News: Sita Air Flight 601 crashes in central Nepal killing all on-board

       Nepal has become notoriously dangerous place for flying the last decade.Main reasons are fast changing weather conditions,high mountainous area(Himalaya), finally the airstrips themselves are notoriously challenging, with short runways that are uneven, sloping, or both, and with approach and departure paths obstructed by high ground. When the weather changes rapidly, pilots are faced with difficult decisions about whether it is safe to continue an approach, and if the weather closes in too fast, abandoning the approach may be equally risky.Early reports about this accident point to bird strike and pre-crash fire(this is yet to be confirmed though).Seven britons were among the dead most of them probably going for the autumn trekking season around the popular hills of Everest.

News: USAF releases South Dakota C-130 FireFighter crash photos

 The plane that crashed 1st of July in South Dakota was assigned to North Carolina National guard was equipped with the MAFFS(Modular Airborne FireFighting System) system and had just released fire retardant liquid but later crashed in a slope and dragged for quite a distance before coming to a halt.Because of that dragging there was  enough energy absorbed resulting in two of the six crew members to survive the fall.

News: Dana Air MD-83 crash in Lagos,Nigeria with 153 souls on board plus 40 deaths on ground

Plane debris scattered across a populated area

      Dana Air flight 992 has crashed into buildings in a densely populated district of Nigeria's main city of Lagos.It was carrying 153 people on board at the time of the crash The crash occurred as the crew declared an emergency 11 nautical miles (20 km) from the airport, and a witnesses said it seemed to be having engine trouble. While approaching runway 18L for landing,the plane collided with a power line and apparently landed on its tail.

The crash scene reportedly became chaotic, with The Sun reporting that more than 500,000 Lagos residents attempted to approach the site. Crowds attempted to bring hoses to the site while soldiers attempted to disperse onlookers with punches and rubber whips. The onlookers then threw stones at the soldiers in retaliation.Water for firefighting was in short supply for several hours due to the city's dearth of fire trucks and civilians attempted to fight the fire by hand with water from plastic buckets. Water trucks commandeered from nearby construction projects had difficulties reaching the site due to the neighborhood's narrow roads.The situation was almost chaotic prompting the Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan to declare 3 days of national mourning and also pledged that "every possible effort" would be made to boost the nation's aviation safety.

sources:BBC,Wikipedia,RT,Google

News: Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-400 skids off runway at Indonesia Pontianak airport

 A Sriwijaya Air b737-400 carrying 163 from jakarta to Pontianak veered off runway 15 during landing at Pontianak in heavy rainstorm.The aircraft came to stop left of the tarmac on soft ground on its belly (the landing gear either collapsed or sank in the soft soil) and received substantial damage.No injuries occurred among the passengers.

Update: Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash at Indonesia one of two black boxes found

    On the 16th of May,Indonesian special forces have found as we can see from the video above what appears to be part of one of the planes black boxes called CVR(cockpit voice recorder).This device records all sounds that can be heard in a cockpit combing discussions between the pilots,providing valuable information to the investigators.The other one called FDR(flight data recorder) that records all flight parameters is yet to be found.The first box was found near the tail of the plane,approximately 100 meters away.Rescue teams will continue to search for the other box,but it will be 2-3 weeks at least before the CVR will reveal any crucial information to the Russian and Indonesian investigators.

News: Iberia Airbus 340 hits hawk after taking off from Spain to Puerto Rico

The damage to the nose cone is pretty evident

       An Iberia Airbus A340 had to make an emergency landing today by an apparent bird strike that hit the radome of the aircraft causing significant damage.

       Flight 6533 of the Spanish carrier was flying from Madrid, Spain (MAD) to San Juan, Puerto Rico but returned for an emergency landing shortly after takeoff when the incident occurred.

Details are still emerging, but reports say there were no injuries and the airliner made a safe landing.

An A340 of the Iberia's feet

source: aviationispector.com

News: Agni Air - Dornier 228 crash in Nepal 15 people perished

The Plane that crashed 9N-AIG(photo:Courtesy of JetPhotos.net)

     A plane carrying 21 people on board had crashed in Nepal leaving only 6 survivors with 2 of them being infants.The plane had crashed around 9:45 local time as it was trying to land again at Jomson airport after a failed go-around possibly due to strong winds.Police spokesman Binod Singh told the AFP news that "The plane had hit a muddy slope and is now burried in the side of the hill".Himalayas range is considered among the most difficult and dangerous places in the world to fly planes especially the small ones that are being used to transfer tourists,trekkers-mountaineers and locals among the small villages around the nepalese area.Last year 19 people were killed when a plane carrying tourists to view Mount Everest crashed outside Kathmandu.It is not the first time that Agni Air had a crash of that kind,in 2010 another dornier 228 in a flight between Kathmandu,Nepal and the infamous Lukla Airport(a.k.a Tenzing-Hillary airport named after the famous Everest mountaineers) crashed around half an hour after take off.The accident was attributed to severe weather and mechanical problems with the aircraft as well as spatial disorientation following the loss of a flight instrument leaving all 14 people on board dead.