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    Indonesia Crash Victims Found-PT Nusantara Buana Called UnProfessional by Heartbroken Families


    What: PT Nusantara Buana Airlines CASA C-212 North Sumatra and Aceh, 19 year old plane
    Where: Bahorok, Indonesia
    When: Sept 29, 2011
    Who: 15 passengers, 3 crew
    Why: The fate is known of the 18 passengers who went missing on a short Indonesian hop between North Sumatra and Aceh. The flight lost contact and crashed in the jungle canopy.

    Rescuers reached the crash site via helicopter, and all the passengers were reported as casualties. Search and rescue teams found the passengers all strapped in their seats, lifeless.

    Devastated family members accuse the airline of unprofessionalism. THe airline reports that rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather, terrible conditions, mountains and forest.

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    Another United/Continental Emergency over Guam International Airport


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Yunjin Lee – Korea Aero Photo

    What: United/Continental 767-400 en route from Honolulu to Guam
    Where: Guam International Airport
    When: Oct 2, 2011
    Who: 247 passengers
    Why: Would you believe it? On approach to Guam (again) there was a problem with a United/Continental flight.(We’ve reported three or four of them in the past couple of weeks.) This approach to Guam International Airport was aborted because the plane indicated a problem with the landing gear. Pilots circled, as they dealt with the issue. A flyby resolved the question of if the landing gear was down (it was visibly engaged);

    The pilots were able to land safely, fortunately with an indicator malfunction rather than a gear malfunction.

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    UltraLight Takes a Spin on the Ferris Wheel

    What: Superlight Cheetah S200 glider
    Where: Canberra New South Wales
    When: October 1
    Who: 2 aboard.
    Why: During the annual three-day festival in Old Bar, a glider crashed into a ferris wheel. (What are the odds of that?) A nine year old and a thirteen year old were trapped, as well as the pilot (Paul Cox) and passenger of the downed plane. The pilot was disoriented in low visibility. The children were stuck for an hour; the pilot and passenger for three hours. No one had serious injuries.

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    Crash Site Not Reached-Possible Survivors


    What: PT Nusantara Buana Airlines CASA C-212 North Sumatra and Aceh, 19 year old plane
    Where: Bahorok, Indonesia
    When: Sept 29, 2011
    Who: 15 passengers, 3 crew
    Why: After 18 passengers went missing on an Indonesian flight after a flight is reported to have lost contact, and all were reported as casualties, the mother of 27 year old Samsidar Yusni said her daughter called her on the phone Thursday night, crying.

    The PT Nusantara Buana Airlines plane is reported to have crashed in a mountainous area, at a midpoint in its route, in the mountainous Bohorok area about 70 kilometres north-west of Medan. Search and rescue teams have been deployed but did not reach the location of the wreckage, turning back due to difficult terrain and bad weather.

    Thirty hours after the crash, part of the rescue team reported seeing a plane door being opened. After leaving Medan by truck, the trek on foot takes six hours, according to search teams. The plane is apparently mostly intact in the canopy. Chopper flyby photos show wings damaged and nose gone.

    Before nightfall, a helicopter lowered two rescuers by rope about 300 meters yards from the wreckage but they are separated by a ravine. An open door seems to indicate there might be survivors.

    Four children were aboard.

    Nusantara Buana Air is on the EU blacklist.

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    4 Young People Die in Field in Mexico

    What: Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee
    Where: Jesus Ernesto Lozano Airport Chihuahua Mexico
    When: Sept 29, 2011
    Who: 4 aboard, 4 fatalities
    Why: Four people were killed in a plane that crashed in Valle de Allende. The passengers were found beside the plane. The front of the plane was gone.

    Valles Alejandro Medrano, 23, student
    Jasmine Meza Gabriela Nuñez, 20, student
    Marcos Moreno Angel Carrillo, 23, farmer
    Gabriel Edgar Campos Abes, 24 pilot

    They were from Jimenez, and two were students of Centro Cultural Universitario.

