New Russian Jetliner Disappears On Promo Flight

[bfdd]

sucks, my condolences to those who died.

 

[StinkyPinky]

SAR crews have found the crash site, see photo below. It looks like the aircraft hit a very steep face of a mountain, virtually disintegrating on impact. If they were flying in clouds and the terrain avoidance systems did not warn them, perhaps they never knew what was going to happen. Or they gained visual of the mountain side a split second or two before they hit. Pure conjecture, still way too early to know anything for sure.

Wow, they had no chance.

 

[Rastus]

I don't think commercial aircraft have terrain avoidance gear in them. They are just supposed to stay out of areas where that stuff is needed.

 

[Jimbo]

I don't think commercial aircraft have terrain avoidance gear in them. They are just supposed to stay out of areas where that stuff is needed.

Over 95% of commercial aircraft have Terrain Awareness and Warning systems in them. An aircraft of this type and size would have undoubtedly had TAWs.

 

[davmat787]

I don't think commercial aircraft have terrain avoidance gear in them. They are just supposed to stay out of areas where that stuff is needed.

The type of aircraft that crashed has a Thales TCAS in it, see post #14. Note that terrain avoidance systems are not the same as systems for nap of the earth flying that are in some military aircraft.

 

[senseamp]

I am guessing the pilots were showing off. Sukhoi test pilots used to flying fighter jets in air shows. Russians love to show foreingers "how its done." I am guessing they planned the demonstration of the jets maneuverability in mountain terrain ahead of time and didn't alter when faced with increment weather conditions in unfamiliar terrain. They reportedly asked to descend from 10000 to 6000 feet, which is crazy in mountain terrain like that in low visibility. I am pretty sure its pilot error and overconfidence.

 

[Pulsar]

I am guessing the pilots were showing off. Sukhoi test pilots used to flying fighter jets in air shows. Russians love to show foreingers "how its done." I am guessing they planned the demonstration of the jets maneuverability in mountain terrain ahead of time and didn't alter when faced with increment weather conditions in unfamiliar terrain. They reportedly asked to descend from 10000 to 6000 feet, which is crazy in mountain terrain like that in low visibility. I am pretty sure its pilot error and overconfidence.

Uh yeah.... thanks for that expert opinion. You'll forgive us if we wait for the official report to jump to any sort of conclusion, right?

What a sad situation. Words don't do it justice.

 

[senseamp]

Uh yeah.... thanks for that expert opinion. You'll forgive us if we wait for the official report to jump to any sort of conclusion, right?

What a sad situation. Words don't do it justice.

There wasn't any reason to request to descend to volcano, aside from doing a flyby to impress the passengers. This was a demonstration flight, there is some theater involved.

 

[Perknose]

Wreckage found. It doesn't look like there were any survivors.

The wreckage of a demonstration airplane for a Russian-made passenger jet that vanished on Wednesday during a 50-minute flight over Indonesia was found on Thursday on the side of a mountain volcano shrouded in mist.

[...]

There were no signs of survivors among the 50 people, including crew members, journalists and airline representatives, aboard the plane, the Sukhoi Superjet 100, a spokesman for Indonesia’s Search and Rescue National Agency told The Associated Press.

[...]

The Superjet took off from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon for its second demonstration flight of the day. It disappeared from radar screens and lost contact with ground controllers about 20 minutes later after requesting permission to descend to 6,000 feet from 10,000 feet over the mountainous terrain of West Java.

It was not clear why the Russian pilot and co-pilot asked to descend or if they got the go-ahead. Communication between the pilots and air traffic control are being reviewed, The A.P. reported, but the tapes will not be made public immediately.

A resident near Mount Salak, named Juanda, said he heard the sound of a rumbling engine on Wednesday and saw a plane that seemed to veering to one side. “Salak Mountain was not visible because a lot of dark fog,” he told local media.

The mountain frequently experiences bad weather and heavy fog.

This prevented search parties from locating the plane on Wednesday. When the weather cleared on Thursday, search helicopters spotted the wreckage on the side of a cliff about 5,000 feet up Mount Salak, Maj. Ali Umri Lubis of the Indonesian Air Force told MetroTV.

 

[werepossum]

SAR crews have found the crash site, see photo below. It looks like the aircraft hit a very steep face of a mountain, virtually disintegrating on impact. If they were flying in clouds and the terrain avoidance systems did not warn them, perhaps they never knew what was going to happen. Or they gained visual of the mountain side a split second or two before they hit. Pure conjecture, still way too early to know anything for sure.

Dang, SOOO close to clearing that bluff and 50 people died! So sad.

 

[hal2kilo]

Looks like finding the Black (acutally orange) box is going to require some people with techincal climbing skills.

 

[davmat787]

On an aviation website they are talking about this photo, taken shortly before the fatal flight departed. It apparently shows the terrain avoidance system to be turned off. I am curious if it is normal to switch the terrain avoidance system on and off between flights, or is it normal to leave it on all the time?

Also, the impact apparently caused an avalanche of dirt and vegetation, burying much of the debris at the bottom of that steep mountain face pictured above. The few bodies found so far have been "fragments" due to the speed of the impact in the words of the SAR crews.

 

[Craig234]

On an aviation website they are talking about this photo, taken shortly before the fatal flight departed. It apparently shows the terrain avoidance system to be turned off. I am curious if it is normal to switch the terrain avoidance system on and off between flights, or is it normal to leave it on all the time?

Also, the impact apparently caused an avalanche of dirt and vegetation, burying much of the debris at the bottom of that steep mountain face pictured above. The few bodies found so far have been "fragments" due to the speed of the impact in the words of the SAR crews.

I'm a bit surprised the Russian airliner's dash is in English?

 

[thebomb]

Here's a breakdown of the origins of the components from a Russian newspaper:

 

[senseamp]

The pilot requested to descend to 6000 feet and crashed into a volcano at 6200 feet. Seems like pilot and/or ground control error to me.

 

[davmat787]

I'm a bit surprised the Russian airliner's dash is in English?

English is the standard language of international air travel.

 

[randomrogue]

English is the standard language of international air travel.

After a series of crashes in the Andes if I'm not mistaken. You can't have ATC and Pilots unable to communicate so they standardized the industry to English.

 

[gevorg]

As per Indonesian TV (tweet by Sergey Dolya), that mountain where the Superjet crashed is called "airplane graveyard" by locals since in the past 10 years there were 7 aircraft incidents/crashes there.

 

[piasabird]

Says it was missing in 2009? How old is this?

 

[davmat787]

Says it was missing in 2009? How old is this?

Huh? Who is doing the saying and what is the it you are referring to? If you are talking about the subject of this thread, the crash happened about 48 hours ago.

 

[werepossum]

As per Indonesian TV (tweet by Sergey Dolya), that mountain where the Superjet crashed is called "airplane graveyard" by locals since in the past 10 years there were 7 aircraft incidents/crashes there.

Wow! You'd think pilots would be hyper-aware of it.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Wow! You'd think pilots would be hyper-aware of it.

Indeed. That seems like a spectacularly dangerous place to be intentionally flying a passenger jet at low altitude.

 

[davmat787]

Video of the crash site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEzjDGTJvPQ