Incident: Jazeera A320 at Kuwait on Aug 27th 2017, collision with cable of military captive balloon
A Jazeera Airways Airbus A320-200, registration 9K-CAK performing flight J9-787 from Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) to Kuwait (Kuwait), was on approach to Kuwait City when ATC issued instruction to maintain 5000 feet and join a left hand holding pattern at waypoint IVETA (IAF, Pos. N29.3733 E47.7850) due to another arriving aircraft with a medical emergency receiving priority. While in the holding at about 16:14L (13:14Z) the right hand engine (CFM56) contacted the cable of a military captive balloon (mounting point coordinates N29.3908 E47.6704, 6nm west of IVETA) rising up to about 5000 feet AGL. The balloon deflated and slowly fell to ground. The crew did not observe any abnormal engine indications and continued for a normal landing on Kuwait's runway 15R.
A postflight inspection revealed a sliced engine inlet and serious damage along the engine cowl, fan blades appeared to be intact. The aircraft was unable to continue its schedule and is still on the ground in Kuwait about 31.5 hours after landing.
Charts released by Kuwait's AIP do not show any holding pattern at waypoint IVETA, which is the IAF for the RNAV procedure to join the ILS runway 15L or 15R. The area of the captive balloon 6nm west of IVETA is shown as a restricted zone from ground up to 15000 feet MSL.
Metars:
OKBK 271500Z 13010KT 4000 -HZ SKC 36/28 Q0999 NOSIG=
OKBK 271400Z 13012KT 5000 -HZ SKC 38/28 Q0998 NOSIG=
OKBK 271300Z 12013KT 6000 SKC 39/25 Q0998 NOSIG=
OKBK 271200Z 12015KT 6000 SKC 39/25 Q0998 NOSIG=
OKBK 271100Z 11012KT 6000 SKC 41/23 Q0998 NOSIG=
OKBK 271000Z 11009KT 6000 SKC 40/24 Q0999 NOSIG=
OKBK 270900Z 11009KT 6000 SKC 39/26 Q0999 NOSIG=
The engine cowl damage
The balloon cable on the ground
Flight trajectory and map (Graphics: AVH/Flightaware/Google Earth):
RNAV Runway 15R Procedure Chart, not RNAV/ILS Chart, OK R 08 marks the captive balloon (Graphics: AIP Kuwait):
https://avherald.com/h?article=4ad983d4&opt=0