Crash

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    Names Released in Construction Chopper Crash in Norwegian Mountainscape

    What: Airlift AS Eurocopter AS 350B3 Ecureuil
    Where: between Dalamot and Busete in Hardanger, Hordalan, Norway
    When: July 24, 2011, 21.30
    Who: 5 fatalities
    Why: About to transporting building materials into the mountains during heavy fog, the Airlift to Dagbladet helicopter crashed and caught on fire. The witnesses were part of a crew that had flown in earlier. A crisis team from Eidfjord and Ullensvang is on the scene.

    The Airlift company had a fleet of 17 helicopters.

    Police and fire departments, two air ambulances and at least two Sea King helicopters were engaged after emergency services were called. Three of the deceased were found quickly, and the other two took longer to find. The pilot was also killed in the crash.

    The crash occurred in a remote location far (5 hours walk) from a road. It was so remote that the individual who reported the crash had to travel to a location where there was phone service coverage.

    The state agency Havarikommisjonen is investigating.

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    Grumman American AA-5 Traveler Totaled

    What: Steven Leigh Emerson’s Grumman American AA-5 Traveler
    Where: Yacolt, WAshington
    When: July 5, 2011, 10:40 a.m
    Who: Emerson Steven Leigh (owner) and passenger
    Why: Emerson Steven Leigh was flying his Grumman American AA-5 Traveler when it was totaled when it crashed in Washington. Leigh and his passenger were treated on the scene. The plane had clipped trees, before it crashed into the gravel pit. Fire District 3, North Country Emergency Medical Service, East County Fire and Rescue, Camas Fire Department and Clark County Sheriff’s Office responded. The two were extricated and taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.

    Neither man had serious injuries but the plane was totaled.

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    RusAir Update


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

    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
    Why: Family members of the 44 deceased victims of the RusAir crash attempted to identify the bodies of their loved ones in Petrozavodsk, although visual identification in some cases was impossible. For those victims, DNA identification will be employed.

    The RusAir crash occurred in heavy fog, carrying passengers from the Ukraine, Sweden, Holland, plus four people with dual Russian-U.S. Nationalities. The video below was released on 2011-06-23

    Read More

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    Illushin IL-76 Hits Mountain in Afghanistan


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

    What: Silk Way Airlines Illushin IL-76TD en route from Baku Azerbaijan to Bagram Air Force Base Afghanistan
    Where: Bagram Afghanistan
    When: Jul 6th 2011
    Who: 9 crew
    Why: Carrying 18 tons of automobiles and trailers, the flight took off from Baku and lost radar contact 13.5 miles from Kabul. The plane struck a mountain near Akhshay in the Ghorband/Syahgerd district at 19:40 on Jul 5th. Eight bodies were recovered at 12,500 feet.

    The cause of the crash is unknown. The distict chief of Siagerd stated publicly that there was a big explosion heard when the plane struck the mountain.


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    Float Plane Crashes in Buss Lake Canada

    What: de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver
    Where: Buss Lake Canada
    When: June 30, 2011
    Who: 3 fatalities
    Why: The pilot issued a distress beacon at 1:45 pm in a very remote location in Saskatchewan. The flight was apparently a fishing expedition.

    The plane was spotted in the lake by a pilot who was flying by and heard the signal, and reported the location to Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario, who sent a Hercules aircraft from 435 Squadron in Winnipeg.

    The Hercules was able to land after dropping a chainsaw to rescue techs to clear the brush.

    The float plan crashed in Buss Lake, Saskatchewan. All three aboard, including the pilot, died in the crash. Two search and rescue team members are on site but the cause of the crash is unknown.

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    Pilot Dies in Alaska Crash

    What: Cessna 150 en route from Anchorage to Beluga Lake
    Where: west side of Cook Inlet, Beluga Lake Alaska
    When: June 26, 2011
    Who: 2 aboard, 1 fatality
    Why: Pilot Timothy Hudok was killed in his Cessna three miles west of Beluga Lake. The wreckage was found by Alaskan State Troopers at Triumvirate Glacier after the pilot’s wife had alerted the FAA to the flight being overdue. Passenger Robert Goodwill who survived was airlifted to Providence Alaska Medical center.

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    RussAir Death Toll Rises as 3 Succumb After Rescue

    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 N
    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.

    Initially eight people survived, but on the 21st, a nine year old boy died, a woman died on the 25th, and a man died on the 26th.

