Aviation News, Headlines & Alerts
 
Category: <span>Video</span>

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Early Preliminary Response on Mozambique Airlines Crash

The Mozambique Airlines Embraer 190 disappeared from radar when entering Namibian airspace but Mozambican authorities took over three hours to inform Namibian ATC that the plane had gone missing. Heavy rain in the area led to poor visibility. Was the pilot was deliberately flying low or had lightning possibly damaged the plane?

Head of the Mozambique’s Civil Aviation Institute (IACM) Joao Abreu made some statements to the press.

Abreu said just before the Embraer 190 hit the ground, Captain Herminio dos Santos Fernandes locked himself in the cockpit, ignored warnings and did not allow his co-pilot back in.

Abreu said that Captain Herminio dos Santos Fernandes manipulated the Embraer 190’s autopilot in a way which “denotes a clear intention” to bring the plane down;

Abreu said that “During these actions you can hear low and high-intensity alarm signals and repeated beating against the door with demands to come into the cockpit.”

Input from the black boxes indicated that the altitude was changed three times from 38,000 feet to 592, and the spoilers were deployed and held.

The captain had 9,053 hours of flying time, 1,395 of them as the captain of an Embraer.

Do we really know what was going on in the cockpit of the plane as it went down in the Bwabwata National Park in north-east Namibia? Do we have any idea what went on in the mind of Captain Herminio dos Santos Fernandes?

I think not. I think it is too soon to make presumptions. I believe the investigation, if it is performed to industry standards—which may be a challenge, given Mozambique’s safety standards as regarded by the EU—has much more to reveal.

*Don’t watch the video below if you have a weak stomach. U.S. News does not carry such graphic images.

Billionaire Lost in French Helicopter Crash

Chinese billionaire Lam Kok purchased a French vineyard, and boarded a helicopter with three others, including his son, the former owner who was flying the helicopter, and a translator, to take an aerial tour of the 65-hectare (160-acre) vineyards and surrounding grounds. Lam Kok’s and James Gregoire’s wives had declined to fly.

Twenty minutes after the flight took off, the helicopter went missing.

The helicopter, flown by James Gregoire, former owner of the vineyard, was missing but a witness came forward and told a mounted policeman that the helicopter had been seen falling into the Dordogne river, and people had been seen struggling in the water.

Emergency helicopters, divers and a hundred foot officers converged on the scene, and were deployed to search. After dark, a helicopter with a searchlight joined the searchers.

Lam Kok, new owner of the vineyard Château de la Riviere was head of the Hong Kong-based Brilliant group which plans to develop a tea and wine tasting center and hotel in Bordeaux.

One of the bodies was recovered around midnight. Rumors are that the body is of Lam Kok’s twelve year old son. The search was halted overnight, but resumed on the morning of the twenty-first. The search has been hampered by strong currents in the river.

Ironically, John Leprince, a former owner of the vineyard, died in a plane crash in 2002, not far from the crash site in the Dordogne. Combined with this crash, this means the last three owners of the vineyard were lost in aviation accidents.

Read More…


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Eurocopter Fuel Gauge Safety Alert

No one is saying that the recently discovered Eurocoptor problem with the low fuel level warning system had anything to do with Clutha ——leased police Eurocopter crashed thru the roof of the Clutha pub in Glasgow killing three crew members and seven people inside the pub——but it is out there on the table and one of those things that make you go hmmm. Connection or not, the Clutha accident is causing Eurocopter to take a closer look at their helicopters.

The preliminary report on Clutha is not out yet, but there are reports that the helicopter did not run out of fuel.

The Eurocopter fuel indicator problem is that the supply-tank fuel gauge can overestimate how much fuel is in the tank. Apparently the gauge can skip amber and go straight to red (low fuel.)

Eurocopter is sending out safety notices about the issue..

In the Clutha crash, the number of fatalities has risen to ten.


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Air Canada Jazz Suffers Engine Fire Just After Takeoff


photographer Jason Whitebird

On December 12, 2013, an Air Canada Jazz de Havilland Canada DHC-8-311 took off from Nanaimo Airport en route to Vancouver when the plane developed an engine fire.

Fire broke out over open water when the plane reached cruising altitude minutes after leaving the airport. Passengers reported hearing a loud bang, and on the side of the plane, they saw flames from the affected engine.

The pilot shut down the engine, and they made a safe landing. The crew also discovered an engine oil problem just prior to the fire.

