Airliner turns back to Portland
Delta MD-11 bound for Tokyo dumps fuel, lands safety at PDX on tow of its three engines
By ERIK ROBINSON
Columbian staff eriter
PORTLAND-- It was exceedingly short for international flight.
A Delta Airline jetliner bound for Tokyo had barely left the ground Friday afternoon when, according to some passengers, they noticed more than a normal amount of turbulence.
Within minutes, passengers said, the plane's captain told them they would return to Portland with the use of only two of the MD-11's three engines,
"We started to take off, and I felt a shaking," said Adam Briggs, a Portland high school student on an exchange trip to Japan. "I thought, something's not right."
The plane, carrying 264 passengers and crew of 14, took off shortly before 2 p.m. After circling the area from an altitude of about 7,000 feet, the plane touched down in Portland without incident at 2:40 p.m.
The jetliner was flying low enough for North Country Emergency Medical Services Director Tom McDowell to notice wisps of fuel trailing behind as the aircraft circled near Mount St. Helens.
“It looked like it was dumping fuel kike crazy,” he said.
An aircraft loaded with fuel often cannot safely land without risking damage.
Passengers described the scene on board the aircraft as serene.
“Everyone was really calm, “said Takako Tamura, a newly graduated University of Oregon student who was returning home to Tokyo. “But I was really nervous.”
April Bogle-Booth, a Delta spokeswoman in Atlanta, said she had no information Friday evening as to what caused the problem.
It was the second time this year that a Tokyo-bound jetliner landed in Portland with a problem.
On Feb. 2, a Delta flight that originated in Los Angeles landed in Portland after pilots reported a problem with the plane’s hydraulic system. That plane also was an MD-11.
Safe and sound: Adam Briggs, a student at Portland’s Lincoln High School, gets a hug from his mother, Valeria Briggs, after leaving a Delta flight that made an emergency landing at Portland International Airport on Friday afternoon. There were no injuries among the 264 passengers and 14 crew members fling to Tokyo.
「小野里ざくら」
前橋公園の「幸の池」界隈を一巡する遊歩道には、その半周以上にわたってソメイヨシノが一列に立ち並んでいる。大人一人では抱えきれないほどの大木もあり、その数は五十本に達する。
四月とももなると、見事な花を繚乱と咲き競わせ、多数の市民を花見へと誘う。木の下道をそぞろ歩く人、あちこちの空き地に円座して酒盃に花びらを浮かべる人…。その数は夜半まで尽きることがない。
夏には、この木々は鬱蒼とした緑の葉を路上に覆い茂らせて強い陽射しを遮り、往来する人達に清涼な息吹を与えてくれる。冬が近づくと、葉は地上に落ち重なり、早朝この枯葉のジュータンを踏みしめる感触と風情もまた格別である。
この桜の木は、小野里工業が昭和三十五年に創立五十周年を記念して植えたものだ。列の中間辺りの一隅にその旨を表示した記念石板がひっそりと設置されている。
先日、はからずもこの植樹の主である小野里光明会長と親しく面談させていただいた。話がこの桜木の現状に及ぶと、氏は相好をくずし、「まだ全部揃って元気かね。だが、あいつらもそろそろ年をとってきたからねぇ」。その口調には、わが子の成長、安否をよろこび、気づかう親心に似たものが滲み出ていた。
同社では創立七十周年にも前橋・嶺公園と南浦和・一ツ木公園にそれぞれ桜七十本、創立八十周年には前橋総合運動公園に同じく桜八十本と節目ことに植樹をしているという。
学生の頃、ある東大教授の「人を植えて五十年」という随筆を読んだことがある。毎年世に出す教え子達が各地の各分野で次第に大木に育ち、立派な花を咲かせてくれる。それを静かに見守るのが教育者の冥利、という内容だったと記憶する。小野里氏と気脈を通ずるものが感じられる。
ちなみに、わが家では、この桜の木々を「小野里ざくら」と呼んでいる。
「小林宣雄の一筆啓上」より 12090