168 Feared Dead In Caspian Air Crash

Today at 11.33 am a Tupolev belonging to Iran-based Caspian Air crashed near Qazvin, Iran about 140 kms from the capital Tehran, with 168 passengers and crew on board. The plane was heading to the Armenian capital of Yerevan and took off from Tehran only 16 minutes before the crash.

All aboard flight number 7908 were killed according to the first news coming from local TV stations.

It took a long time before anything has appeared on the official website of the airline, but the international website still shows no information about the crash. When we called the local representative of the carrier earlier today, we were the first to tell him about the accident.

The Tupolev TU-154M plane involved in the accident was built in 1987 and was originally delivered to Ariana Afghan Airlines. It is one of the four of the type that is operated by Caspian Airlines – which is a Russian-Iranian joint venture established in 1993. They have also been using a fifth one of the same type that was operated for them, by Aerotur Air. Reports suggest that the lost plane was registered as EP-CPG (shown on the image above). The local television channels showed a huge crater and debris spread around in in a wide area. According to a representative of Caspian Air there were mainly Iranian citizens onboard (29 of them were members of Iran’s some 100,000 ethnic Armenian community – many of whom frequently use the flights between Tehran and Yerevan to visit relatives in Armenia), with 40 Armenians  (6 of them were Armenian citizens, the rest are Iranian citizens as mentioned) and two Georgian citizens also on the plane.  Besides the 156 passengers there were 12 crew members working on the flight. It is unclear whether other nations were also involved in the crash, but a boarding card belonging to a Japanese citizen was found at the crash site, Iranian reports said. Among those on board were eight members of Iran’s national youth judo team, along with two trainers and a delegation chief, who were scheduled to train with the Armenian judo team before attending competitions in Budapest, Hungary on Aug. 6, Iranian state TV said. 

There are no reports about potential death, or injury of anyone on the ground.

First eyewitness reports suggest that the plane’s tail was on fire and had circled in the air (probably trying to find an area available for emergency landing) before crashing in the ground, nose down.  “Then, I saw the plane crashing nose-down. It hit the ground causing a big explosion. The impact shook the ground like an earthquake. Then, plane pieces were scattered all over the agricultural fields,” Ali Akbar Hashemi, a 23-year-old who was laying gas pipes in a nearby home, told the Associated Press by phone. This confirms the reports on the Aviation Herald website claiming that the pilot had reported a fire in the left engine mid-air, before quickly losing altitude and deviating to the left of the assigned flight path. This information has not been confirmed by any authorities yet. Based on the above mentioned footage of the area, the plane has practically been desintegrated into small pieces by the impact of the crash, and its broken parts have spread around in an area bigger than 200 square meters. The crater is about 10 meters in depth.

“I saw a finger of a passenger on the ground. There is no sign of the airplane, just small pieces of metal,” said a witness. “I do not see even a complete leg or arm.“ “The Tupolev plane has been totally destroyed and the corpses, unfortunately, have been totally burned and destroyed,” Qazvin police commander Massoud Jafarinasab told semi-official Fars News Agency.

Weeping relatives and friends gathered at Yerevan Airport where a notice on a wall listed people who were on board. Doctors treated relatives for shock and heart problems. (You can find the full list of the flight crew and the passengers in a comment added to this article below.)

The plane’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been found at the crash site, state television reported late Wednesday, so an explanation of the crash is likely to be found.

By Szafi and balint01

Plane Slides Off Runway in Denver

Continental Airlines flight 1404 scheduled to fly from Denver, Colorado to Houston, Texas on 20 December, 2008 slid off the runway at Denver International Airport at around 6:18 pm.

The Continental Airlines Boeing 737-500 as seen at the crash site, one day later - C by Ben Remy on Airliners.net

The Boeing 737-500 (registration number N18611) that first flew in 1994 had 115 people on board of flight CO 1404 (110 passengers and 5 crew), who ALL disembarked the plane through emergency slides that have been deployed on both sides of the aircraft. 38 of them were taken to hospital, with 4 having “moderate to serious” and one person reported as having “serious” injuries. Most injuries are broken bones and fractures. Most of the passengers escaped through the emergency slides and were climbing up the small hill immediately after the accident as the fire fighters arriving to the scene have seen passengers walking or running away from the plane, coming out of the smoke that covered the wreckage.

