Airliner crashes in Russia; 55 aboard reported dead

[neverdie]

"The Rostov regions emergency ministry said that the planes wing hit the ground on its second attempt to land and burst into flames."

I find this one a bit hard to accept considering how steep the descent was...

"Some reports appeared to suggest the plane had been ascending before experiencing a sudden fall."

I could accept this one - a stall.

It will be interesting to learn what they find in the black boxes...

It is well known amongst 737 drivers that it can be a bit of a handful in the moments a 'Go Around' is initiated. The 737 has a tendency to pitch up, but this is well known. Clearly the crew missed the first approach and successfully completed it's first TOGA manoeuvre, however it was then placed into a holding pattern for almost 2 hours. We know it only had 60 odd souls onboard and one can assume after 6 odd hours of flight light fuel loads.. ....perhaps cargo was light too, maybe all this exhasurbated a pitch up during the 2nd missed approach?

How fatigued were the crew? What pressures do flydubai place on their flight crew to land, why didn't they fly to alternate?

We also know the weather was poor, conditions were less than favourable.

Perhaps this is another incident where a B737 has got away from it's crew when conducting their 2nd go around for the night, the data seems to indicate it climbed from approx 1500 to 4000 before rapidly descending. Perhaps it pitched up to far, speed decreased and stalled? I can't remember which crash occurred not so long ago for this exact reason, I'm sure you probably remember.

Perhaps spatial disorientation is a factor and maybe the reason why the over pitch wasn't recognised, dark stormy night wouldn't help in that respect.

What about fuel starvation as the aircraft over pitched ? Can happen with a/c with light fuel loads. Were the pilots left half hamstrung by an a/c that wasn't responding correctly at the exact where their a/c was over pitching and their speed decreasing? Stuff nightmares are made of.

All speculation of course and I'm sure the flight recorders will answer some of these questions.

Sad indeed.

[Srikcir]

Donetsk International Airport in Ukraine only about 145 km northwest of Rost-on-Don would have been a good alternate landing field.

Unfortunately, Russian pro-separatists had previously destroyed the airfield. A sad irony for the Russian passengers.

[neverdie]

I'm just seeing news that Russian Officials have opened a Criminal Investigation into the crash.

They are also saying they're ruling out terrorism.

I was reading with interest that there was a lack of a creater at the crash scene and the only photo I've seen depicted millions of small bits of debris.

Under stably, there's not much information at this point in time.

Fortunate it came down within the bounds of the airport and not over highly populated residential area, could of been so much worse.

[sirineou]

If wind sheer is confirmed as the tower allegedly warned the pilot about violent weather, the cause was stupidly on the part of a irresponsible and negligent Captain! After examining the wreckage, it is my opinion wind sheer evidence is clear with that massive devastation at a low altitude. The airline better start opening their purse strings as if the above is true the proximate cause is pilot error. An act of God will be argued, but the fact he had made two attempts combined with the massive destruction this airline will be in trouble. He was probably in a hurry, but should have practiced avoidance. This is a perfect example why I no longer fly and love the BTS!

too early to speculate, perhaps the plane did not have enough fuel to attempt an alternate destination,or continue to hold, or he had enough fuel to continue to hold for a short length of time but weather conditions were deteriorating an an attempt now was more advisable than a later one. Or he thought he had a window. or was advised he had a window,

too many perhaps.

[neverdie]

Look at the debris field. Massive impact.

No doubt about it, the ground is hard. Their deaths would have been painless, the seconds of sheer terror leading up to it not so nice.

[neverdie]

Donetsk International Airport in Ukraine only about 145 km northwest of Rost-on-Don would have been a good alternate landing field.

Unfortunately, Russian pro-separatists had previously destroyed the airfield. A sad irony for the Russian passengers.

I hope they are proud of themselves, what a sad twist. I wonder if icing had something to do with this, it can certainly assist an a/c to stall at speeds higher than it usually would and would certainly increase the difficulty in recover especially from 4000 feet.......I wonder what the temps were during the moments leading up to this. Edited March 20, 2016 by neverdie

[khaosai]

Thanks, I find it astounding to hear that besides listening and interpreting their instruments and other information, e.g. from flight control, they also have to perform, admittedly fairly simple but still, calculations that seem to be easy to avoid.

They don't. Modern aircraft can display both.

So the previous assessment that the pilots have to recalculate information given is incorrect.

The aircraft has a meters switch. You press that to display metres on top of the altimeter display on the primary flight display.

The main altimeter indication on the primary flight display will display your altitude in feet.

On the mode control panel a pilot will set the altitude in feet.

On the charts there is a metres to feet conversion table.

The workload is increased when flying in a region using the metric system.

[Tywais]

Definitely having a rough ride before the very fast descent. Flightradar24 show the aircraft descending to an altitude of 1550 feet when it began to climb again at 3 NM (5,6 km) short of the runway. It reached about 3975 feet until the airplane entered a steep descent before impacting airport terrain. Report & photos - Aviation Safety

[Galactus]

videos show the plane in flames before impact. so how come? i am no aviation expert but sure a stall does not result on a fire nor strong winds.

hope they check this accident thoroughly.

RIP for the deceased and condolences and patience for the families. sad to hear about the loss of kids as always:(

Edited March 21, 2016 by Galactus