    Details on the Tu134 RusAir Crash

    Russian Rusline/RusAir Tupolev Crash Kills 44, 8 Gravely Injured Survive

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    May 2011 Saab Crash in Argentina


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

    What: Sol Linaeas Aereas Saab 340A
    Where: 20 km (12.5 mls) N of Prahuaniyeu, RN Argentina
    When: May 18, 2011
    Who: 3 crew, 19 passengers
    Why: After the last radio contact at 20:50, the aircraft crashed near Los Menucos en-route Neuquen to Comodoro after declaring an emergency and requesting descent out of icing conditions. There were no survivors of the 19 passengers and 3 crew.

    There were newspaper reports of the flight coming down as a fireball, but that has been interpreted as journalistic license. We apologize if our translations reported this incident as a falling fireball when the fire apparently began after ground impact.

    The pilot asked to descend from 5.800 meters to 4.300 due to ice. In the last communication ATC was informed that “the flight was was at 1.000 metres and going back to NQN.”

    Wing Icing and a failure of the inlet deicing system is being considered as responsible. The black boxes were recovered.

    The investigation is ongoing.

    LA JUNTA DE INVESTIGACIONES DE ACCIDENTES DE AVIACIÓN CIVIL YA ESTÁ TRABAJANDO EN EL ACCIDENTE DEL VUELO 5428 DE SOL

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    Details on the Tu134 RusAir Crash


    On board RusAir Flight 9605, there were 9 crew members, and a total of 52 people, 44 of whom died on the scene. At this time of the year, in Petrozavodsk, this is the time of White Nights so the accident occurred in subdued daylight. One died on 22 June 2011.

    Nationalities have been released:
    one Swede
    one from Netherlands
    two Ukranians
    4 with US/Russian citizenship (dual)
    Fatalities include chief designer of Gidropress Sergei Ryzhov, and the deputy CEO and chief designer, Gennady Banyuk, and football ref Vladimir Pettay.

    While on final approach to Petrozavodsk Airport in poor weather and heavy fog, Flight 9605 crashed on the A133 highway, 3900 feet shy of the runway. The weather during the arrival of the flight was deteriorating from OVC005 to OVC003 to fog with zero visibility. The black boxes were recovered. The fire at the crash was extinguished 45 minutes after midnight. The Tu-134 was 31 years old.

    Russia is considering removing the Tu-134 from service.


    Click title to access Karelia plane crash video

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    Quebec Chopper Crash Kills Passenger, Pilot Survives


    Le R44 Raven II Capitale Hélicoptère

    What: Capitale Helicoptere Robinson R44 en route between Quebec City and a small mining camp
    Where: Lake Deborah Quebec
    When: June 24, 2011
    Who: Pilot and passenger
    Why: Pilot, Allan Da Encarnacao was flying the two year old Robinson R44 helicopter in a remote area when the chopper crashed in an area with no cell or radio reception. The pilot had been engaged to fly the passenger to the mining camp.

    The pilot, who is 25 ,survived the crash and was taken to a Quebec City hospital with serious injuries.

    The Capitale Helicoptere flight was near Lake Deborah when the helicopter went down.

    The provincial coroner’s office and Quebec provincial police are investigating

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    The Official’s Unofficial Official Opinion…

    About last tuesday’s Fatal Rusline/RusAir Tupolov crash in Russia, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, mentions that familiar phrase “obvious pilot error” while simultaneously promising he is not pre-emping the findings of the actual investigation. Officials have made spontaneous statements in the past, and lived to regret it, so that point remains to be seen.

    The question of pilot error is questionable. The plane was flying in at too low an angle, (I may have read somewhere that the angle was what was directed by ATC but my source could be mistaken.)

    Flying too low, the landing gear caught on electrical wires which caused an area blackout that included the local town and the airport runway lights. Is being unable to land on a runway without lights something that could be called pilot error? I suppose that remains to be seen, also.

    So the cause is up for grabs: bad weather, technical malfunction or human error. What’s left? We do not know yet. We rely on the investigation to reveal the facts.

    Irrespective of what caused this horrible tragedy, the decedents were fault-free. Rusline and RusAir are responsible for compensating the families who had entrusted the safekeeping of their loved ones into their care.

    There is no amount of money that will bring back the loved ones, but compensation is due.