This was the first emergency landing at the Nanaimo Airport, which was shut down for four hours after the incident. Emergency services responded to the scene. Passengers used stairs to exit.

Passengers spoke positively about the crew. No one was injured.

Automated Cockpit Props up Undertrained Pilots

The Asiana investigation continues.

Back in July, the pilot who was insecure about making a visual approach in a 777 crashed at San Francisco International Airport on a visual approach in Asiana Flight 214’s Boeing 777. Specifically, he told NTSB investigators “it was very difficult to perform a visual approach with a heavy airplane.” The glideslope was not working at the San Francisco airport, and that was an instrument the (*undertrained) pilot was relying on. The plane came in so low the tail struck the seawall and broke off. The video below shows the plane rotate 360 degrees and catch fire by the runway.

New Asiana Crash Video

Video with news commentary

Before impact, the relief pilot in the jump seat repeated several times “sink rate” trying to warn the pilots at the controls that the jet was too quickly losing altitude. One of the pilots said “It’s low.” Then there was a stick shaker alert (which occurs when the plane is about to stall from flying too slowly. I once had a pilot do a presentation that included the disturbing grinding of the stick shaker alarm as it violently vibrated the control yoke. It’s an alarming direction to the pilots to increase thrust.)

When the stick shaker went off, the instructor called for a go around. It went off four seconds before impact. It was too late.

Both the instructor and the captain were relying on the auto throttle, and both were unaware it was off.

In George’s Point of View

I do not know how anyone can watch the surveillance video of the Asiana crash and not marvel that of the three hundred and seven people aboard the plane, there were only three deaths.

I’m not discounting the wounds of the injured, nor those three deaths, nor the tragedy of one of the teen victims being run over by an airport crash tender. (That’s a whole tragedy by itself—who knows if she might have survived but for being so obscured by foam that she was not visible to crash responders—through the firemen who carried her out surely must have known she was there.)

A dozen critically injured, a hundred-sixty-nine injured, but only three deaths.

It’s nothing short of a miracle. Especially on inspecting the condition of the burned out shell of the hull. Especially on reviewing the just-released surveillance video that shows the plane splintering after impacting the firewall, cartwheeling like a crippled gymnast down the runway and dissolving into a cloud of dust and flame. No jet fuel fire here——leaking oil ignited as it poured on to a hot engine.

The Kazan crash (Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363) from November 17th is fresh in my mind. Everyone aboard–fifty people (forty-four passengers and six crew) all died. The plane just fell from the sky while landing at an impossible 75-degree-nose-down attitude, piloted by a pilot whose license is apparently fake. Everyone in that crash died. (Tatarstan surveillance below.)

Of course one can see the physics—that everyone on the Tatarstan flight received the full direct impact, versus how the rolling of the Asiana plane dispersed some of the impact energy. Still, there is tremendous force in a crash.

I know I should be talking about pilot training, because this is yet another crash that appears to be due to pilots becoming too dependent on technology. But I will focus on that another day. Right now, I am overwhelmed after looking at the crash tape.

Asiana—Cartwheeling Catastrophe
I am surprised that I have neither heard or seen choruses of amazement that all but three people survived the rolling catastrophe in San Francisco. Some credit should perhaps go to the rescue crew, quick actions of the cabin crew, performance of the emergency slides, and maybe even the aerodynamics of the 777 whose seats are required to withstand 16g of dynamic force.

Sure, there was error involved in this crash, but when you look at the survival rate, some credit is due to the 5.5 billion Boeing put into research, development and safety of the 777.


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Locked in a Plane

Asleep unnoticed in the back of the plane at the time of disembarkation from his United Express/Expressjet flight from Lafayette, La. to Houston, passenger Tom Wagner woke up at the end of the line–in the dark, locked inside a cold plane empty of crew and passengers.

What should be the consequences of being locked inside a plane? Flight attendants have walk-thru procedures, don’t they? At any rate, however the situation began, Wagner had his cell phone with him and was able to initiate the ending. He just called someone who called the airline, and the airline called the crew, and somebody showed up and let him out.

Houston was a layover for Wagner, so after a (free) motel night, he was given a $250 voucher to finish his trip.

Glasgow Helicopter Crash Update

The “Bond Air Services Ltd. for Police Scotland” Eurocopter EC135 T2+ registration #G-SPAO with three aboard crashed in the Clutha Pub, Stockwell Street, Glasgow. Three of the victims were aboard, six on the ground.

