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Silk Air: Accidental or Homicide?


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Contact photographer Vernon

What: SilkAir Boeing 737-36N en route from Jakarta, Indonesia to Singapore
Where: Musi River
When: Dec 19, 1997
Who: 97 passengers, 7 crew
Why: SilkAir Flight 185, a Boeing 737-36N, was en route from Jakarta, Indonesia to Singapore, and crashed on 19 December 1997 after abruptly plunging into the Musi River from its 35,000 feet cruise altitude, killing all 97 passengers and 7 crew on board. For no apparent reason, minutes before the crash, the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder stopped recording, at different times, then the aircraft departed level flight and entered a steep vertical dive. All 104 people on board died in the crash. The pilot was deep in debt and had taken out an insurance policy on himself.

Near Total loss of Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183
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Near Total loss of Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183


Tajikistan Airlines (Tajik Air) Flight 3183 crashed on 15 December 1997 on approach to Sharjah Airport in the United Arab Emirates. Only the navigator, Sergei Petrov, survived of a crew of seven and seventy-nine passengers. The Tupelov crashed into the desert eight miles east of the airport. The controlled flight into terrain originated from Dushanbe Airport Tajikistan. Situational awareness may have been a factor.

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Korean Air Crash at Nimitz Hill, Guam


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Contact photographer Michel Gilliand

What: Korean Air Boeing 747-3B5B (747-300) en route from Seoul, Korea to Agana, Guam.
Where: Nimitz Hill, Guam
When: August 6, 1997
Who: 2 pilots, 1 flight engineer, 14 flight attendants, and 237 passengers
Why: On August 6, 1997, about 0142:26 Guam local time, Korean Air flight 801, a Boeing 747-3B5B (747-300), crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam. Flight 801 departed from Kimpo International Airport, Seoul, Korea, with 2 pilots, 1 flight engineer, 14 flight attendants, and 237 passengers on board. The airplane had been cleared to land on runway 6 Left at A.B. Won Guam International Airport, Agana, Guam, and crashed into high terrain about 3 miles SW of the airport. 228 were killed, and 23 passengers and 3 flight attendants survived the accident with serious injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and post crash fire. Flight 801 was operating in U.S. airspace as a regularly scheduled international passenger service flight. The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause to be the captain’s failure to adequately brief and execute the nonprecision approach and the first officer’s and flight engineer’s failure to effectively monitor and cross-check the captain’s execution of the approach. Contributing to these failures were the captain’s fatigue and Korean Air’s inadequate flight crew training.

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Tam Crash on Take-off Pilot Error


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Contact photographer Normando Carvalho Jr.

What: Tam Fokker 100 en route from Sao Paulo to Rio
Where: residential area 1 mile from Sao Paulo
When: October 31 1996
Who: 89 passengers,6 crew and 2 on the ground died.
Why: Summary: On October 31 1996, about 0545 UTC a Fokker 100, registration PT-MRK, operating as TAM Airlines flight. 402, a shuttle between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, crashed shortly after takeoff from the Congonhas Airport, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The aircraft was destroyed; 89 passengers,6 crew and 2 on the ground died. 3 passengers were Americans .Witnesses reported the aircraft failed to gain altitude after take-off, collided with a tall building and crashed into residential area 1 mile from the end of the departure runway. Pilot error, unfamiliarity with the craft was judged to be partially responsible.

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AeroPeru Crashes in Pacific


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Contact photographer JetPix

What: Aeroperú Boeing 757-23A en route from Lima, Peru to Santiago Chile.
Where: 73 km (45.6 mls) NW off Lima, Peru in the Pacific Ocean
When: October 2, 1996
Who: 9 crew members, 61 passengers died
Why: On October 2, 1996, Aeroperú Boeing 757 en route from Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima, Peru (LIM), to Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile, crashed on October 2, 1996. Shortly after takeoff the crew discovered that their instrumentation was behaving erratically. They were receiving contradictory serial emergency messages from the onboard computer, such as rudder ratio, mach speed trim, overspeed, underspeed and flying too low. The crew declared an emergency and requested an immediate return to the airport. they experienced multiple stalls resulting in rapid loss of altitude with no corresponding altimeter changes. While the altimeter indicated an altitude of approximately 9,700 feet, but the aircraft’s true altitude was much closer to the water.

The air traffic controller sent a Boeing 707 to help guide the 757 to land, but before the 707 reached them, the 757’s wingtip struck the water approximately twenty-five minutes after emergency declaration. The pilots realized the true altitude of the airliner, struggled and was briefly airborne again for twenty seconds, but then crashed inverted into the water. All nine crew members and sixty-one passengers died.

