Thirty six searchers, officials and forensics staff members have been attempting recovery of the remains of the 46 fatalities of the Santa Barbara ATR crash. Vina announced that the two flight data recorders were found. The “black boxes” hold “information on the aircraft’s electronic equipment and the ‘voice data recorder’ that records the conversations the pilots had within the craft and with others.”
Currently the weather is impeding investigations.
Head of the Civil Defense for Merida, Noel Marquez, said locals saw the plane go down 500 kilometers (300 miles) southwest of Caracas, in the Andean region of Coyado del Condor.
The Santa Barbara Airlines flight went missing after departing from Merida at 5:45 pm (2245 GMT).
Rescue teams are in transit, according to Marquez. The plane they are searching for is a French-Italian-made ATR42 twin-engine turbo-prop. It crashed approximately 15,600 feet above sea level and sent no emergency signals prior to its disappearance. When air traffic controllers had been out of contact with flight 518 for hours, alarms went out.
Advance rescue teams traveled toward the Paramo Mifafi valley. The first rescue team left Thursday night for the village of Mucuchies, an hour from Merida but won’t not arrive at the accident location for about three hours because of the steep terrain and near freezing temperatures. Marquez, said “Early tomorrow (Friday) two M17 rescue helicopters will be deployed.” Until then, over a hundred searchers are working on on the ground.
National Civil Defense chief Antonio Rivero said officially that the plane is still listed as missing.The passenger list included a Venezuelan political analyst and relatives of a government official. The pilot had received special training for flying in the Andes and had been employed by Santa Barbara Airlines eight years.
The 20-year-old plane had no record of technical problems but the Aviation Safety Network publishes that the ATR 42 series has been involved in at least 17 accidents its beginnings in 1984. Psychologists have been sent to counsel relatives waiting at the airport.
When a plane goes down in the ocean, the black boxes aboard have enough juice to ping for thirty days. The pingers on flight data recorders AKA “black boxes” last a minimum of 30 days. After 30 days, the devices are still active, but the sound on which searchers hone is expected to die out. The pinger is located by a “pinger locater,” a device that listens for the sound of the black box. It is towed within the search area but it’s listening radius is usually around 2 miles. The pinger’s sound is not very powerful, and the pinger is towed at 3 knots.
After AirFrance 447, legislation was underway to increase the battery life to 90 days. The technology exists, but because implementation of that transition has been slow, EgyptAir MS 804’s pinger battery is expected to expire at around 30 days.
13,000 feet above sea level on the sheer cliff called “Indian Face” by the locals, buffeted by freezing winds, crews rappelled from helicopters to search the wreckage in a dramatic rescue and reconnaissance attempt. No survivors were found.
The flame-charred tail of the twin-engine plane rested on the mountainside amid fuselage and assorted wreckage.
The Merida airport six miles away is hemmed in among mountains in a region notoriously difficult to navigate. Terrain forced searchers to camp a mile away and hike in. Pilots–including the one lost in this flight–receive specialized training to fly through the area.
Venezuela mourns.
Santa Barbara Airlines 518 flight from Mérida to MaiquetÃa had 43 passengers and three crew members on board. Passenger list includes the Major of MucuchÃes Municipality, Mérida state, Alexander Quintero; foreign affairs expert Italo Luongo, and two relatives of the Vice-Minister of Citizens’ Security Tarek Al Aissami.
Six nautical miles from the Alberto Carnevalli Airport, it’s point of departure, the wreck was discovered.
Missing since Thursday, it failed to contact the MaiquetÃa airport air control tower within the 15 minutes after takeoff.
Venezuelan Civil Aeronautics Institute director Ramón Viñas declared in a public statement, “Given the way the airplane crashed, we believe no people survived,”
Officials with the Aeronautics Prosecution Office, physicians, pathologists, and forensic scientists and search and rescue teams are scheduled to begin removal of the aircraft and the victims.
Firefighter Department Sergeant Johnny Paz told local news TV channel Globovisión that the airplane shattered. “The plane crashed at 12,000 feet high against a stone wall in the high plateau.”
Status: Preliminary
Date: 21 FEB 2008
Time: CA 17:00
Type: ATR-42-300
Operator: Santa Bárbara Airlines
Registration: YV1449
C/n / msn: 028
First flight: 1986
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120
Crew: Fatalities: 3 of 3
Passengers: Fatalities: 43 of 43
Total: Fatalities: 46 of 46 (confirmed)
Airplane damage: Written off
Location: ca 10 km NW of Mérida-A Carnevalli Airport (MRD) (Venezuela)
Phase: En route
Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Mérida-A Carnevalli Airport (MRD/SVMD), Venezuela
Destination airport: Caracas-Simón BolÃvar International Airport (CCS/SVMI), Venezuela
Flightnumber: 518
518 departed Mérida (MRD) at 16:59 on a domestic flight to Caracas. Shortly after take-off the airplane flew into the side of a mountain. Weather reported about the time of takeoff (21:30 UTC) was:
SVMD 212100Z 29008KT 9999 SCT013 BKN100 XX/XX Q1018=
SVMD 212200Z 25005KT 9999 BKN013 OVC100 20/12 Q1021=
Film of ATR42 landing at Mérida Airport. Note the surrounding mountains and the fierce wind.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. There are no words to describe the nightmarish war zone quality of the scene on the ground at the Santa Barbara crash site. Most of the photographs can not be shown–it is just that horrifying and heartbreaking. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims.
Yemenia Flight 626 from Paris to Moroni sank into the ocean on June 30, killing 152 people, with one survivor. The black boxes were found Friday.
Just because the black boxes were found does not mean the route to discovery is on track. Apparently there was so much damage to the black boxes, there is going to be trouble recovering the data. That’s not new. In fact, usually when there is trouble reading the black boxes, investigators call in the company that made the boxes, and they are usually able to mine the data in spite of damage.
The BEA, the French aviation authority is handling the investigation. Many of those aboard were French and/or French Comoran.
Did they–are they–sending the boxes to the US? They’d have a better chance of recovery if they do.