It is not yet confirmed whether the plane had actually taken off by the time it caught fire, but according to reports runway has was littered by wreckage – which indicates that the plane may have lifted off and then practically fell back on the runway before sliding off into a small ravine on the side 200 yards away. (If this is true, the accident itself seems to be similar to that of Spanair in Madrid earlier this year, where most of the passengers died…) One passenger story tells us: ”the plane started to take off, came back down and skidded off“, but this will have to be investigated. After skidding off, the plane came to rest on its right hand side, and the cabin was filled with smoke. After the evacuation the fire had entered the cabin as well, as firefighters were reporting that the overhead luggage bins have melted onto the seats.

by balint01

TACA Airbus A320 Overran Runway in Honduras

At 9:45, 30MAY2008, TACA flight 390 operating from El Salvador to Tegucigalpa, suffered an accident upon landing at Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. According to the latest news, “The plane inexplicably circled the city twice and it ran out of runway because it landed more than halfway down” the length of the strip, airport manager Carlos Ramos told the Channel 7 television network. Upon landing it could not stop before the end of the runway and crashed into a ravine, and a road, finally coming to rest broken into three parts while its nose crashed into the roadside embankment.

There are 3 people reported dead by the airline: captain D’Antonio, of Salvadoran nationality, captain of Flight 390 (with an accumulated 11 thousand flight hours and a TACA employee since 1993); and Mrs. Jeanne Chantal Neele, and Mr. Harry Brautigam, passengers. There were 124 passengers on board, 5 crew and 5 more TACA crew flying for repositioning purposes. On Saturday, 45 of these people remained hospitalized, the rest could be released immediately after the incident (or have simply walked away).

NATIONALITY	NUMBER OF PAX
Argentina	9
Brazil	2
Canada	2
Colombia	2
Costa Rica	17
El Salvador	3
Georgia	1
Germany	1
Guatemala	8
Honduras	60
Italy	1
México	3
Nicaragua	5
Spain	2
United States	7
Uruguay	1

 

You can access the full passenger list here: taca-flight-390-passenger-list as provided by TACA on their website.

But as the aircraft hit a road, there were two more lethal tragedies on the ground, as the plane crumbled upon cars that got trapped under the wings. One of them reported to be a motorbike rider.

Here is the BBC link showing how the passengers were escaping, and how the cars got trapped under the wing.

According to the TACA website, the aircraft is an A320-233 Airbus, Irish plate EI- TAF, series number 1374 built on January 4th 2001. Until May 29th it had accumulated 21,957 flight hours and 9,992 landings. (Picture of the plane on airliners.net: http://www.airliners.net/photo/TACA/Airbus-A320-233/1232265/L/)

Location of the crash (link posted on flightlevel350.com)

Following the crash, officials acknowledged that the runways of Tegucigalpa’s aging Toncontin International Airport are short and its approach paths are dangerous. The airport is ringed by hills, posing a special challenge for pilots.

There was no official cause given for the crash yet, but weather may have also been a factor. The runway was wet with rain from Tropical Storm Alma.

by balint01

20 Feared Dead In Suriname Plane Crash

According to the first news 20 people including two pilots – one of them a woman died in a serious accident in Suriname, South America.

The plane was about to land in Benzdorp – that is famous for gold mining – when during approach they noticed another plane on the runway. they immediately started a maneuver to take off again, but the plane flew too low by that time and it could not gain enough power, hit a tree and exploded mid-air. Miners and local villagers rushed to the crash scene to rescue possible survivors.

“Probably there are no survivors” – said John Veira, head of local National Aviation Department. “we received information on the crash around 11 local time. The plane was supposed to land at 11.00 am, but plunged into a forest” – he added.

The Antonov-28 aircraft belonged to Suriname’s Blue Wing Airlines. It took off from Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname.