    They crashed on land belonging to Capitán Ernesto Lozano, who heard the crash, and arrived in time to find two dead passengers, and two dying.

    The cause of the accident is unknown. Investigators were called about the crash at 10:15 Sept 29, 2011

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    BMI Airbus Loses Cabin Pressure


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Galen Burrows

    What: BMI Airbus A319-100 en route from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Berlin
    Where: Amsterdam
    When: Sep 29th 2011
    Why: The flight was over Amsterdam when the air conditioning system began to lose cabin pressure.

    The flight descended to a safe level and continued on to Berlin. A replacement jet was procured to complete the next leg of the journey.

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    CASA Crashes in Indonesia: Wreckage Pinpointed

    What: PT Nusantara Buana Airlines CASA C-212 North Sumatra and Aceh
    Where: Bahorok, Indonesia
    When: Sept 29, 2011
    Who: 15 passengers, 3 crew
    Why: 18 passengers on an Indonesian flight are missing after a flight is reported to have lost contact with ATC and crashed. The flight took off at 7:18 am, and was to land at 8:00, normally less than one hour. All aboard are being reported as fatalities.

    The pilot was American.

    The PT Nusantara Buana Airlines plane is reported to have crashed in a mountainous area, at a midpoint in its route. Search and rescue teams have been deployed. Though some reports say rescuers have found the wreckage, other reports say the wreckage is in difficult terrain and has not been reached.

    There were 4 children and 14 adults aboard the flight. A local villager reported seeing the plane smoking and circling and passengers are presumed dead, but the report was accompanied by a photo of another crash site, so the source is dubious.

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    Emergency Landing in Multan Pakistan

    What: PIA Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from Islamabad to Karachi
    Where: Multan Pakistan
    When: Sep 27th 2011
    Who: 118 passengers
    Why: While en route, the one working generator failed. The captain announced to the passengers that they were having technical problems.

    The crew diverted to Multan and made a safe landing; the flight landed with subdued lighting. One main generator was completely non-operational.

    Passengers were rebooked on an alternative flight.

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    Air Canada Turbulence Injures 9


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Alevik

    What: Air Canada Airbus A330-300 en route from Toronto to Montreal
    Where: Montreal Canada
    When: Sep 25th 2011
    Who: 257 aboard, 9 injured
    Why: On approach to Montreal, the Air Canada flight encountered turbulence.
    Six members of the cabin crew were injured in the turbulence. Three passengers were injured.

    On landing in Montreal, there was a 105 minute delay, after which the cabin crew could not work. Alternative crew members, presumably worked the next leg of the flight to Brussels

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    Hydraulics Fumes on Aserca Airlines


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Alfonso Sánchez

    What: Aserca Airlines Douglas DC-9-30 en route from Puerto Ordaz to Caracas
    Where: Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela
    When: Sep 26th 2011
    Who: 90 passengers
    Why: Four hours after the Aeropostal hard landing emergency at Puerto Ordaz, another emergency occurred, this one a take-off.

    A Douglas DC-9-30 took off from Puerto Ordaz and filled with smoke.

    The smoke came from a high pressure hydraulic leak. The pilot returned to Puerto Ordaz and made a safe landing with emergency services on standby. No injuries were reported.

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    DCGA Releases Final Investigation of Pawan Hans Helicopter

    Type Dauphin 365 N3
    Nationality: INDIAN
    registration: VT – SOK
    Owner/operator: Pawan Hans Helicopter Ltd.
    PIC: Flying under rule 160
    injuries: Minor
    copilot: Holder of CPL (H)
    injuries: Minor
    Location: Chandigarh Airport
    point of departure: Chandigarh Airport
    point of arrival (intended): Secretariat, Chandigarh
    Date: 16th December, 2010; 04:30 UTC (Approx.)
    passengers: n/a
    Phase: Taxing
    Type: During Taxi the helicopter Toppled toward left side.

