CNN has breaking news. Right landing gear malfunctioned. Circling Logan. Will attempt to land at 9:30 PM EST
A perfect landing!
But it’s an odd flight designation and odd flight plan. News carries the flight as Midwest Airlines 210 (would be MDW210). FlightAware carried it as Midwest Airlines 210 (MEP210).
The news reported it as a Milwaukee/Boston flight with 81 on board. But the flight plan shows only KBOS/KBOS. One benefit is that the track map is zoomed and only shows eastern Massachusetts. Lots of circling.
Would this flight have flown from Milwaukee with no flight plan and only on VFR until the crew discovered the landing gear problem? Reports from Milwaukee said there were sparks from the rear of the plane on takeoff.
It’s hard to imagine that this flight would have been allowed to go VFR to Boston. 
The flight was from Boston to Milwaukee (and on to Kansas City), so it was on an IFR plan the entire time. I’m not sure why the activity log doesn’t note the diversion away froom Milwaukee to Boston.
I think that the moment they took off and got the alerts that they had a problem, the flight to Milwaukee cancelled and became KBOS/KBOS because procedure says to stay at the departure airport and deal with it. The FlightAware screen on the 210 flight already said KBOS/KBOS when I saw the Breaking News interupt Larry King. Don’t know why one says MEP210 and the other MDW210 though. Beautifully landed though. Thank God.
The diversion display has corrected itself now. The flight was KBOS-KMKE and diverted to become KBOS-KBOS.
It looks like I got my ‘to’/‘from’ reversed, which answers the misinterpretations I made. Thanks for the correction/clarification, mduell.
About time Boston had some action!!!
With all of the technology available to us, these are so much more exciting. I had flightaware open (it was actually VERY VERY slow - I wouldn’t mind getting the usage stats between 9-10pm) I had LiveAtc open and tuned to Kbos ground and the passur.com Logan site and found the aircraft circling around Glouster and North Shore.
There was no warning that is known. ATC actually reported the sparks to the pilot upon departure. I’m sure the flight was diverted, fp changed, and emergency procedures intact at that point.
When towing the plane back to the gate, I heard the tug driver report sparks to ATC and then to the pilot during transport. Good stuff!!
I was alternating between the tower and approach on Liveatc.net. Quite interesting, especially the United Flight they kept slowing down on approach. Also the reference to the news copter 1000 ft aloft. Hey Doug, I know I’ve brought it up on my wish list before, but someday I still think it would be great to get ATC feeds right here on FlightAware. Buy lotto tickets if necessary…we’ll chip in!
I cannot play the flight track animation movie…is there a problem with it? Quicktime opens on my computer but its blank. I get an error that says something about the required compressor cannot be found.
bruce
Try upgrading to the latest QuickTime (7.0.3), that should solve your problem.
The television coverage was high drama indeed.
As the incident unfolded, MSNBC and Fox News both covered it live using footage from WHDH and WBZ, the NBC and CBS affiliates in Boston. That neither of those Boston stations could be bothered to deviate from their all-important sitcoms and the never-ending parade of commercials they create is very telling. It shows where their motivations lie.
Anyway, one of the local television cameras showed the flight as it neared Boston for its ‘precautionary landing.’ The cameraman no doubt had visions of dancing Pulitzers as he focused intently on the Boeing 717.
Problem is, it wasn’t the plane. It wasn’t even A plane. It was Boston Light…a lighthouse in Boston Harbor.
I think Dan Rather was in that lighthouse. I really do.
‘De PLANE! De PLANE!’
Stupid media.
Chris in NH
I was on MEP527 enroute from Milwaukee to Denver when this was unfolding. The flight crew informed us that we may hear about a situation involving another company aircraft in Boston as we deplane. They then advised that the MEP210 had landed safely and all were ok. I can say the 717’s that they fly are fantastic. 2 across leather and roomie. Glad to hear all was ok with flight 210.
Speaking of stupid media: While I didn’t see the incident on TV, Melanie Morgan of the KSFO Morning Show mentioned tha the reporter asked the aviation expert if the aircraft was going to land!
In the entire history of aviation, there has not been a single aircraft that hasn’t landed after take-off.
You definitely have a point!
In the entire history of aviation there hasn’t been a Southwest Airlines 757 either. But that’s exactly what plowed through the fence and onto a street in Chicago a couple weeks ago…according to the media.
Although it can be frustrating, I respectfully request that folks give these broadcasters a break. Nobody can be an expert in everything and although the anchors aren’t always 100% informed, their goal is to disseminate information in real time and they gather experts as quickly as possible to be able to speak intelligently about the situation at hand.
Every media report is full of errors, but I don’t think we should complain as long as the crucial facts are correct such as where the incident took place and if everyone is OK, etc. Little technicalities such as getting the aircraft model wrong don’t fundamentally change the story and as long as they make efforts to be accurate, I’m happy.
Understood Doug. I just thought damiross’s point about what goes up, somehow, someway, must come down.<img%20src=“{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif”%20alt=“
”%20title=“Wink”%20/> In this case, all went well!