Two witnesses Billy and Michael Byrne were inside the Clutha Vaults pub when the police helicopter crashed into it. The noise of the impact was indescribable, then…

There was a sort of silence.The whole ceiling at the left hand side of the bar, where it had been, had collapsed in on itself and the gantry of the bar also collapsed. There was an initial bout of screaming. There was a huge ball of dust. I went and opened the doors. Whilst I was holding the door I could see my brother…

Then, after finding each other, the two assisted where they could.

I think that person was conscious. He was moaning so he was conscious. There was a second person under him and that person, to me, didn’t look conscious — he was face-down. When we got out I spent time with a chap who was injured. He had a head injury. We put him in an ambulance and hopefully he is fine. We were fine. We were just lucky.

Others described the helicopter as tumbling at a strange angle, or that it dropped like a stone. Inside, the patrons of the bar heard a large bang before the lights went out. Others describe a whoosh, smoke, and eerie silence as the plane fell. The roof fell in, and dust floated in, choking everyone.

First responders were passers by. Some survivors walked away. The numbers of the casualties were initially 6 deceased, 32 hospitalized. The victims totaled nine, at last release. Two officers and a civilian pilot were aboard. Search and rescue dogs assisted in the search and rescue operation. Air accident investigation investigators, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and rescue personnel were on the scene.

The helicopter involved passed a safety check last year. The helicopter does not have a flight data recorder but some of the systems may have recoverable data.

Victims Named

  • Robert Jenkins, 61
  • Mark O’Prey, 44
  • Colin Gibson, 33
  • John McGarrigle, 57
  • Samuel McGhee, 56
  • Gary Arthur, 48
  • helicopter pilot David Traill, 51
  • PC Kirsty Nelis, 36
  • PC Tony Collins, 43

See News Videos Below

Mozambique Crash Video


DNA tests will be performed on the 31 bodies so far recovered from the Namibia’s Bwabwata National Park, site of the crash of Mozambique Airlines Flight 470, a Embraer ERJ 190-100 IGW (ERJ-190AR) with 33 aboard. The plane is a total wreck, Written off (damaged beyond repair), burnt wreckage scattered in a low impact crash, possibly the result of bad weather.

The hundred-seat plane was only 1 / 3 full.

Recently revealed facts

  • Only one body was found intact according to Theo Shilongo, investigation leader.
  • The pilot was in Botswanan airspace when the pilot notified ATC of problems, though it took Mozambiqan authorities 3 hours to inform Nambia that the plane was off radar.
  • The search was called off due to bad weather, but the next day locals called in reporting the crash.
  • The wreckage will be transported to Rundu for investigation.
  • The remains have been transported to Windhoek.
  • An Angolan Pop artist, Jose Pascoal Luvuala (AKA Action Nigga) is among the dead.
  • Angola Inspector General in the Ministry of Finance, Manuel John Landa and two colleagues are among the dead.

Video of the Debris Field

Atlas Oops.

By now you have probably heard already about the Atlas Air Boeing 747 which was en route from New York to Wichita, Kansas…and landed at the wrong airport. The intended destination was McConnell Air Force Base, which has runways long enough for the 747 to take off and land. But the actual destination was Col. James Jabara Airport which has no control tower, is much smaller, and does not accommodate the big jets.

Somewhat ironically, the plane’s cargo was a B-787 fuselage going to Boeing.

The Atlas Air 747 needs a 9,200 foot runway. Because it had used up enough fuel, it was light enough Thursday to successfully take off from Jabara’s 6,101 foot runway. The cargo flight landed safely at McConnell. Two pilots were flown from New York to Wichita to make the flight. Below is a video of the take-off.

See video of successful take off

KPTV – FOX 12

Six Die in Crash in France

cuaranty

On November 19, 2013, an Aircraft Guaranty Corp Trustee Socata TBM-700 was en route from Annecy – Haute-Savoie – Mont Blanc Airport with five men and one woman aboard when it developed problems. There were no survivors. They were all employed by part of the Vivialys, a real estate agency.

The plane was en route from Annecy to Toussus-le-Noble when it crashed ten miles south of Auxerre after 11:00 am (1000 GMT) in a field near the village of Mouffy. Some reports say “There was heavy fog” at the time of the crash and a witness heard “a strange whistling noise”. The debris field is spread in a radius of 1000 feet.

The aircraft was registered in the United States. The BEA, France’s Accident Investigation Bureau, sent four investigators.

