US Airways Jet Makes Fuel Emergency Landing Near Abilene, Texas
US Airways Airbus A319
A US Airways flight from Phoenix (PHX) to Dallas Ft. Worth (DFW) last Friday had to divert to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas when the plane ran low on fuel.
US Airways Flight 544 took off from Phoenix at 12:42 PM and was appproaching DFW when flights were delayed due to bad weather. The Airbus A319 was circling in a hold until their fuel ran low and was forced to land at Dyess Air Force Base near Abilene at 5:00 PM.
The plane refueled and continued on the DFW at 7:30 PM.
Image: Flickr [redlegsfan21]
Category: Airnation
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I’m glad they caught it on time! This is a common occurrence, but it doesn’t always end well: Avianca 52
There were planes all over the place Chris when the storm hit.
I bet!! Planes can be put into holding patters for hours in cases like these. Planes should just go to their alternates like this one did, just to be safe. In the case of Avianca they considered their alternate (BOS) but made the wrong choice. :(
I don’t remember that one. Did it run out of fuel?
Yepp, It was trying to land in New York but the weather was so bad they ended up holding for HOURS. When they realized they were low on fuel, they neglected to use the word “emergency” to ATC, using instead the word “priority”. Since ATC didn’t know the true nature of their urgency, they gave them another hold, and another… When it came time to land, they had a missed approach and ended up crashing during go around. The pilot didn’t understand English that well and i guess there was a lot of controversy concerning the use of the word “priority” vs “emergency”… It happened “around” 1990 i think… Boeing 707
Wonder why they landed at Dyess AFB instead of the Abilene airport that services commercial flights.
Not sure why John. Tried to find out but no info on it.
@John, According to Avherald, Abeline’s runway 17R was closed and 17L had a 80,000 lb weight limit on it which the aircraft exceeded. Check avherald.com