    DCGAPawan Hans Final Report

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    Hard Landing Jars Douglas Jet Engines

    What: Aeropostal Douglas DC-9-50 en route from Caracas to Puerto Ordaz
    Where: Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela
    When: Sep 26th 2011
    Who: 125 passengers and 5 crew
    Why: On making a hard landing in Puerto Ordaz, the engine supports were jarred and cracked, severely damaging the plane. No injuries occurred. Passengers disembarked and were ported to the terminal.

    The plane was shut down on the runway. It is a testament to Douglas that the structural integrity of the plane maintained, it was flexible enough to make the landing, and a fire did not rage out of control.

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    DCGA Releases Final Report on JET AIRWAYS 27th Aug’2010

    Type & model Engines Nationality Registration:
    Type:B737-800
    Engines:CFM56-7
    Nationality:Indian
    Registration:VT–JGM
    Owner:M/s Jet Airways, Mumbai
    PIC: ALTP Holder
    1st: CPL Holder
    Other: cabin crew 4,
    One trainee first officer
    Passengers: 139 Minor
    INJURIES:21, Serious:4
    LOCATION: Mumbai Airport
    DATE: 27th Aug?2010,1525 UTC
    INCIDENT TYPE: Serious injuries during evacuation

    https://airflightdisaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/VT-JGM.pdf

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    Nepal: Chopper Crashes; Buddha Air Suspends Flights

    What: Mountain Air Helicopter
    Where: Mallarani Hill, Pyuthan
    When: Sept 25, 2011
    Who: Pilot Kumar Chalise, Shyam GC of Gulmi, Jitendra Jhankri and Hirababu Karki of Kathmandu
    Why: The chopper was on a medical evacuation mission when they had to make an emergency landing.

    Mallarani Hill is in Nepal, the country where the Buddha Air crash occurred yesterday,on the same day as this chopper emergency landing. Another source says the helicopter “made a crash landing at Okharpauwa of Nuwakot due to technical problems.”

    Buddha Air, no connection to Mountain Air other than operating in the same country, suspended domestic flights in mourning for the Buddha Air Crash on Sunday. The victims of the crash will be returned to their families on Monday, Sept 26, 2011, following their autopsy at Tribhuvan University. A committee of 5 has been assigned by Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation to report on the crash within 90 days.

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    Russia: Leaky Flight Turns Back

    I would have to say that this Nordavia (Russia to Turkey) flight had good reason to turn back. I’d be just as alarmed as the flight crew was. From the sound of it, the passengers were lucky if nothing else fell off this plane. I would say that this is one Boeing which was, as they said in the old West, “rode hard and put up wet.” I hope the leaky door seal was the least of their worries.

    MAINTENANCE!

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    Sightseeing Flight atKatmandu ends in Fatal Buddha Air Crash, 19 lost

    What: Buddha Air Beech 1900D performing flight U4-103 from Kathmandu to Kathmandu
    Where: Bisankunarayan Village, Kathmandu
    When: Sep 25th 2011
    Who: 16 passengers and 3 crew
    Why: On the flight were 2 Americans,3 Europeans, 10 Indians, 1 Japanese, and 3 Nepalese crew. The plane encountered foggy, rainy conditions on approach to Katmandu after a sightseeing flight. On approach, the flight lost contact at 7:31 local time, struck the roof of a house, and crashed into Kot Dada Hill.

    Problems with rescue efforts were compounded by heavy rain. Only one individual was retrieved alive by rescue personnel, but that person died.

    The black box has been recovered. A three person investigative team has been commissioned by the Nepalese government.

    The Japanese tourist:
    Uejima Toshinori

    The ten Indian tourists included 8 from Trichy:

    M. Maruthachalam,
    M. Manimaran,
    A.K. Krisunan,
    V.M. Kankasabesan,
    T. Dhansekaran,
    Kattoor Mahalingam,
    Meenakshi Sundaram
    K. Thyagarajan.