See Video Below


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Kazan Crash Update

The Boeing-737 flight that crashed in Kazan may have done so under the command of a
Pilot In Command (PIC) who had never performed a real go-around. The PIC had 1000 night flight hours and was properly trained, according to authorities—but if that is the case, how is it being reported that the PIC had never performed a go-around? What is verifiable is that there is a large debris field, a nose down crash. Note how windy it is while they are on the field putting out tape and spraying. Also there is a video being posted that shows a nosedive: http://lifenews.ru/#!news/122878 though whether this is actually the Tatarstan Airlines flight in question is, in fact, questionable.

The PIC had 25000 hours and the copilot had 1900 hours. Reports are that the “pilot of Kazan crash had put the plane into nosedive.” The plane hit nose first. We do not know if it was at the steep angle in the video above or in a more normal angle.

The black box has been recovered, and the preliminary report may be available soon.

Six crew members and 44 passengers died. Their bodies have not been identified yet, through the manifest has been released.

Read More

Air Ambulance Crash Off Florida Coast


On November 19, 2013, a Jet Rescue Air Ambulance Lear Jet 35A was en route from Hollywood Int’l Airport in Fort Lauderdale to Cozumel International Airport when the plane crashed in coastal waters three miles from Fort Lauderdale. The last contact with ATC was at 8:20. The pilots reported mechanical problems after takeoff: a May Day. He was in trouble and asked for permission to return to the runway. He was going to make a 180-degree turn and return to the airport.

Skies were clear.

There were four people aboard at the time—the two aforementioned pilots and two passengers—a doctor and nurse named as Fernando Senties Nieto and Mariana González Isunza. The flight had just dropped off a patient in Broward County.

The bodies of a man and woman have been found. Command central was set up at a city marine on Southeast 15th.

The search is ongoing.

Fifty people and nine vessels involved in the search include a Miami Coast guard helicopter, two coast guard cutters, two small boats, three florida Fish and Wildlife conservation crew, and a Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue boat.

Military Jet Crashes, Pilot Ejects


An Indian Air Force MiG-29 was engaged in training maneuvers when the pilot ejected near Jamnagar in Gujarat, and the plane crashed. The wreckage is between Amran and Jivapar villages which are close to Jamangar airbase,

During the training flight, the plane developed a “technical snag.”

A court of inquiry is underway.

Skydivers Planes Collide And Fall to Earth


On November 2nd, 2013, the two Skydive Superior Cessnas (Cessna A185F Skywagon #WN94059, Cessna 182 #N6068Y) were flying over Wisconsin when one flew into another, forcing eleven people into emergency mode. Two pilots and nine skydivers made it to the ground alive, though part of the plane was described as breaking off into a fireball of burning debris that the skydivers had to avoid while they were coming down. The nine skydivers had been planning a tandem jump.

The Skywagon encountered wake turbulence, which lead to the collision and breakup of the lead aircraft.

Four jumpers were aboard the lead plane that broke apart.

One plane broke up and burned; the other pilot managed to land. The pilot of one plane used his emergency parachute and was injured enough on landing that he was hospitalized. The other managed to land at the airport, albeit with a broken wing and propeller.

The FAA is investigating.


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Cessna Crash Kills Hunter, Pilot

A Cessna U206F Stationair owned/operated by Wilderness Aircraft I LLC went missing east of Donnelly, Idaho while en route from McCall Municipal Airport and the Salmon River Basin. Three planes had been making the 12 minute flight but only two made it to the destination. The Idaho Army National Guard helicopter who were searching in an inaccessible area cancelled due to bad weather and mountain snow. The search resumed on Thursday when the wreckage was found on the side of a steep mountain.

The pilot and two passengers were going to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

Hikers to the wreckage discovered that pilot Dan Wilson and passengers Steve Hall and Mike Wolf had not survived the crash. It took rescue workers two hours to hike to the wreckage 7,800 feet up the mountain.

The NTSB will be investigating.

Video Below

TFX


Flying Plane Video

Terrafugia will focus the TF-X™ program with clear goals that enhance the safety, simplicity, and convenience of personal transportation.

Flying car for the masses–Just over the horizon?

Montreal Airport Fire


A Royal Air Maroc Boeing 767-36NER, Flight 206 from Casablanca, Morocco, had touched down at 4:30 p.m.. While the plane was being loaded, the belt loader caught fire.