The airline was founded in 2004 and it operates flights from its hub Paramaribo to some Caribbean destinations. It was on the list of airlines banned from the EU, butit was removed on November 28, 2007. Its fleet consists of 4 Antonov-28s. The airline’s website is available in English and Dutch. Its design somewhat resembles KLM’s with the same blue corporate color and a swan in their logo. The website show no information about the crash at the moment.

By Szafi

Small Jet Crashes Into a Home – 5 Killed

At least 5 died after a Cessna Citation I crashed into two homes in Farnborough, England. The plane took off from London Biggin Airport and was heading to Pau, France. Shortly after take off the pilot reported vibration in the engines. Some minutes later there was a Mayday call and the plane crashed into two houses. One of them was completely destroyed.

There were 5 people aboard. Three of them have already been identified. They were all known people from motor sports: David Leslie, a former tourign car champion, motorsport executive Richard Lloyd and Mike Roberts – the pilot.

Luckily the destroyed house was empty as its owners are on holiday, thus there were no more victims on the ground.

Watch video about the crash here.

Read more about the aircraft type here. 

By Szafi

After Series Of Crashes SAS Buys Q400s Again

Following a series of serious crash landings last year, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) decided to stop operating Bombardier Q400 Dash 8 type in October 2007.

A debate between the manufacturer and the airline started right after the decision was made. Investigations showed that in all cases the source of the indients was the landing gear. Therefore it was not just Bombardier involved in the discussions; Goodrich, the manufacturer of the landing gears also took part.

Finally the three parties came to a very strange agreement. SAS will receive a compensation of approximately 165 million dollars. The weird part of the agreement is that SAS orders 27 new Bombardier aircrafts and 13 of the new planes will be Q400s. This means that a few months after SAS refused to continue the operation of Q400s, it orders 13 new ones.

Although the spokesman of the airline said the Q400 NextGen is modified in several ways compared to the old ones, still it looks a little bit strange for me.

Luckily I am not the CEO of the airline, nor am I in the board of directors. It must have been a tough situation to decide on the signing of such an agreement. I am wondering how they will communicate this to their passengers.

I am interested in your opinions about it. I recommend this video to everyone interested in this topic.

By Szafi 

Indonesian Pilot Arrested Over Crash

JAKARTA (Reuters) – The pilot of a Garuda Indonesia aircraft that crashed at Yogyakarta airport killing 21 people last year has been arrested by police on charges that include manslaughter, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

Captain Marwoto Komar, who was arrested on Monday after eight hours of interrogation, was also charged with other offences including violating aviation law and could face more than five years in jail, the pilot’s lawyer Muhammad Assegaf said. The Boeing 737, with 140 people on board, bounced and skidded off the runway in the central Javanese town of Yogyakarta before bursting into flames in a rice field in March, 2007.

Both pilots survived the crash, which happened less than three months after an Adam Air aircraft disappeared with 102 passengers and crew on board off Sulawesi island.

“We think there is no basis for his arrest,” Assegaf said by telephone, “I believe his arrest has raised a lot of eyebrows among the global aviation community.”

Last year a report by the National Transport Safety Commission said the pilot ignored 15 warnings as he descended too rapidly, but declined to attribute the crash to “human error” or “pilot error”. The committee’s report said the aircraft “was flown at an excessive air speed and steep flight path angle during the approach and landing, resulting in an unstabilised approach”.

Five Australians – two policemen, a diplomat, a journalist and an aid official – were among the casualties. They were part of a group that had been accompanying then Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who was not on board the plane, on a visit to Indonesia.

Indonesian officials have previously said that under International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules the results of an investigation by a country’s transport safety commission could not be used as evidence in court.

Rapid growth in air travel in Indonesia, a country of more than 17,000 islands, has raised questions over whether safety has been compromised and whether the infrastructure and personnel can cope with the huge increase.

Source: Reuters

By Szafi 

Bolivian Plane Crash Lands In A Swamp

A Bolivian Boeing 727 passenger jet carrying 151 passengers and 8 crew members crash landed in a swamp short of the airport of the city of Trinidad after being diverted due to bad weather conditions.

