a 737-200C, that one did very good work in the Arctic of Canada.
Others in Alaska, and undoubtedly around the world.
A few were still flying in the Arctic last I heard, limited options for replacement as large cargo door needed.
One lost by incompetent Captain at Resolute Bay several years ago.
Years ago when I worked in Hawaii I was on Maui headed to a sugarcane plantation and came across a Douglas C 54 that had bellied into a young cane field about a mile short of Kahalui A/P. You could tell from the bent props that three were windmilling and one making power when it hit the ground. There were trucks there calmly unloading the cargo of everything from bedding plants to canned goods. No one was hurt, but according the locals the inter-island cargo ops all operated on a shoestring, and this one had simply run out of fuel just short of the destination. Apparently some things haven’t changed over there.
Hang on. More info needed here. The company was under investigation many times prior to the ditching. How are the pilots not negligent here? Did they knowingly take off with an un-airworthy aircraft? Was ithus aircraft flown in an un-airworthy condition?
Not sure who came up with the headline. Obviously, someone is trying to capitalize on “737” because of previous issues. However, this FAA issue has nothing to do with the 737. It is about the revocation of Transair carrier certificate. It should read: “FAA Proposes Pulling ”CARRIERS’ Certificate After 737 Ditching”. Ten months later, and the FAA is still “proposing”.