Two hundred fifty passengers evacuated by slide. Several were injured in the evacuation, and seven suffered smoke inhalation, five of whom were hospitalized. The plane is out of service.

The fire in the belt located by the jet’s cargo door was reported at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport at 4:47 pm on Nov 4, 2013.

An investigation is underway.

LAO Airlines Crash Update

At last the flight data recorder from the crash of a Lao Airlines turboprop ATR-72 has been recovered from the Mekong river. The cockpit voice recorder has been located also but has not yet been retrieved due to the strong currents and muddy water of the Mekong.

The flight data recorder tracks technical data: altitude, speed and route.

A cockpit voice recorder records cockpit conversation. The cockpit voice recorder has not been retrieved, though news releases to the contrary have been circulated.

Lao Airlines most recent press release:

Read more:

Lao Airlines Victims Recovered in Mekong River

LAO Airlines Crash Update: Victims Named

Painful Search Continues in Laos

LAX: TSA Shooting


A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent was shot at a Terminal 3 checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport.

Swat responded. Los Angeles Police Department put LAX on tactical alert. An evacuation of the airport followed. All planes with flights heading to the airport were held at their points of origin.

The incident began at 9:30 a.m. at Terminal 3 at LAX. A twitter from John Fostrom said that “a lax colleague walks closer to see what is going on and TSA person runs at him with look of terror. Colleague turns to me and says run!”

A gunman with a rifle fired shots in Terminal 3. A twenty-nine year old man was shot in the leg at 9:30 a.m. and someone else was also wounded.

The gunman was taken into custody alive.

Bell Helicopter Crashes in Oregon


Around noon on Oct 28, a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter carrying two Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife employees who were conducting fish counts (counting spawning nests, also called redds) crashed in the South Umpqua River near Days Creek. Both passengers and the pilot were conscious.

Power lines were damaged, and the plane was leaking fuel. Three hundred twenty people lost electricity. The FAA and the NTSB will be on hand to check out the accident. A hazmat team handled the fuel leak.

Two passengers, Holly Huchko, 34 and Eric Himmelreich, 35 were taken to Mercy Hospital in Roseburg, and the pilot to Sacred Heart at Riverbend. Huchko broke her back, Himmelreich broke a vertebra and the pilot, Fred Wittlake, broke an arm and some ribs.

The Umpqua Fish District office counts fish to help determine fishing regulation.


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Delta Diversion to Pasco Washington

A Delta Airlines Boeing 757 en route from Atlanta,GA to Seattle,WA (USA) with 185 people aboard apparently developed a cargo fire on Oct 21, 2013.

Pilots diverted diverted to Pasco Washington where they made a safe landing.

Emergency services responded to the scene which was apparently a heat sensor alarm. No fire was found.

The 757 was grounded at the Pasco airport. Some of the passengers were provided a charter bus to Seattle, some rented cars, and others waited for a Tuesday flight.

Video below


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Painful Search Continues in Laos


photographer Teerawut W

Retrieval of the Lao Airlines plane that crashed in the Mekong river on a go-around has been hampered by primitive conditions. The plane has only been in service since March 2013.

The plane encountered a strong gust of wind, its nose lifted, then the ATR-72-600 impacted near Done Kho Island. Although the accident was on the 19th, and investigators have detected signals from the flight data recorders, rustic conditions, poor visibility and turbulent river eddies have prevented recovery of the black boxes. Divers have had to use ropes in the muddy water.

Forty-four victims had been recovered from the swollen river in Laos. The bodies have been subject to significant drift, due to the forceful currents.

Four crew, the Cambodian captain, plus 16 Laotians, seven French travellers, six Australians, five Thais, three South Koreans, two Vietnamese, and one national each from the United States, Canada, Malaysia, China and Taiwan were aboard.

This is Lao Airlines first fatal crash in 13 years.

(Thai)

Eleven Die in Belgium Plane Crash


A Paraclub Namur Pilatus PC-6/B2-H4 Turbo Porter out of Namur-Suarlée Airport crashed in Belgium in a field. Ten sky divers and a pilot were aboard when the plane lost height. No one survived.

Investigators found that three of the skydivers had open chutes and the wing of the plane was broken off.

Apparently the pilot lost control of the plane. A witness said a wing was torn from the plane, then the crash made a lot of noise. Emergency responders arrived to find the plane on fire 250 meters from Wohnhäusern der Ortschaft Marchovelette, a village and a few of the parachutists were alive.

The plane had been in use since November 1969.

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