JetBlue Emergency Landing: Long Beach Airport

On Thursday, September 18, 2014, JetBlue Airways Flight 1416 had to make an emergency landing at Long Beach Airport when one of its engines exploded and caught fire. According to FlightAware, Flight 1416 was 20 minutes into the flight from Long Beach, CA. to Austin, TX, when alarms went off in the cockpit and smoke filled the cabin of the Airbus A320. 

Passengers reported a loud noise followed immediately by the cabin filling with smoke. The oxygen masks then dropped, and flight attendants ordered passengers into the brace position for landing. After the explosion, the aircraft made an emergency flight back to Long Beach Airport. The crew deployed the slides on the runway, and the aircraft was evacuated. Among the passengers on board was actor Jackson Rathbone, from the Twilight films. A few passengers complained of medical problems, and one was transported to a local hospital for evaluation.

Dan Rose, a licensed commercial multi-engine airplane pilot, and Stuart Fraenkel, an aviation mechanic and adjunct professor of aviation law (both partners at the Kreindler law firm), litigated an incident involving a hole in the fuselage of a Southwest Airlines Flight 737 on July 13, 2009. In that case, an SWA 737 was climbing to cruise altitude at 35,000 feet when suddenly a 1x2-foot rupture of the fuselage skin occurred, causing an explosive decompression of the cabin that required an emergency descent. The Kreindler firm represented numerous families of that flight, whose claims were resolved for confidential amounts. 

Mr. Rose and Mr. Fraenkel also litigated an incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight 536 on December 27, 2005. In that case a Menzie Aviation ground-support vehicle hit the airplane while it was on the ramp, resulting in damage to the fuselage. Notwithstanding the damage to the airplane, the flight took off and experienced an explosive decompression event in flight when a one-foot hole opened up in the fuselage, requiring an emergency descent and landing. The Kreindler firm also represented numerous families of that flight, whose claims were resolved for confidential amounts. 

About Kreindler & Kreindler

Founded in 1950, Kreindler & Kreindler is internationally recognized as the first and most prominent aviation law firm in the United States. The firm has been the leading plaintiff legal counsel on thousands of aviation cases that include:

• Asiana Airlines Flight 214
  
• the September 11^th terrorist attacks
  
• Pan Am Lockerbie Flight 103
  
• Korean Airlines Flight 007
  
• American Airlines Flight 587
  

Kreindler partners include airplane and helicopter pilots, engineers and other technical experts. Kreindler has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Boston. For more information, contact Mr. Rose in New York at 212-687-8181 or Mr. Fraenkel in Los Angeles at 213-622-6469.