Airliner crashes in Russia; 55 aboard reported dead

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Airliner crashes in Russia; 55 aboard reported dead

By Pierre Meilhan, CNN

(CNN)A Boeing 738 passenger jet crashed as it was landing at the Rostov-on-Don airport in southern Russia, the country's Southern Regional Emergency Center said Saturday.

All people on board have died, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing an official at the emergency center.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/18/europe/russia-plane-crash/

[Jonathan Fairfield]

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Flydubai passenger Boeing from Dubai crashes in Rostov-on-Don

Flydubai flight FZ981 has crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don killing all 59 passengers and crew on board.

The flight was en route from Dubai and crashed during a landing approach.

Air-traffic control and local emergency services confirmed that the Boeing 737-800 jet crashed near the runway during a second approach in conditions of poor visibility.

“According to preliminary data, the Boeing 738 crashed in poor visibility conditions, some 50-100 meters left of the runway,” the source said.

“The plane, according to preliminary data, crashed during the second approach,” the source told Interfax.

Full story: https://www.rt.com/news/336185-boeing-crash-dubai-rostov/

-- RT

[steven100]

'some 50-100 meters left of the runway'

oh dear ! and these are professional pilots ....

[NeverSure]

It depends on how well equipped the airport was. Ever so rarely a plane will run low on fuel and the pilots have little choice but to attempt a landing in bad visibility when the airport doesn't have the latest instrument landing system.

It does sound odd that it was that far off the centerline. I suppose there will be later reports with more info.

RIP.

[Tywais]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall or wind sheer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

[Lukecan]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Looks like a suicide attack by the pilot or a terrorist attack, however lets not rule out a malfunctioned vertical stabilizer.

[NeverSure]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Was there a fireball as it came down?

[NeverSure]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Looks like a suicide attack by the pilot or a terrorist attack, however lets not rule out a malfunctioned vertical stabilizer.

I think you mean horizontal stabilizer. Too soon to speculate.

[Tywais]

Approach and landing pattern also odd or weather avoidance. Flightradar24

[Lukecan]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Looks like a suicide attack by the pilot or a terrorist attack, however lets not rule out a malfunctioned vertical stabilizer.

I think you mean horizontal stabilizer. Too soon to speculate.

I dont think its too soon at all to speculate, there is a video footage, shows clearly its a nosedive. What can cause a nosedive? Faulty horizontal stabilizer, pilot that decideds to commit suicide, or a terrorist who took control of the cockpit. A plane doesnt randomly fall out of the sky like that for nothing.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Lukecan

[smutcakes]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Looks like a suicide attack by the pilot or a terrorist attack, however lets not rule out a malfunctioned vertical stabilizer.

And what do you base that on? have you got any experience at all to base your judgement on?

[Tywais]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

Was there a fireball as it came down?

I suspect the CCTV camera is IR sensitive and flared the landing lights. You can see the reflection of the descent on the road. Not clear though.

[Lukecan]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Looks like a suicide attack by the pilot or a terrorist attack, however lets not rule out a malfunctioned vertical stabilizer.

And what do you base that on? have you got any experience at all to base your judgement on?

I am not an expert by any means, I am basing my assumption on common sense and rules of physics.

A plane does not fall out of the sky like that without foul play being involved. Its not like it hit a mountain, or landed short of the runway.

[smutcakes]

I am not an expert by any means, I am basing my assumption on common sense and rules of physics.

A plane does not fall out of the sky like that without foul play being involved. Its not like it hit a mountain, or landed short of the runway.

You have a better copy of the footage than everyone else?

You say you are not an expert, so how do you know how or what may cause a plane to crash in any fashion?

Anyway, lets see what transpires.

[Inyourendo]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Looks like a suicide attack by the pilot or a terrorist attack, however lets not rule out a malfunctioned vertical stabilizer.

I think the pilot spilt hot coffee on his crotch, hit a pigeon and tried to dodge a weather baloon just before his contact lens popped out while having an asthma attack and knocked out the co-pilot, falling onto the controls and diving into the ground...

[NeverSure]

And what do you base that on? have you got any experience at all to base your judgement on?

I am not an expert by any means, I am basing my assumption on common sense and rules of physics.

A plane does not fall out of the sky like that without foul play being involved. Its not like it hit a mountain, or landed short of the runway.

If a plane's wings stall it will appear to drop like a rock. That happens when the angle of attack of the wings into the air becomes too high. That can happen at any speed. It's too dark to see what's happening with the attitude of the plane.

