George’s Point of View
The first items found that were attributed to the airbus were from somewhere else. However, now a ship’s crew has recovered several bodies, luggage, etc. For all the families sake, I hope they can find everyone. It becomes ever more tragic each day a victim goes unfound.
Days tick by as searchers look for the beacon-small enough to fit in someone’s hand- lost somewhere in the Atlantic.
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Ethiopia Flight 409: The Questions Keep Coming
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Alastair T. GardinerNewspaper reports talk about traces of black soot on the Auxiliary Power Unit. The APU is like your computer backup—similar in theory to the battery backup you may have at home hooked to your computer.
The APU is an auxiliary engine that provided electric power and air to the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 until the main engines began to run.
We ourselves haven’t seen soot, or proof of fire–but we haven’t seen much proof at all, since the report that we keep hearing whispers of has not been made public.
Some facts are known We know, for example, that…
—…the APU is located in the rudder section.
—…the weather was bad.
OLBA 250300Z 06004KT 030V090 5000 VCTS RA FEW020CB BKN026 10/06 Q1014 NOSIGWe have heard rumors which may or may not be unfounded:
—Statements made anonymously by Lebanese airport sources report that Captain Habtamu Benti, the pilot in command (PIC) of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 encountered engine problems, perhaps a flame out, during takeoff, and requested permission to abort the flight and return to Beirut. He was given clearance to do so, but another aircraft, a Etihad Airlines flight from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates was in the process of landing and could have interfered with his emergency maneuvers. *But some information has been made public.
—The rudder found at the plane’s tail was reported to have been sent to France. *
—“One of the five cockpit voice recorders which has a damaged segment will be sent from France’s BEA to a Seattle-based company [Honeywell] to recover that lost segment.” *
So we have even more questions. Where, for example, are the statements of the witnesses? What has France said about the rudder? Has the APU been found, and if so, what is its condition?
Even if ATC sent pilot in to a storm, the pilot also has radar and should have seen the storm and refused the order to take off and/or the heading issued to him. Did his radar fail? Did the APU fail? It might well be that the pilot was misled by a radar system in the plane that was not operating correctly. Unlikely, but, possible. There are still a lot of possibilities we can not rule out. The captain had too many hours logged to take off in to a storm with a plane that he knew was not built to withstand the forces of a cell ahead of him.
Even if there is no immediate report available yet, we look forward to the promised release in March/July. (They say that data collection will continue until March 15 2011, in April the data will be verified/validated by Ethiopian and Lebanese authorities, officials of Boeing and the US National Transport Safety Board by May 30th, with a tentative public release date in July.) When more official information is released, it will help to rule out all gross speculation, so we can focus on possible culpable parties in the chain of events that caused this tragedy.
We shall see.
What: Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 en route from Beirut to Addis Ababa
Where: 2 miles west of the coastal village of Na’ameh.
When: Jan 25 2010
Who: 7 crew 83 passengers
Why: Shortly after taking off in stormy weather and heavy lightning, Lebanese ATC lost contact. The plane disappeared from radar 45 minutes after leaving Beirut. Witnesses on the coast saw the plane as it crashed into the sea. So far 9 bodies have been found by members of the Lebanese army .
Update
Initial reports of 7 survivors, became 9 bodies, and now the count has reached 21 bodies.
The site of the crash is 2 miles west of the coastal village of Na’ameh.
Fifty-four passengers were Lebanese, 22 Ethiopian, two were British and there were also Canadian, Russian, French, Iraqi and Syrian nationals.
A Cypriot police helicopter has joined the Lebanese army in the search for survivors, and two U.N. helicopters are on the scene.
Ethiopian Airlines is state owned, and has a standing order of 10 of Boeing’s Next-Generation 737-800s
—ET-409 Incident – 25 January, 2010
Ethiopian flight ET-409 was scheduled to operate from Beirut to Addis Ababa on January 25th lost contact with the Lebanese air controllers shortly after take off. The flight departed at 02:35 Lebanese time from Beirut International Airport.
Flight ET-409 carried 82 passenger plus 8 Ethiopian Crew members. Out of the total passengers 23 were Ethiopian, 51 Lebanese, 1 Turkish, 1 French, 2 British, 1 Russian, 1 Canadian, 1 Syrian, 1 Iraqi nationals.
Strobe flashesThe NTSB Sends Two Alerts on the 787 Post Flight Fire in Boston
First, it does appear that there were two different 787 events at Logan. One was a fire that came about due to overheating and explosion of a battery in a lower bay. Both of the reports below refer to the same event, which grounded the plane. The second event was either a fuel leak or overfueling, which only delayed and did not cancel a different flight four hours while the problem was fixed.
My criticism is that it APPEARS we are moving too quickly because what is surfacing are minor events that could lead to major events. A battery fire could cause a plane crash, especially on a transatlantic flight. I would like to feel confident that Boeing will easily handle any battery or electrical problem as one of those new plane new plane glitches that one might consider teething. And if this problem “dogs” Boeing shares (as one headline indicates), then better that it dog shares than kill 400 people.
Here are the NTSB press releases regarding the Dreamliner Battery Fire. The first one…
NTSB INVESTIGATORS LOOKING INTO BOEING 787 SMOKE EVENT IN BOSTON
Jan. 7, 2013
WASHINGTON– Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are gathering information regarding reports of smoke aboard a Boeing 787 at Boston’s Logan Airport today.The Japan Airlines 787 was on the ground and empty of passengers at the time of the incident.
The NTSB has dispatched an investigator to Boston. Based on a review of the factual information gathered, the NTSB will determine the extent of its investigation.
and the second one…
NTSB PROVIDES INVESTIGATIVE UPDATE ON BOEING 787 FIRE INCIDENT IN BOSTON
Jan. 8, 2013
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board today released an update on its formal investigation of Monday’s fire aboard a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 at Logan International Airport in Boston. There were no passengers or crew on board at the time. One firefighter received minor injuries.In addition to an investigator already on scene who visually inspected the airplane last night, the NTSB has sent two additional investigators to Boston and formed investigative groups to look at airworthiness and fire and airport emergency response. Senior Air Safety Investigator David Helson has been designated as the investigator-in-charge.
Parties to the investigation are the Federal Aviation Administration and The Boeing Company. In addition, the Japan Transport Safety Board has appointed an accredited representative and Japan Airlines will assist the JTSB as technical advisors.
Initial investigative findings include:
• The NTSB investigator on scene found that the auxiliary power unit battery had severe fire damage. Thermal damage to the surrounding structure and components is confined to the area immediately near the APU battery rack (within about 20 inches) in the aft electronics bay.
• Preliminary reports from Japan Airlines representatives indicate that airplane maintenance and cleaning personnel were on the airplane with the APU in operation just prior to the detection of smoke in the cabin and that Boston Logan Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting were contacted.
• Rescue and fire personnel and equipment responded to the airplane and detected a fire in the electronics and equipment bay near the APU battery box. Initial reports indicate that the fire was extinguished about 40 minutes after arrival of the first rescue and fire personnel. One firefighter received minor injuries.
Here is the 2nd NTSB Press Release:
Cost of Aviation
If you want to see the most current mappings of the ash, here’s the British meteorological service site.
As I sit here in a foreign country separated from my home by an ocean and a sky full of volcanic ash they are saying may disrupt trans-atlantic aviation for the next six months, and wondering when I will get home, I read the chilling words of a American scrivener remembering the recent flight that wiped out the Polish “politocracy.”
Michael White: “An airplane is a hollow bullet filled with humans lives, shot from a gun we call an airport. Should it impact with the ground other than according to the dictates of precise technology, its content perishes.”
Those of us who fly so often take for granted that flight is a right, but every so often, Nature reminds us we are not birds, we are Icarus, daring to fly too close to the sun. We are creatures of the earth. We have no wings beyond those our imagination have wrought.
Who among us can say it is worth the cost, especially those people I work with every day who have lost their nearest and dearest.
And yet, how we have flown.
New Mexico Following Alaska’s Financial Precedent
Think of all of the agencies maintaining their own fleets.Sarah Palin sold Alaska’s state jet. Florida sold a Cessa Citation Bravo, and Michigan sold three planes. Now New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez fulfilled her campaign promise to sell the New Mexico’s business jet.
New Mexico purchased the Cessna Citation Bravo in 2005 for 5.5 million and now sold it to a couple in Alaska, trading an annual $500,000 bill for 2.51 million in one-time income. New Mexico still has two planes: a 2006 Beechcraft King Air and a 1983 Gulfstream Turbo Commander, both five-seat turboprops.
We suspect pilots are on the fence about this, as a state-owned “personal air taxi” offers some kind of part or full-time employment for maintainers and pilots. The jet cost New Mexico $500,000 annually in maintenance and fuel. How much will alternatives cost? (The state’s twin-engine King Air costs half as much to operate as the jet.)
Not maintaining a state business jet (at $2,852 per hour) does leave cost effective alternatives such as commercial flight, chartered flight or alternative transport via automobile or rail.
Are there agencies which have their own State Bus? or perhaps a Nissan LEAF, ForTwo, or Prius?
Comoros Black boxes found
View larger photo here
Contact photographer Iam Lim
What: Yemenia Air Airbus 310 flight 626 lost at sea en route to MoroniGeorge’s Point of View
What an amazing coincidence…that the news that the black boxes from the Comoros crash are recovered crosses the internet on practically the same day that they throw in the towel for the search for the Air France black boxes.
But the news is out:
They were detected on July 23rd and now, Comores Officials have reported on Aug 28th, that both black boxes have been recovered.
I am delighted with the wonderful news and am as excited as everyone to learn what’s inside. Now maybe they can re-allocate their resources to recommence the search for the black boxes of Air France Flight 447.
