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- West Midlands conurbation, City of Coventry, Warwickshire, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire (en)
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- The Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme exposed serious security flaws at Birmingham Airport over six months. Fifteen members of staff working for the security contractor "ICTS UK Ltd" were suspended and subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct. Members of security were filmed asleep on duty, reading magazines whilst operating X-ray scanners, leaving aircraft unguarded, and ignoring bags sent for extra security checks, as well as being understaffed. The security lapse was deemed so serious, that Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the US Congress Homeland Security Committee, commented on it in the United States Congress and advised that all flights to and from Birmingham Airport should cease. ICTS dismissed the members of staff shown in the programme for their actions, but still claimed that the footage had been "contrived to exaggerate and sensationalise" the issues. (en)
- The West Midlands Police helicopter was destroyed by arsonists, and subsequently written off. A year later, a new Eurocopter EC135 similar to G-WMAO was handed over to West Midlands Police at the Farnborough Airshow. Thousands of pounds were subsequently spent upgrading security surrounding the police helicopter. (en)
- A Norwegian Air International Boeing 737-800 was travelling from Keflavik Airport to Madrid Airport when a hydraulic failure was reported. A hydraulic leak was seen from the left gear so the crew decided to divert the aircraft to Birmingham Airport. Tyre debris was seen exploding around during the landing along with small flames. The aircraft stopped on the runway and everyone on board was safely taken off. Flights from Birmingham Airport were cancelled for four hours after the incident. (en)
- A TNT Airways cargo 737-300 made an emergency landing at Birmingham with damaged landing gear. The aircraft, registration OO-TND, had been flying from Liège in Belgium to London–Stansted. Due to poor visibility at Stansted the flight diverted to East Midlands Airport. As the weather at East Midlands was also poor, the aircraft performed a full autopilot approach. During this approach the autopilot momentarily disengaged causing it to deviate from the course. The aircraft hit the grass to the side of the runway, which caused the right main gear to detach. The crew initiated a go-around, declared an emergency and diverted to Birmingham. After it landed on Birmingham's main runway, the airport was closed for a number of hours. The pilots were unharmed. However, the company ascribed the incident to human error and both pilots were dismissed. The official report into the accident highlighted a number of factors contributing to the accident: poor weather forecast information; a message passed from the air traffic control to the aircraft at an "inappropriate" time; the pilot accidentally disconnecting the autopilot when attempting to respond to the message; the pilot losing situational awareness and failing to abort the landing. (en)
- Mahan Air Airbus A310 operating a flight from Tehran, Iran, was involved in a serious incident while on approach to Birmingham International Airport. The aircraft descended to the published minimum descent altitude of 740 ft despite still being 11 nm from the runway threshold. At a point 6 nm from the runway the aircraft had descended to an altitude of 660 ft, which was 164 ft above ground level. Having noticed the descent profile, Birmingham air traffic control issued an immediate climb instruction to the aircraft; however, the crew had already commenced a missed approach, having received a GPWS alert. The aircraft was radar vectored for a second approach during which the flight crew again initiated an early descent. On this occasion, the radar controller instructed the crew to maintain their altitude and the crew successfully completed the approach to a safe landing. The accident investigation determined that the primary cause was use of the incorrect DME for the approach, combined with a substantial breakdown in the Crew Resource Management. Three safety recommendations were made. (en)
- A member of the public got onto the airfield through a restricted area of the terminal by crawling through the opening of a baggage carousel and getting onto the airport's tarmac apron, and then got aboard a Lufthansa Embraer 195 plane. He was subsequently fined. (en)
- A Cessna Citation aircraft, registration G-VUEM, arriving from Belfast International Airport crashed at Birmingham Airport during final approach in thick fog. The two crew on board were both injured, with one being airlifted to hospital. The aircraft was transporting a human liver for a transplant operation which was subsequently completed successfully. The airport reopened at around midday the following day. (en)
- A Beechcraft Baron G-AZUJ was landing in heavy fog and crashed while overshooting on its third attempt to land. All four on board died in the crash. (en)
- A Vickers Viscount passenger aircraft G-AZLR inbound from Leeds Bradford Airport suffered a severe port undercarriage failure upon landing. (en)
- A Bombardier Challenger CL-600 N90AG crashed shortly after takeoff due to airframe icing, resulting in the deaths of all four occupants. (en)
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