    One of these two Indian passengers was employed in Katmandu by the UN
    Pankaj Mehta.
    Chaya Mehta

    The passenger who died in the hospital was a man from Nepal:
    Nirajan Karmacharya

    The flight crew:
    Captain J.B. Tamrakar
    co-pilot Padma Adhikari
    air-hostess Ashmita Adhikari.

    The two Americans:
    Andrew Wade
    Natalie Neilan

    Two passengers from Nepal:
    Jagjan Karmacharya
    Sarda Karmacharya

    WEATHER
    This is a report for Kathmandu Airport, Nepal. The report was made 8 hours and 30 minutes ago, at 11:50 UTC. The wind was blowing at a speed of 4.6 miles per hour (2.1 meters per second) from south/southwest (210°). The temperature was 68 °F (20 °C), with a dew-point at 64 °F (18 °C). The atmospheric pressure was 29.85 inHg (1011 hPa). The relative humidity was 88.3%. There were scattered clouds at a height of 1500 feet (457 meters) and a few cumulonimbus clouds at a height of 2500 feet (762 meters). The sky was overcast from a height of 9000 feet (2743 meter) The overall visibility was 13123 feet (4000 meter). Currently showers of light rain.
    METAR: VNKT 251150Z 21004KT 4000N -SHRA SCT015 FEW025CB OVC090 20/18 Q1011 NOSIG CB TO SE AND NW

    (VFR) (IFR)
    Altimeter: 29.85
    Visibility: 2.5 miles
    Wind: 4 knots (210°)

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    Avoiding Bird Strike Lands Brake Fire


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Tales De Lass Graciano

    What: Azul Linhas Aereas Avion de Transport Regional ATR-72-100 en route from Sao Jose do Rio Preto to Campinas
    Where: Sao Jose do Rio reto, Brazil
    When: Sep 24th 2011
    Who: 67 aboard
    Why: The pilot was on the runway for takeoff and rejected takeoff due to birds on the runway, which resulted in a brake fire.

    Emergency services put out the fire. Passengers were evacuated, resulting in one injured passenger.

    Passengers were booked on alternative flights.

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    Guam Route Emergencies Reflecting Vigilance or Roulette?

    After four emergency landings in Guam in the past couple of weeks, Continental/United made a statement to the press.

    Actually, four emergency landings…that’s not that unusual, is it? Of course, they were all at the same airport, with the same airline. I’ve written here recently about shabby looking, poorly maintained commercial airlines. As frequently as I fly, I really do not want to worry about whether or not a plane is capable of staying in the air. I don’t want to worry about a crew with a crippling pecking order, or pilots who don’t know how to fly. I really don’t want to worry about a broken plane.

    I am always pointing out the need for maintenance to keep a plane in peak running order. Maintenance is important; and also, the pilots tell me that it is crucial to keep an eye on safety directives, and concurrent events which may reveal crucial matters affecting entire fleets, such as operating parts nearing the end of their lifespan, faulty parts, etc…

    So someone should maybe look closely at those flights, and see if there is some factor that applies. Better to have prevention now, beforehand, than have a disaster happen, and lawyers looking into it after it is too late. Have these Guam flights been problematic in the past? Why are there problems now?I might ask how necessary are those flights?

    About those 4 landings, Koji Nagata Director of Corporate Communications said that:

    “We treat any issue aboard our aircraft seriously and our pilots will not hesitate to declare an emergency, when the situation warrants, in ensuring landing priority and returning our passengers and crew safely to the ground as quickly as possible. Typically a declaration of an emergency is precautionary in nature, as was true with both cases in question, and the situations were effectively managed without incident.”

    Sure it would be great to never have emergencies. However. The time to handle an emergency IS BEFORE it turns tragic. Being able to handle emergencies is one safety skill at the top of the list of pilot skills, and one that can not be separated from the other skill that is becoming alarming among pilots (pilots who are losing the ability to fly due to automation.)

