Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior confirmed that a Malaysia Airlines plane en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in the Ukraine near the Hrabovo village at Torez, near Shakhtersk, 25 miles from the Russia border in a location where Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels have been in conflict.

None of the 285 passengers or 15 crew is reported to have survived. It is being reported that the plane was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile but Ukrainian rebels deny involvement. The plane was at 33000 feet when it disappeared from radar.

The wreckage was seen on the ground at 17.10. The plane involved was Boeing 777-200, registration 9M-MRD.

Raw Video

The flight plan has been released:

(FPL-MAS17-IS
-B772/H-SDFGHIJ3J5M1RWXY/LB1D1
-EHAM1000
-N0490F310 ARNEM UL620 SUVOX UZ713 OSN UL980 MOBSA DCT POVEL DCT SUI L980 UTOLU/N0490F330 L980 LDZ M70 BEMBI L980 PEKIT/N0480F350 L980 TAMAK/N0480F350 A87 TIROM/N0490F350 A87 MAMED B449 RANAH L750 ZB G201 BI DCT MURLI DCT TIGER/N0490F370 L333 KKJ L759 PUT R325 VIH A464 DAKUS DCT
-WMKK1137 WMSA WMKP
-EET/EDGG0017 EDWW0023 EDUU0036 EPWW0052 UKLV0135 UKBV0153 UKDV0225 URRV0255 UATT0347 UTAK0411 UTAA0432 UTAV0507 OAKX0518 OPLR0601 OPKR0616 VIDF0631 VABF0725 VECF0747 VYYF0926 VOMF0930 VTBB1013 WMFC1051 REG/9MMRD PBN/A1B1C1D1L1O1S2 SEL/QREJ DOF/140717 RMK/ACASII EQUIPPED)

A NOTAM is a notification issued to pilots before a flight, advising them of circumstances relating to the state of flying.

Did Malaysia not have NOTAM, like the FAA NOTAM below?

B0447/14 (Issued for EISN PART 1 OF 2) – POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION UKRAINE AIRSPACE, PARTICULARLY
OVER
CRIMEA, THE BLACK SEA, AND THE SEA OF AZOV.

DUE TO THE POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICTING AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (ATC)
INSTRUCTIONS FROM UKRAINIAN AND RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES AND FOR THE
RELATED POTENTIAL MISIDENTIFICATION OF CIVIL AIRCRAFT, IRISH
AIRCRAFT OPERATORS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO AVOID, UNTIL FURTHER
NOTICE, THE AIRSPACE OVER CRIMEA, THE BLACK SEA, AND THE SEA OF
AZOV, WITHIN THE FOLLOWING LATERAL LIMITS:
454500N 0345800E-460900N 0360000E-460000N 0370000E-452700N 0364100E-
452242N 0364100E-451824N 0363524E-451442N 0363542E-451218N 0363200E-
450418N 0363418E-445600N 0363700E-443100N 0364000E-424400N 0361600E-
424700N 0340000E-424800N 0304500E-434100N 0303200E-441500N 0302400E-
444600N 0300900E-455400N 0322500E-454900N 0324700E-455400N 0330600E-
455600N 0332700E-455900N 0332900E-THEN ALONG THE CRIMEA BORDER TO
454500N 0345800E.

UNILATERAL ACTION TO ESTABLISH A NEW SIMFEROPOL (URFV) FIR THAT
INCLUDES BOTH UKRAINIAN SOVEREIGN AIRSPACE OVER THE CRIMEAN
PENINSULA AND INTERNATIONAL HIGH SEAS AIRSPACE MANAGED BY UKRAINE
CONTRADICTS INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ICAO ANNEX 11 STANDARDS.
END PART 1 OF 2. 01 JUL 08:45 2014 UNTIL 01 AUG 00:01 2014. CREATED: 01 JUL
08:56 2014
B0447/14 (Issued for EISN PART 2 OF 2) – UKRAINE NOTAM A0528/14, PUBLISHED 28 MAR 20:14 2014, REJECTS NOTAM
A0907/14 PUBLISHED BY THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION. UKRAINE CONTINUES TO
PROVIDE AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES (ATS) IN THE AIRSPACE DESCRIBED IN THE
PARAGRAPH ABOVE AND RUSSIA IS ALSO PROVIDING ATS IN THAT AIRSPACE.
FURTHERMORE, UKRAINE NOTAM A0520/14, PUBLISHED 28 MAR 16:59 2014,
CREATES A PROHIBITED AREA OVER THE CRIMEAN PENINSULA FOR OPERATIONS
BELOW FL290, AND UKRAINE NOTAMS A0524/14 AND A0569/14 CLOSE VARIOUS
ATS ROUTE SEGMENTS. RUSSIAN FEDERATION NOTAM A0912/14 REJECTS AND
DIRECTLY CONFLICTS WITH UKRAINE NOTAMS A0520/14 AND A0524/14.
CONSEQUENTLY, THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR CIVIL AIRCRAFT TO RECEIVE
CONFUSING AND CONFLICTING ATC INSTRUCTIONS WHILE OPERATING IN THE
DISPUTED AIRSPACE.

OPERATIONS ARE NORMAL IN ALL OTHER UKRAINE FIRS.
HOWEVER, IRISH OPERATORS FLYING INTO, OUT OF, OR WITHIN LVOV (UKLV),
KYIV (UKBV), DNEPTROPETROVSK (UKDV), AND ODESSA (UKOV) FIRS, AS WELL
AS AIRSPACE IN SIMFEROPOL (UKFV) FIR THAT IS OUTSIDE THE LATERAL
LIMITS OF THE AIRSPACE OVER CRIMEA, THE BLACK SEA, THE SEA OF AZOV
DESCRIBED IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF THIS NOTAM, SHOULD REVIEW
CURRENT SECURITY/THREAT INFORMATION AND NOTAMS.

THE CONTENT OF THIS NOTAM SAFETY WILL BE RE-EVALUATED BY 30 JUN 2014.
END PART 2 OF 2. 01 JUL 08:45 2014 UNTIL 01 AUG 00:01 2014. CREATED: 01 JUL
08:56 2014

Malaysia Airlines Media Statement:

Media Statement : MH17 Incident

Released at 12:30am/18 July 2014

Malaysia Airlines confirms it received notification from Ukrainian ATC that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 (GMT) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

Flight MH17 operated on a Boeing 777 departed Amsterdam at 12.15pm (Amsterdam local time) and was estimated to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6.10 am (Malaysia local time) the next day.

The flight was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew onboard.

More details to follow.

-end-

The post MH17 Another Malaysia Airlines tragedy of infinite magnitude. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Shot Down in Ukraine first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.