Civil Aviation Flight Safety

enqyoob · Post by **enqyoob** » 05 Sep 2009 07:36

Shooting down a helicopter only requires a lucky shot hitting a tail rotor blade. Done in all the movies. If a blade breaks, the tail rotor goes completely out of balance and destroys itself, and the helicopter is shaheed.

Didn't the Naxals in Andhra or Orissa machine-gun a boat full of policemen, killing some 30+ recently? Maybe a few months back.

Also, why would a helicopter carrying the CM, already late and diverted by bad weather, be doing sightseeing around reservoirs? If he was in trouble he would he aiming for the flat land near the reservoir, or maybe the reservoir, to flare and land.

vasu_ray · Post by **vasu_ray** » 05 Sep 2009 08:27

there is some background to the sightseeing aspect, that reservoir was part of his popular irrigation projects and a detour of 5-10 minutes wouldn't make a difference

up until certain point they were in contact with ATC, after losing that and still continuing in bad weather was probably not the Pilot's decision, the pilot tried to make a detour and visibility went from bad to worse from there

John Snow · Post by **John Snow** » 05 Sep 2009 09:13

Remember he was on missionary zeal to end drought, so probably was keen on seeing the water level to calculate the yield of Central aid and the copious flows from Delli to Hyderabad.

Already his investment portfolio took hit with Satyam Saga, see the sudden urge of followers to inspire his son for public service and serving the poor , destitues of Andhra...

Largest democracy is also greatest satire and drama with High tech going all the way to heavens above satilites key holes and the pearly gates...

I cant ttake this anymore pleas hand me the glycerin and box of tissues

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 05 Sep 2009 20:27

narayanan wrote:Shooting down a helicopter only requires a lucky shot hitting a tail rotor blade. Done in all the movies. If a blade breaks, the tail rotor goes completely out of balance and destroys itself, and the helicopter is shaheed.

Not necessarily.

There would still be some time (albeit with very heavy vibration) for the pilot to react. A bullet would not cause immediate and catastrophic failure. Rotor blades of any description are often subject to bird strikes and debris damage. They are built tough and a single bullet or even a AK 47 burst will not cause catastrophic failure.

Very difficult for bad guy to bring it down with a single shot. A burst would definitely have left unmistakable evidence in the fuselage and / or tail boom.

Loss of tail rotor authority is an emergency situation simulated and practiced by pilots all the time.

On a conventional main rotor-tail rotor helicopter type, the recovery procedure for loss of tail rotor thrust is simple - reduce power if at high speed, and shut down the engines and enter auto rotation at low speed.

However a complete loss of the tail rotor would be an unrecoverable situation as the center of gravity would shift too far ahead and make the helicopter uncontrollable.

There would be solid and unmistakable evidence of such a complete loss of tail rotor.

Even a cursory examination of the remnants of the tail rotors, hub, gearbox and the associated mountings and the drive shaft could easily establish this fact.

From the damaged trees at the site it appears that the helo was traveling in a straight line. If there was tail rotor involvement, the damaged trees would not be in a line.

Its possible to determine both the angle and the speed of blades of the rotors (tail and main) when they impacted the ground.

Also the damage to the mountings of the engines and main gearbox will give an indication of the direction of the impact with respect to the axis of the aircraft.

In the only instance of catastrophic failure of the tail rotor that I saw from the ground during a botched landing and the resulting tail strike. The tail rotors shattered, the helo yawed viciously, the tail gearbox separated violently but the tail boom itself though badly damaged, remained attached and fairly intact as did the rest of the fuselage. The helo was a total write off.

Mercifully, the crew survived unharmed.

enqyoob · Post by **enqyoob** » 06 Sep 2009 19:37

Thx for that. I guess all the helo crashes in the 007 movies are a bit sensationalized. Good to hear that it's not always fatal to have a tail rotor blade shot off.

What about a frontal shot that kills/incapacitates the pilot? At low altitude, without 007 or ShahRukh Khan in the next seat, I would think that is finis, or do VVIP flights have two pilots always?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 06 Sep 2009 21:17

dont all passenger helis have two pilots side by side with dual redundant controls ?

from video of a EH-101, looks a lot tougher (need both hands) to fly a heli -vs- flying a F-solah

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 06 Sep 2009 21:24

narayanan wrote:Thx for that. I guess all the helo crashes in the 007 movies are a bit sensationalized. Good to hear that it's not always fatal to have a tail rotor blade shot off.

What about a frontal shot that kills/incapacitates the pilot? At low altitude, without 007 or ShahRukh Khan in the next seat, I would think that is finis, or do VVIP flights have two pilots always?

Per existing regulations, VVIP choppers are to be twin engined and always carry two pilots.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 06 Sep 2009 21:33

Singha wrote:dont all passenger helis have two pilots side by side with dual redundant controls ?

from video of a EH-101, looks a lot tougher (need both hands) to fly a heli -vs- flying a F-solah

In single engined helos, one set of controls can be removed to accommodate the extra passenger. It can fly as well with two pilots, depending on the mission and the weight category of certification.