    Sometimes factors are not clear. For example, it is true that in some recent tragic situations like the RusAir jet crash I talked about yesterday, there was a problem in the cockpit that prevented the crew from coping with the emergency. Bad flying? Primitive Airport? Insubordinate navigator and Inexperienced pilot? But it all came down to one conclusion: together or not, at that date and time, they were unable to cope with their emergency-bad weather, foggy landing, a plane that is a flying behemoth landing in a primitive airport, and they took down a whole plane full of people with them.

    And as for the four emergency landings Continental/United experienced recently:
    -the air speed indicator (PITOT tubes? like in AF447),
    – -two landing gear situations
    -and in the Guam flight CO-117, altitude equipment failure (another tube?)

    The landing gear situations could reflect bad tires, hydraulics, landing at too fast, or even runway conditions; altitude and airspeed problems could be anything on the system, from the tubes to the electronics. Only detailed examination will reveal if there is some common cause

    The planes landed safely. An emergency landing, a precautionary landing (whatever they want to call it), they handled the emergencies proactively, and landed safely. It is a whole lot better than the alternative.

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    British Airways Says No Means No Flying High While Flying High, Drunk Businessman Does UK Time for Drunk and Disorderly

    Convicted of being drunk on an aircraft, and sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court in west London on September 23 after getting drunk on beer and bourbon with friends in Phoenix, and drunker aboard a British Airways Phoenix-London Boeing, Mortgage consultant Timothy Bradley propositioned a woman, shouted, verbally threatened the pilot, and brandished glass.

    Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson was not amused.

    In business class, no less.

    He was arrested when flight 288 arrived at Heathrow.

    He’s paying for it now, and is one month into his three month sentence.

    I only have one thing to say to Timothy Bradley (who may have to look into another line of work when he gets out.)

    Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

    Mark Twain

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    Arctic Charter Plane Crashes in Yellow Knife

    What: Arctic Sunwest Charters De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter en route from Thor Lake to Great Slave Lake
    Where: Old Town in Yellowknife
    When: Sept 22, 2011, 1:15 pm
    Who: 9 aboard, 2 fatalities
    Why: While en route from Avalon Rare Metals’ Thor Lake mine site, the Arctic Sunwest Charters float plane hit powerlines, a car and the Aurora Geosciences building before it crashed in Yellowknife in a small space between a building and a condo. Ironically, the plane ended up across the street from the Arctic Sunwest office, and just shy of Pilot’s Monument, a rock memorial to bush pilots. Emergency services performed cpr and worked on both pilots but they died at the scene. Seven passengers were retrieved from the plane which was crashed into a building, and were hospitalized. One passenger was airlifted to Edmonton.

    Some witnesses say the plane appeared to lose power. The crash was within meters of the Arctic Sunwest Charters dock on Slave Lake.

    The pilots lost in the crash were Trevor Jonasson, 36, and co-pilot 26 year old Nicole Stacey. Stacey was from Yellow Knife, a master corporal reserve soldier with the Canadian Forces’ Yellowknife Company. Survivors, some of whom are American, included three passengers who were Avalon Rare Metals executives, and three company guests on tour, and a photographer shooting for Up Here magazine. The photographer suffered a broken leg and head trauma. The crash occurred in shouting distance of two survivers of the Nunavut crash of flight 6560 near Resolute Bay in August, and the plane lodged between two buildings, and by the Dancing Moose Cafe and the Geosciences Building .

    No one on the street was injured.

    The US NTSB is assisting the Canadian investigation, and released the following:

    The NTSB dispatched a team of investigators to assist the government of Canada in its investigation of Saturday’s crash of First Air flight 6560, a Boeing 737-200 combi airplane.

    On August 20, 2011 at 12:30 p.m. CDT, the airplane, en route from Yellowknife Airport to Resolute Bay Airport, crashed on approach, East of Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada. There are reportedly twelve fatalities and three survivors.