In Peru, Eleuterio Chacaliaza was sentenced to negligent homicide for a piece of masking tape accidentally left over the static ports (on the bottom side of the fuselage) after cleaning the aircraft.
Those aboard:
1.- José Luis Bovadilla Fernández (México)
2.- Jaime Brito Guzmán (Chile)
3.- Abraham Broidman (México)
4.- Mario Cayetano Bramont (Perú)
5.- Eugenio Campos (México)
6.- María Carrasco Flórez Aráoz (Chile)
7.- Guillermo Serveto (Gran Bretaña)
8.- Manuel Chang Ching (Perú)
9.- Fabio Chaparro Beltrán (Colombia)
10.- Víctor Choe Gallardo (Perú)
11.- Javier Cuéllar Cantú (Perú)
12.- Barbara Delano (Chile)
13.- James Degeren (Chile)
14.- Miguel Degeren (Chile)
15.- Juan Huerdo (México)
16.- Galen Canusev (Estados Unidos)
17.- Nis Linden (Estados Unidos).
18.- Dani Manzur (Chile)
19.- Patricio Marambio (Chile)
20.- Luis Morán Morante (Perú)
21.- Raúl Peña Rojas (Chile)
22.- Guillermo Quiroz (Perú)
23.- Juan Alvarado Allende (Chile), deportado a su país por poseer documentación falsa bajo el nombre de Gerardo Sánchez, de Venezuela
24.- Eduardo Smith Inope (Perú)
25.- Denis Trial (Estados Unidos)
26.- Kelen Vaisman (Estados Unidos)
27.- Janet Vallejos Robinson (Perú)
28.- Luis Vergara Bernales (Perú)
29.- Pedro Villena Hidalgo (Perú)
30.- Genaro Mar (México). Personas que se embarcaron en Quito:
1.- Renato Cisotto (Italia)
2.- Hernán Barriga Guzmán (Chile)
3.- Isidro Huarache (Perú)
4.- Juan Hurache (Perú)
5.- Mario Jiménez Borja (Ecuador)
6.- Arístides Noboa (Ecuador)
7.- Mark Bram (Gran Bretaña)
8.- Lan Lock (Nueva Zelandia)
9.- Rodrigo Fernández Ruiz (España)
10.- Tiziana Tamaro (Italia).
Personas en tránsito de Miami a Santiago (todos chilenos)
1.- Juan Awad
2.- Mario Awad
3.- Carolina Acevedo
4.- Carmen Arancibia
5.- Daniel Boleli
6.- Sara Díaz
7.- Jaime Duque del Río
8.- Emir Agana
9.- Ricardo Alex
10.- Martín Sadued
11.- María Eterpuer
12.- Luis Medina
13.- Eduardo Román
14.- Elena Saavedra
15.- María Saavedra
16.- Carlos Serán
17.- Alfonso Uldurraga
18.- Carmen Concha
19.- Ana Concha
20.- Jimena Paya
21.- Martha Contreras.
Tripulación:
1.- Capitán Erick Shereiber, piloto.
2.- David Fernández, copiloto.
3.- María Angela Casabo
4.- Carolina López
5.- Roxana Mino
6.- Ana Contreras
7.- Gema Brussone
8.- Silvia Barreto
9.- Nancy Fernández.

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TWA Flight 800


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Contact photographer Frank C. Duarte Jr.

What: TWA Boeing 747-131 en route from NY to Paris
Where: East Moriches, New York
When: July 17, 1996
Who: 2 pilots, 2 flight engineers, 14 flight attendants, and 212 passengers
Why: On July 17, 1996, Trans World Airlines, Inc. Boeing 747-131, N93119, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, en route from New York to Paris, France. The flight departed JFK about 2019, with 2 pilots, 2 flight engineers, 14 flight attendants, and 212 passengers on board. All were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. Investigation revealed that the crash occurred as the result of a fuel/air explosion in the airplane’s center wing fuel tank .Ignition energy for the CWT explosion most likely entered the CWT through the fuel quantity indication system wiring short circuit. There was no evidence of a missile or bomb.

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Faucett Crash in Peru


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Contact photographer AirNikon Collection-Pima Air and Space Museum

What: Faucett Boeing 737-222 en route from Lima to Arequipa Peru
Where: Mountainous terrain 2.5 miles west of runway 9
When: February 29, 1996
Who: 117 passengers, 2 flight crew, 4 cabin crew
Why: Faucett flight 251, Boeing 737-222 crashed about 2015 eastern standard time on VOR?DME approach to runway 9 at Rodriguez Ballon Airport, Arequipa Peru. The flight was en route from Lima International and had 117 passengers, 2 flught crew, 4 cabin crew, all fatally injured. The flight crew made no indication to problems to ATC and impactd near the top of a ridge 2.5 miles west of runway 9 The main fuselage carried over the initial ridge and impacted ner the top of the second ridge 1/3 mile east. The empennage fell to an arroyo in between. Factors that contributed to the crash were poor night time visibility, darkness and the heavy fog.

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Birgenair: Historical Fatality


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Contact Photographer Gerhard Plomitzer

What: Birgenair Boeing 757-200 en route from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic to Frankfurt Germany
Where: Puerto Plata
When: February 6th 1996
Who: 176 passengers 13 crew
Why: The plane had been parked for a month in Puerto Plata. After takeoff, disagreeing airspeeds resulted in simultaneous stall and overspeed warnings that precipitated a crash that killed 176 passengers and 13 crew fifteen minutes after takeoff.

A black and yellow mud dauber wasp was found lodged in the tube.

George’s Point of View

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Aeroflot Flight 528

Aeroflot Flight 528 was a Yakovlev 40 that crashed on June 19, 1987 while flying from Odessa to Berdyansk with five crew and twenty-four passengers. In the crash, 2 crew died and 6 passengers. The aircraft approached with a tailwind. in heavy rain. A go-around was aborted. The plane overran the runway, struck obstacles and caught fire. Among the multiple causes of the crash was the decision to land at Berdyansk in bad weather and poor visibility. Poor human resource management at the control tower and lack of data from the weather station were contributing factors