Russian airliner down. Severe turbulence?

[mcjohn]

Did I hear the radio right? I came here looking for the thread and I was sure that it would have already been created.......but no, it hasn't. Any info?

 

[wmuflyguy]

You probably heard it right, doesn't mean it is right. The article sounds like they have no idea what really happened. It is sad 39 children were killed.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,20224678-5006301,00.html


RUSSIA will hold a national day of mourning after a passenger plane carrying 170 people crashed in eastern Ukraine overnight (AEST), killing all on board including 39 children and 10 crew.
The plane was on a flight from the southern Russian Black Sea coastal town of Anapa to the northern city of St Petersburg, when it crashed near the Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

The plane had sent out emergency distress calls after hitting severe weather and had declared a fire on board, officials have said. They said the plane had been struck by lightning.

But Russia's chief prosecutor has announced the opening of an inquiry into a possible "violation of safety rules" that may have contributed to the crash, as the deputy chief of St Petersburg airport said the weather was "fine".

Most of the passengers were Russians returning home after holidays, but some were Dutch nationals, reports said.

“Everyone is dead,” the Interfax news agency quoted Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova as saying.

Grieving relatives were preparing to fly from St. Petersburg to the crash site. They have been offered counselling and sedatives at St Petersburg, officials said.

Air traffic control data showed the crew had sharply reduced height after the plane encountered problems. They may then have tried to crash-land but the jet slammed into the ground and exploded, witnesses said.

"(The plane) fell like a leaf. It came into a view, sort of floated around and then hit the ground," a local woman told Russia's NTV television.

Rescuers quickly found the wreckage, about 45km north of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. A thick pall of white smoke still hung in the air as they arrived on the scene.

A burnt-out engine lay in a field and chunks of fuselage sporting Pulkovo's livery jutted out of a clearing.

Emergency crews are now searching for the black box flight recorders from the jet.

'Incomprehensible'

"An SOS was issued from 11,700 metres and then again at 3,000 metres," Anatoly Samoshin, a deputy chairman of the airline, said.

"There was an incomprehensible sentence. We didn't understand what was said. At 3,000 metres, communication ceased."

Aviation officials quoted by Russian news agencies said preliminary information indicated that the plane had encountered stormy weather and severe turbulence.

A spokesman for Ukraine's emergency situations ministry quoted by Interfax Ukraine said that a fire broke out aboard the aircraft as it cruised at 10,000m.

The spokesman, Igor Krol, said the plane's landing gear failed to deploy normally and the aircraft crashed “on its belly”.

Initial fears that the plane had been targeted by terrorists were quickly dispelled.

The plane, a Tupolev 154 tri-engine jet similar in size and construction to a Boeing 727, was operated by Russia's Pulkovo Airlines, one of the country's newer private airlines.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the crash immediately after it occurred, the Kremlin press service said.

Mr Putin has declared Thursday a national day of mourning for the victims in Russia. Ukraine has said it will also hold a day of mourning.

Anapa is a popular resort town on Russia's Black Sea coast and is usually packed with holidaymakers in August.

In May, 113 people died when an Armenian airliner crashed into the Black Sea near the coastal town of Sochi during bad weather. Air traffic controllers later attributed the crash to pilot error.

In July, 127 people died when a Russian airliner flying from Moscow to the Siberian city of Irkutsk veered off the runway after landing and crashed into neighbouring buildings. There had been 203 people on board.

- Reuters and AFP

 

[ReportCanoa]

WTF.

Let's sum up:

The airplane hit severe turbulence in an area of fine weather after violating safety rules. Then, they were struck by lightning out of nowhere which sparked a fire inside the cabin. Following said fire, the airliner floated down like a leaf but the commander forgot to lower the landing gear and everybody died.

 

[mcjohn]

Things that make you go....hmm. Sounded weird on NPR today. WTH is a Tupolev 154?

 

[Green]

If only the landing gear had deployed normally after "falling" 11,700 meters. The Russian media almost seems worse than ours. Of course they haven't concluded pilot error yet. If it was U.S media they probably would have claimed that since the captain forgot to pick up his latest jepp revision in ops it must have been pilot error.

 

[mcjohn]

Whoa. Look at that cockpit. Looks like my grandma's living room:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0213559/M/

 

[ReportCanoa]

Whoa. Look at that cockpit. Looks like my grandma's living room:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0213559/M/

Nice fan. And stylish upholstery.

 

[mcjohn]

What a crazy freakin plane. The more a look at the photos the more I'm intrigued. Check out that landing gear:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1097303/M/

 

[PCL_128]

Whoa. Look at that cockpit. Looks like my grandma's living room:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0213559/M/

Where the heck are the engine instruments?

Looks like we've finally found a flight deck that is actually uglier than the old NWA DC-9s. :smash:

 

[Guitar rocker]

That plane is a real piece.