    The NTSB has designated air safety investigator Joe Sedor as the traveling U.S. Accredited Representative. Accompanying Mr. Sedor will be NTSB Operational Factors and Airworthiness investigators and representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Pratt & Whitney and Boeing.

    The Canadian investigation is in its Field Phase.

    The investigation is being conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which will release all information. The TSB phone number is: (819) 994-8053 and email address is: communications@bst-tsb.gc.ca

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    Continental Overactive Heater

    What: Continental Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Newark,NJ to London
    Where: Newark
    When: Sep 19th 2011
    Why: While en route, a cabin sidewall overheated. The crew shut down the local electricity but not before a passenger was burned by the heater. The passenger was treated for minor injuries.

    The incident occurred over Charlottetown in Canada. The flight crew returned to Newark and made a safe landing. A replacement Boeing completed the flight fourteen hours later.

    So, now I wonder why back in Newark, maintenance deactivated the heater instead of repairing the problem. If it was there in the first place to counter a cold spot, did it not need to be repaired? I am hoping this was just deferred until the plane reached the appropriate hub.

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    Drunken Navigator?

    The Russian Interstate Aviation Committee published their report on the June 20 crash of a RusAir jet at Petrozavodsk Airport.

    The crucial factors included poor visibility due to the fog, poor networking among the crew, and the pilot subordinating himself to a navigator in a “light level of intoxication” but was five years older, with 25 years of flight behind him, with 13,000 hours on Tu-134 flights.

    The body of the navigator had a 0.081% blood-alcohol level and it is conjectured that his pre-flight medical was falsified, because the pulse rate is identical to the rest of the crew.

    Although the fleet is aging, no mechanical flaws are cited in the crash. However, according to the Wall Street Journal

    Instead of the automated system required at Russian airports since 1992, investigators said, it measured visibility with nine signposts, but just two of them were illuminated.

    The onboard alarm went off at an altitude 60 meters, when the plane was 270 meters to the right of the runway, eight seconds before it hit the trees and well past the time the navigator should have warned the pilot or the pilot or co-pilot to independently decide to pull up.

    What: Rusline/Rusair Tupolev TU-134A en route from Moscow to Petrozavodsk
    Where: outskirts of the Besovets village, Petrozavodsk, Russia
    When: Jun 20 2011 at 11:40 pm
    Who: 43 passengers and 9 crew, of whom only a flight attendant and 4 passengers survived.
    Why: On approach to the airport, the plane struck the ground about 2600 feet shy of runway 2. On impact, the plane burst into flame, and skidded into the gardens of a residential area, although missing residences.

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    Quito Runway Overrun


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Ben Wang

    What: Tame Embraer ERJ 190 en route from Loja to Quito Ecuador
    Where: Quito Ecuador
    When: Sep 16th 2011
    Who: 97 passengers, 6 crew
    Why: Landing in Quito in rain halfway down the runway, the jet hydroplaned past the end of the runway to the perimeter wall. Nine hundred feet past the end of the runway.

    There were four injured. The incident is under investigation. The nose section appears to be smashed. The airport does not have collapsing concrete runway arresting systems.

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    Passengers Get the Raw Deal in Kolkata


    What: Mahan Air en route from Phuket to Tehran
    Where: Kolkata airport
    When: September 21, 2011
    Who: 305 passengers (plus another 176 passengers from another flight)
    Why: Mahan Air ran out of gas in the wrong place and the wrong time. The IOC allows the airline a certain amount of credit, when they pay a security deposit, but they were a month overdue.

    The flight landed in Kolkata, the crew expecting to be able to refuel, and they were grounded. (Indian Oil Corporation.) So the airport lounge filled up with passengers from one…no, make that two Mahan Air flights when a second Mahan flight showed up. There was only room for 280, and the passengers were stuck until morning. Some sources say all 305 were stuck in the airplane, not in an overcrowded lounge for thirteen hours. Anyway, was this the experience they bought when they paid for their ticket? Apparently.