    For 44 individuals, it was fatal; for 8, it was nearly fatal. I hate to sound too judgmental here, but a government official should probably not make sweeping generalizations about the causes of a tragic event without making it clear what is personal opinion and what is an official statement. Every supposition before the official report is released is guess work. All the conjecturing that will take place between now and when an investigation report is released is just that–conjecture. Some of it will be based on emotional responses; some of it will be based on varying perception of what may or may not be facts. For now, we can offer condolences to the families.

    All we know for certain is that the crash that should not have happen, did, and people’s lives were cut short because of it.

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    Mangalore: Two Pilot Tales, Which is true?

    There are two accounts of the Pilot Alexander Glusicia’s situation prior to the Mangalore-Dubai-Mangalore flight. We wonder which of these versions is true.

    1. Alexander (Zlatko) Glusica was initially not rostered by Air India to fly on the day of the crash— not scheduled to fly till May 23.. His schedule had last minute changes, when Glusica was asked to fly though he was fatigued, having just returned from a Serbian vacation.

    2. Capt Glusica had landed in Mangalore two days in advance, and was plenty rested prior to flying.
    Officials claim the family had opportunity to appear before the Court of Inquiry but they never came.

    PILOT NOT ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED TO FLY

    What: Air India Express Boeing 737-800 en route from Dubai to Mangalore
    Where: Mangalore airport
    When: 6:00 a.m May 22 2010
    Who: Passengers include 23 children, 6 crew, 158 fatalities and 8 survivors

    First report

    Remember Flight 812

    Read More

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    Delta from Atlanta-Emergency Exit after Engine FIre


    Lare photo
    Contact the photographer John E. Jauchler

    What: Delta Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Atlanta to Los Angeles
    Where: Atlanta
    When: Jun 21st 2011
    Who: 174 passengers
    Why: Taking off out of Atlanta, the left hand engine indicated fire.

    The engine was shut down, and pilots made a landing back in Atlanta, ten minutes after takeoff. Passengers exited via emergency slides, resulting in three injuries.

    External examination of the engine reveals charring, and results of a fire inside the cowl.

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    Russian Rusline/RusAir Tupolev Crash Kills 44, 8 Gravely Injured Survive


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

    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
    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.

    Eight passengers were retrieved alive from the wreckage, in conditions ranging from severe (6) medium severe (1), critical grave (1). 44 were killed. The injured were ported to Moscow via IL-76 with a full medical team aboard (15 doctors, 5 psychologists.) One crew member survived, Julia Skvortsova, an attendant, is struggling for survival.

    The fire was under control by 1 a m on June 21. The investigation has just begun, and is cautioning the local papers not to jump the gun assuming runway lighting failure.

    Metars: ULPB 201949Z 10002MPS 2100 RA BR OVC004 15 Q0993 TEMPO 1500 RMK QBB120 QFE741/0988 SC0, 6
    ULPB 201900Z 15001MPS 3000 BR OVC005 15/14 Q0994 NOSIG RMK QBB170 QFE741/0989 SC0.6

    The RusAir site expresses condolences to all who lost loved ones in the tragedy. The local family hotline numbers are:

    8 (495) 626 37 07 ?oskva
    8 (814) 256 16 34 ?etrozavodsk

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    Yemenia Flight 626 Ongoing Investigation

    Some airlines refuse to perform night approaches to the Moroni airport in the Comoros islands on the western coast of Grande Comoros. The airport is a non-redar environment, which means any inbound plane must use an instrument approach.

    That instrument approach was fatal for Flight 626, which crashed on June 30, nearly 2 years ago.

    International Lease Finance Corporation first leased the Airbus 310 to Air Liberté and from September 1999 to Yemenia airlines. In 2007, the plane had failed French inspections and was banned from French airspace. The French passengers aboard the flight had transferred to Flight 626 at Sana’a

    The crash is under investigation.

    Description of the runways of Moroni Airport:

    Length: 2900 meters Runway 02 is equipped with an automatic instrument landing system (ILS) Runway 20 is equipped with VOR-DME system (VHF Omni-directional Range navigation system, and Distance Measuring Equipment)

    work below cited from the Internet Wire, Feb 15, 2011 pNA
    LOS ANGELES, CA, Feb 15, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — For the families of the victims of the Yemenia Airlines flight 626 plane crash on June 30, 2009, a group of California law firms has filed case BC452279 in Los Angeles Superior Court against International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). The Airbus A310 leased by ILFC to Yemenia airlines crashed on approach to Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport, in Moroni, Comoros.

    The case charges both ILFC and the unnamed principals whose negligence contributed to the crash that killed a hundred and fifty-two individuals, and nearly killed the one survivor, 12-year-old Bahia Bakari who was rescued after spending thirteen hours adrift in the Indian Ocean.