The plane took off after an hour delay due to unspecified technical problems from La Paz, Bolivia. (See the map below.) There were heavy storms in the area and instead of the original destination of Cobija, Bolivia, it was diverted to Trinidad. The aircraft was about to land when the crew experienced failure of both engines and decided to force land short of the airport on a flooded forest clearing.

“We noticed the engines went out, and there was this calm,” Paolo Bravo, a Bolivian senator who was on board, told the radio network Erbol. “Then they told us, ‘Crash positions! Crash positions!’ and it was just another two or three seconds before we hit,” he said.

Fortunately nobody was killed in the accident, although more passengers were injured and taken to nearby hospitals.

The airline Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) operated the charter flight for another Bolivian carrier, Transporte Aereo Militar. LAB had only 2 planes and it was often in the news for going in and out of bankruptcy. According to LAB’s spokesman the reason of the crash was still under investigation.

The following photos were taken by the local media.

By Szafi

Polish Military Plane Crash Kills 20

A military plane (CASA-295M) crash in northwestern Poland has killed 20 people, Poland’s prime minister said early Thursday. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the plane crash, which occurred Wednesday evening as the plane was about to land, killed 20 people, including one brigadier general and four crew members.

“Soldiers, husbands and fathers have died, and that is the most tragic result of this catastrophe,” Tusk said.

Spanish Air Force CASA 295

The air force plane carrying 16 passengers and four crew members was approaching an air force airstrip at Miroslawiec shortly after 7 p.m. (1800 GMT) when it crashed in a forested area.

The passengers were military officers who had been attending a flight safety conference in Warsaw.

Officials said it was the first accident in Poland involving a CASA transporter, which is generally considered an extremely reliable aircraft.

The airplane took off from Warsaw and was scheduled to make stops in three cities before returning to its home base in Krakow. It crashed before reaching its second destination

Source: AP

We will keep track of the updates.

By Szafi

How To Survive An Air Crash?

Even though Air Transport is by far the SAFEST way to travel, air crashes occur every once in a while. Fortunately the industry is working hard to avoid such situations, and the number of passenger fatalities on revenue flights DECREASED IN 2007 by 20% to 631 from 790 in 2006. You have to look at these numbers knowing that more than 2.5 billion people travel each year on airliners. According to statistics this basically means that the chance of somebody losing their lives in an air accident is 1 to 9 million! This means that you would have to fly more than 50.000 times in your life to challenge your faith this way.

Most of the irregular operations on an aircraft however, do not end in an actual crash. But if you’re on that particular flight (like one of the 15 in 2007 that were involved in fatal accidents) there are a few things which you should know, which can actually save your life! The following tips can increase your chance of survival, so they’re good to keep in mind!

1. Wear long pants, long sleeve shirts and lace boots!
Try to avoid comfortable slippers or elegant high heels as they make moving around the wreckage much harder. Also loose dresses can easily get stuck which also make your moves much harder. If you know that the route will take you above cold areas (like Canada at winter or the Himalayas in Asia), take a warm sweater or jacket with you onboard. Following an accident one of the most important things it to keep the body warm. Long pants and long sleeve dresses may also protect against possible fire burns.

2. Sit in the back rows by the aisle!
In most of the cases, the crash itself can be survived and then you need to move away from the wreckage as quick as possible. For this you should sit close to an emergency exit and in an aisle seat! According to statistics, those sitting in the back rows have 40% more chance of survival than those sitting in the front.

3. Read the Safety Card!
It may be boring after a while, but let’s pay attention to the safety demonstration before each flight, and even take a look at the Safety Card as the information may be used. The emergency exits are also located at different parts of different aircraft types, you should note those before take off as well. If sitting next to an emergency exit, you should be comfortable about how to operate and open it. This could be your duty if the flight attendants get injured for example.

4. Prepare an Emergency Plan in your head!
If you know the plane is going to crash or emergency land, you have a few minutes to prepare before the actual situation. In this time, check the exits again, and possibly count the number of rows in between. This may be useful in case of darkness or smoke in the cabin as you actually may not be able to see the exit. Let’s try to identify the type of soil where the plane would land. If it’s water, don’t inflate the lifejacket as if the cabin gets filled up with water, it would press you against the ceiling, making escape impossible. Also if you land on water, take a sweater or the blanket along against getting cold.

