Be careful, YVR full of emergency landings!

I'm back in Vancouver for the holidays and as I was flipping through the Province the other day I came across this article: Vancouver International Airport on radar after jump in emergency landings

Emergency landings at Vancouver International Airport more than doubled between 2006 and 2007, The Province has learned.

There were 16 such events last year -- but 36 official incidents up to Christmas 2007, according to statistics obtained from Transport Canada and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

It irks me when the media has to sensationalize everything. There is nothing to say that YVR has done anything to cause an increased amount of emergency landings. Most of these landings are precautionary landings, and the term "emergency landing" isn't quite correct but of course anytime someone sees a runway full of trucks with lights flashing it must be an emergency. A return to the airport can be for any number of reasons and is rarely a full blown emergency. The airport will respond in the same fashion if an aircraft reports an engine failure or fire (actual emergency) or if perhaps they are having minor mechanical issues (still completely safe to fly) but makes more sense to return for a landing then proceed across the Pacific Ocean (much like the Cathay flight last month which returned to the airport after flap problems).

A little sidetracked there, the long and short, perhaps as a factual note about an increase in emergency landings, but not singling out YVR as if it has ANYTHING to do with why a minuscule percentage of the thousands of flights per year return for any number of reasons.

I have returned a couple of times myself, thankfully not for anything incredibly serious, but it certainly need not be as glorified as the media will always make it out to be.