    Plaintiffs assert that Yemenia Airlines was “incompetent, unfit, inexperienced and/or reckless in its operation as an air carrier,” which can be ascertained by looking at the airline’s “long and notorious history of poor maintenance on an epic scale, poor pilot training and total lack of compliance with minimum standards of safety at every level of the company from 1999 to the present” (including but not limited to substandard or non-existent SARP, training, inspections, pilot certification and supervision, plane maintenance and airworthiness, and in-house regulations/documentation.) As the leasing agency ILFC is responsible for seeing they lease to responsible airline operators.

    Yemenia Airlines Flight 749 flew from Marseille to Sana’a International Airport, where passengers disembarked from a different airbus, and boarded Flight 626 Airbus A310 (70-ADJ). This second Airbus had avoided European airspace since an inspection in 2007 revealed it as being in noncompliance with ICAO standards.

    “We expect that attorneys representing other families in France will want their clients to join this lawsuit in the United States,” explains George Hatcher, whose Air Crash Consultants firm provides international communications support, investigative, paralegal and claims management services in the case.

    The investigation is ongoing.

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    India’s BJP Chief’s Chartered Chopper Crashes

    What: SAR Aviation Bell 407 helicopter en route from Dehradun, Uttarakhand, to Sahastradhara India
    Where: Ladpur Jungle near Raipur, India
    When: June 19, 2011
    Who: 2 aboard, 0 fatalities
    Why: One of the choppers hired for porting Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari and his family to Sahastradhara crashed, injuring a pilot and an engineer.

    The weather was clear at the time of the crash, and a technical problem is presumed. Two of the three choppers in the party landed safely. The BJP chief and family were not aboard the Bell helicopter at the time of the crash.

    The chopper broke in to pieces on impact and just missed Vigyan Vihar, a residential area. There were no casualties on the ground.

    SAR is Swajas Aviation Company based in Chennai.

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    Croatian Pilots Survive Coyote Crash but not the Fire

    What: Rans S-6 Coyote
    Where: Letjelište Zvekovac, Croatia
    When: June 16, 2011
    Who: 2 fatalities, one injury
    Why: A home built ultralight carrying two passengers on a training exercise crashed at an airfield two hundred feet from the runway between 10:00 and 10:15 pm. The plane fell from the sky, and exploded when it impacted the ground. A local farmer who was on site to cut the grass attempted to come to the aid of the pilots who were calling for help, and was injured by the fire.

    The light aluminum frame burned quickly.

    Apparently Vladimir Bodiš and Marinko Lovri? survived the impact but died in the fire. Bodiš was an Eagle test pilot with a commercial license, and Lovri? taught military pilots although a Croatian newspaper said they found no license for him.

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    Piper Crashes in Australia


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

    What: TRENK Contracting Pty. Ltd. Piper PA-46-310P en route from Doolgunna to Meekatharra
    Where: Meekatharra Airport Australia
    When: June 15, 2011, 9:00 am
    Who: Pilot and passenger
    Why: The pilot and passenger in a piper that was flying from Doolgunna to Meekatharra are both hospitalized today, after crashing short of the Meekatharra runway.

    The plane’s right wing and undercarriage were smashed, and the hood was lost. Meekatharra voluntary brigade reported a fuel spill but nothing that would cause a fire.

    Both pilot and passenger only had minor injuries, and one was already discharged from Meekatharra Hospital. One injured party was flown to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth.

    The crash is under investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau who declined to make a statement.

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    5 Die in Mountainous Crash in Andorra, 1 Burned Crewman Struggles For Survival

    What: Inaer/Helland Helicopter en route to Juclar
    Where: Estany de Juclá – Canillo, Andorra
    When: June 15, 2011
    Who: 6 aboard, 5 fatalities, 1 serious injury
    Why: At 10:30 am, a flight transporting equipment and supplies to Juclar crashed in a mountainous area near the Andorran town of Canillo. Four bodies were immediately being recovered; one was missing, having been ejected from the chopper. One individual survived with serious burns on 70% of his body, and was evacuated to Barcelona by chopper to the Hospital Vall d’Hebrón de Barcelona..

    The helicopter is reported to be of French origin and registered in Spain. Forensic and technical experts are on scene; and the investigation will include Spanish officials, and representatives of the French helicopter buildern.

    A field hospital has been set up to care for the victims’ families whose names were not released but were all reported to be “members of the crew.”