5. Always fasten your seatbelt!
It may be uncomfortable, but keep the seatbelt fastened throughout the whole duration of the flight. Also make sure it’s tight, as in case of a crash landing, the distance between the body and the belt may multiply the g-force on the body. Also you should be aware of how to open the belt the quickest way, as after the accident, speed counts the most. If you have time before the crash, remove any sharp objects from your pockets (pen, pencil, etc., even eyeglasses) as they may cause injury. Best if you don’t even have those on you!

6. Take on an Emergency Position!
If you are aware that the plane will have a crash, try to chock up yourself as much as possible. Move your seat to an upright position, and take on one of the emergency positions:

A) If the seat in front of you is close, put one your palms on the back of the seat, cross the other hand and put the other palm on your lower arm, and move your forehead on the two lower arms. Never cross your fingers!

B) If the seat in front you is farther away, lean forward and put your chest on your thighs and place your head between your knees, take hold of your ankles with your hands.
In both cases, leave your feet on the ground, a little bit below the line of the knees. These positions also prevent damage to your spine at the crash.

7. Don’t move until the plane comes to a complete stop!
Most of the cases passengers survive the first crash, but the fuselage may “bounce” and most of the injuries happen at this time. Try to place your hand luggage under the seat in front of you and not in the overhead bins, as if a bag is there, it may prevent your feet or legs from being caught in that space.

8. Keep calm!
It is very hard to keep calm and not panic right before and after such a crash. Let’s think about which direction is the safest to go, and try to give maximum chance for your survival by thinking calmly about how to do it!

9. Take on the Oxygen Mask!
You should always take on your own mask, before helping others. In case of loss of cabin pressure these masks are only required for a few minutes, while the pilot navigates the plane to a lower flight level, where the outside pressure is high enough so that you can breath normally. Don’t be afraid to take it off and leave it behind after this has happened.

10. Protect yourself from the smoke!
In most of the cases, the fire and the smoke after an accident takes the most fatalities. The smoke inside the cabin is usually thick and has poisonous gases. The best you can do is to put a cloth in front of your mouth and nose. If you have a chance, make the piece of cloth wet, even with your own urine if there is no other way, it also reduces the risk of internal injuries if your bladder is empty. It may sound disgusting but it works and may save your life!

11. Leave the aircraft immediately!
The most important after a crash has happened is to leave the wreckage immediately! Don’t sit around stunned and waiting for instructions, GET MOVING as soon as possible. In the aisle or if it’s not possible, on the top of the seats, try to avoid crawling underneath as other passengers may bury you. If there is a fire or smoke, according to studies, you have about two minutes to leave safely. Quick evacuation is what helped all onboard to survive the China Airlines’ accident last year.

12. Leave your luggage behind!
You may have “valuable” things in your carry-on luggage, but leave them all behind, as the most valuable thing you have is your own life and such bags would only reduce your – and that of other fellow passengers – chance of survival as they slow you down and may get stuck, etc.

14. Check the other side!
Check the other side of the exit, as if there is fire or any other danger, it’s better to try on the other side.

15. Quickly move away from the wreckage!
As soon as you’re outside the plane, get away from the wreckage as quickly as possible, as an explosion or fire could happen at any second. At the same time, if your plane “landed” in a remote area, don’t move too far away, as the rescue teams will look around the wreckage for survivors. If we land on water, swim as far as you can. The best is to remove your shoes, and any other non-useful dress items in the cabin or before jumping in the water as those make swimming only harder, but don’t leave a sweater or a jacket behind.

16. Follow instructions by flight attendants!
In general, if the flight attendants have survived the crash, always follow their instructions, as they have been trained for such situations. They may not be nice, rather rude with short, straight sentences in a militaristic tone, but that’s what helps in such a case.

If everybody follows these instructions, all passengers can get out of a crash-landed plane very quickly, just take a look at this video of an evacuation test on the new Airbus A380 super-jumbo!

We hope none of us would have to use any of the items in this article, but it’s always better to be prepared!

by balint01