I still think perhaps there's a fireball on the plane before it crashes but that's just an impression I have.

[Thunder26]

Form the footage you can see that the weather was fine at the moment of the incident. So bad weather as a reason for the crash shouldn't be taken seriously.

[stevenl]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Looks like a suicide attack by the pilot or a terrorist attack, however lets not rule out a malfunctioned vertical stabilizer.

And what do you base that on? have you got any experience at all to base your judgement on?

I am not an expert by any means, I am basing my assumption on common sense and rules of physics.

A plane does not fall out of the sky like that without foul play being involved. Its not like it hit a mountain, or landed short of the runway.

No clue what you're talking about, but still the need to speculate. Just wait until more facts are known.

[Grouse]

Something wrong here

More news to come for sure

Wouldn't rule out terrorist attack

Holding for 2 hours?

Then much too steep descent?

[MZurf]

On the BBC they said the plane had circled the airport for two hours due to strong winds and poor visibility.

[Andaman Al]

'some 50-100 meters left of the runway'

oh dear ! and these are professional pilots ....

Was the Instrument landing system working accurately or correctly? Did they even have an ILS?. They could have been very professional Pilots, you don't know, and you have zero idea what happened. Nuff said.

Form the footage you can see that the weather was fine at the moment of the incident. So bad weather as a reason for the crash shouldn't be taken seriously.

Well there appears to be a very intense thunder storm going on.

[TacoHell]

This video shows it nearly nose diving into the ground. Odd, possible stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wU_19diNM

Looks like a suicide attack by the pilot or a terrorist attack, however lets not rule out a malfunctioned vertical stabilizer.

And what do you base that on? have you got any experience at all to base your judgement on?

I am not an expert by any means,

correct, you are not

[chuckd]

This from CNN. Notice winds were clocked at 97 KPH at the time of the crash.

Did nobody actually read the OP article?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

It said investigators had ruled out terrorism as a cause of the crash at this stage and that weather conditions were most-likely responsible.

The plane's pilot had circled the airport, waiting for the weather to clear before making a second attempt to land, but the aircraft's tail had clipped the runway, the ministry said.

State media reported winds of 97 kph (60 mph) at the time of the crash.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/18/europe/russia-plane-crash/index.html

Edited March 19, 2016 by chuckd

[TacoHell]

ATC

[Thunder26]

Form the footage you can see that the weather was fine at the moment of the incident. So bad weather as a reason for the crash shouldn't be taken seriously.

Well there appears to be a very intense thunder storm going on.

The footage with the thunderstorm has nothing to do with the crash. That's not even Russia.

The visibility during the crash was 6 km with gust winds up to 19 m/s. Experienced pilots shouldn't have a problem landing a plane in these conditions.

[AlexStepashkin]

The footage with the thunderstorm has nothing to do with the crash. That's not even Russia.

The visibility during the crash was 6 km with gust winds up to 19 m/s. Experienced pilots shouldn't have a problem landing a plane in these conditions.

One of the possible reasons:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_shear#Impact_on_passenger_aircraft

[TacoHell]

Form the footage you can see that the weather was fine at the moment of the incident. So bad weather as a reason for the crash shouldn't be taken seriously.

Well there appears to be a very intense thunder storm going on.

The footage with the thunderstorm has nothing to do with the crash. That's not even Russia.

The visibility during the crash was 6 km with gust winds up to 19 m/s. Experienced pilots shouldn't have a problem landing a plane in these conditions.

While I will agree with your initial assertion in regards to weather conditions as stated by ATC, there's a few issues.

1. Nearly all 737-800 pilots hand-fly descents on instrument approaches because of oscillating decent rates up to 3000ft per minute (50 ft per second) mostly for the comfort of passengers.

2. The aircraft performed 1 go around before attempting a second which would indicate deteriorating weather conditions, in which case they may have done an auto pilot approach down to the decision height for another go around. They would have had 2-3 seconds in the worst case.

3. ATC is communicating in both Russian and English on the same frequency (totally legal). There were several planes ahead of them that chose to divert. If those communications were made in Russian, it would be lost in translation creating a dangerous situation. Listen to the audio, its confusing to say the least and couple that with the high workload of landing a plane, well.

Above are pretty realistic scenarios.

I would put my money on a go around too late for whatever reason, a panicked effort to ascend perhaps. stalled the plane.

[Thunder26]

A picture from the crash site.

[Tywais]

Statements here said the speed of the free fall was estimated up to 400kph.