    Inaer, the company which owns the helicopter, stated the accident is due to bad weather and low visibility due to foggy conditions.

    Although the original report lists one as missing, the body of the missing person was found.

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    Bomber Crashes in Chicago Outskirts


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

    What: B-17 bomber (Boeing B-17G-105-VE Flying Fortress)
    Where: Chicago
    When: June 13, 2011, 09:30
    Who: 7 aboard
    Why: A working B-17 bomber which had been in a $3.5 million dollar restoration (Tim Reilly Vintage Aircraft conservators) for fourteen years, took off from Aurora Municipal Airport on a test flight—and caught fire. John Hess, the pilot, made an emergency landing in a cornfield.

    Witnesses described a “cracking noise” before the plane landed in the field, streaming black smoke. Fire fighters were impeded by the muddy cornfield, and the plane burned.

    This weekend the plane was grounded with a leak.

    No one sustained serious injury although one person did have a minor head injury.

    The plane was described as a “national treasure,” and one of a dozen B-17s still operable.

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    Possible Suicide Crash in ultralight in Baru Rumania

    What: Mircea Chira’s Flight Design CTSW
    Where: Baru Romania
    When: June 13 2011
    Who: pilot
    Why: The ultralight took off from Deva airport, and crashed 60 kilometers away in rough topography between Pui and Baru Mare. The plane was loaned by the owner, Mircea Chira, to a businessman with more than 200 flight hours.

    The wreckage was found in a a rocky and forested area in Hunedoara county.

    The 47-year-old German pilot who lived in the Romanian town of Orastie apparently sent a farewell letter which some have interpreted as a suicide note.

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    Small Plane Crash Kills 3

    What: Bellenca 17-31ATC Super Viking en route From Oregon to Wyoming
    Where: 13 miles East of Ukiah, Oregon
    When: June 12, 2011
    Who: 3 aboard
    Why: The small plane crashed after taking off from Dallesport Washington. The wreckage was found near Ukiah in a remote area set in the mountains. The forest service cut a road into the area to make it accessible. According to reports, two bodies were found; the third was missing but also declared a fatality.

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    Narcotics Chopper Crash in Colombia Kills 8, 4 Survive


    What: Colombian Police Bell UH-1 Huey en route from La Salina to Yopal
    Where: La Salina, Casanare Province Colombia
    When: June 11, 2011
    Who: 11 aboard, 8 fatalities
    Why: In Bogata, a police Huey crashed on take-off when it became entangled with electrical cables (high voltage wires). Mechanical failure may have been involved. Seven died on the scene, and one en route.

    The deceased included four helicopter crewmen (Pilot Captain Manuel Niño Nestor Acosta, co-pilot Lt. Fuentes Fabián Meneses and technical sub Leandro Mayor Sanchez) and four members of the police anti-narcotics service (Gutierrez Mendoza Eimer, John Contreras Lobo, John Jewel Delgado, Wilson Germain Medina Correa Delgado and Castillo). Four surviving narcotics officers (Miguel Ochoa Assistant Parrado, Domingo Gamarra Roso, Orlando Castillo and Jose Jaimes Torres Vesga) have been hospitalized.

    The helicopter was completely destroyed.

    The chopper’s registration number was PLC-0731

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    Blue Cypress Lake Cessna Crash Kills Scottish Visitors

    What: N70FT Inc. Cessna 152 en route from Space Coast Aviation at the Merritt Island Airport
    Where: Blue Cypress Lake, Indian River County, FL
    When: June 9 2011
    Who: 2 fatalities, Carly Beattie and Daniel Beattie
    Why: A Cessna 152 chartered by Scottish visitors Carly Beattie and Daniel Beattie crashed in Indian River County southwest blue Cypress Lake. The plane crashed in mud and swampland in Blue Cypress Conservation area; the crash site is north of State Road 60 and east of Florida’s Turnpike, between Fellsmere and Yeehaw Junction, on land owned by the St. John’s River Water Management District. The rural area is home to venomous snakes and alligators, making recovery more difficult.

    Carly was a student pilot, and not allowed to take passengers.

    The plane apparently nosedived engine deep into the mud, splitting the fuselage behind the cockpit. The plane was lost on Thursday, reported Thursday at 11, and not found till Friday. Cell tower analysis helped to determine the location.

    A crane will probably be used to recover the wreckage. An airboat was used to reach the site, and hikers were wearing waist-high boots. The NTSB is investigating.