Twin engined helos are are usually certified for two pilot operations because they move into a heavier weight category.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 09 Sep 2009 20:43

http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/09/stories ... FORM=ZZNR4

ELT of YSR’s chopper not upgraded

Ravi Reddy

‘ELTs should have switched over to 406 MHz from February 1 this year’

HYDERABAD: The Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) on the ill-fated Bell-430 helicopter that flew former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to Chittoor on September 2 was out of service.

However, the AP Aviation Corporation Limited appears to be unaware that the ELT installed on the helicopter with frequencies of 121.5 MHz and 243 MHz beacons had been globally terminated on February 1, 2009 and not upgraded to a higher frequency of 406 MHz beacons.

According to COSPAS-SARSAT, an international satellite-based search and rescue (SAR) distress alert detection and information distribution system, all ELTs should have switched over to 406 MHz from February 1 this year.

That the Bell-430 helicopter was still equipped with the old ELT was admitted by Managing Director of AP Aviation Corporation Limited, K.V. Brahmananda Reddy, in a status report released on September 2 after the chopper went missing for over 12 hours. He said the “helicopter was suitably equipped with an ELT capable of automatic transmission of frequency 121.5 Mhz and 243 MHz, which would have activated in case of any crash landing or such other unforeseen eventuality”. The IAF aircraft specifically equipped to pick up ELT frequency transmission failed to do so in the target zone.

It was way back in 2000 that COSPAS-SARSAT Council, supported by the United States, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Maritime Organisation had unanimously decided on terminating the 121.5 MHz from February 1, 2009.

The Handbook of Regulations on 406 MHz and 121.5 MHz beacons issued in August last year wanted Indian aviation industry to switch over to upgraded ELTs. The 406 MHz beacons with satellite technology are cost-effective and provide instant and accurate location of distress whereas the old 121.5 MHz is ground station-dependent and has a smaller coverage area.

ELTs, which are mounted inside the baggage compartment, are self-contained, battery powered units attached to an external fuselage mounted antenna.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 09 Sep 2009 20:48

http://www.dailypioneer.com/201401/Did- ... FORM=ZZNR5

Did Chennai ATC fail to help YSR pilots?

Omer Farooq | Hyderabad

Was the failure of Chennai air traffic control (ATC) in responding to the pilots’ plea for help responsible for the crash of the helicopter that killed YS Rajasekhara Reddy?

The question has assumed significance from what has come out of the preliminary probe into the last Wednesday’s mishap by various agencies. According to sources associated with the investigations, the perusal of cockpit voice recorder has revealed that the pilot of the helicopter repeatedly asked the Chennai ATC to guide him as he was not finding the correct path but there was no reply from the ground.

The records also show that the communication between the chopper and the ATC, Chennai had broken at 09.12 am and the helicopter crashed on a hillock in Nallamalla forest in Kurnool district.

The chopper had entered the area of ATC, Chennai at around 9 am and established contact with Chennai at 09.02 am, but the ATC told the pilot to come again at 09.30 am. Meanwhile, the helicopter started facing turbulent weather and apparently deviated from its flight path.

The officials have already established that the Bell-430 helicopter had veered off the path by 18 km to the east and finally crashed and exploded into flames killing all the five occupants, including the two pilots.

Apart from the failure of the ATC, what has puzzled the investigators is the lack of any communication between the two points after 09.12 am till it crashed at 9.30 am. The time of the crash has been established by the fact that YSR’s wrist watch had come to a standstill at the time indicating that the helicopter had crashed at that moment.

The sources said that those 18 minutes have become the focus of attention of the probe to find out what went wrong with the helicopter and why it crashed.

The CVR, recovered from the crash site along with many other components after intensive search, has been sent to the DGCA in New Delhi for detailed analysis.

Only after that is complete, the entire sequence of events, right from the take off from Hyderabad at 8.35 am to its crash, will be known.

The DGCA’s four-member team is set to arrive in Kurnool on Thursday to carry out its investigations. District Collector Mukesh Kumar Meena said that after a meeting in Kurnool, the team will visit the crash site on a hillock, about 70 km from Kurnool. A helipad has been readied in a village near the site. After flying in a chopper there the team will take a tractor to a point from where they will have to trek for three km to reach the site. The team will spend two days in the district.

The Crime Branch CID of Andhra Pradesh Police has already carried out extensive work at the site, sifting through the wreckage, recovering the badly scattered parts of the chopper as well as some body parts of the victims.

The forensic experts have already established that no explosives or bombs were used to target the helicopter and it had crashed on its own. After crash landing the badly damaged helicopter dragged on for 120 m as the trampled shrubs and grass at the site indicated. After hitting a tree it exploded in to flames.

Dr. MSRK Prasad, the superintendent of Kurnool hospital and head of the forensic department who carried out the post-mortem, said that the passengers were alive for a few minutes after the crash before dying of “haemorrhage shock”. After the crash, the parts of helicopter started scattering and these flying object pierced and cut the limbs of the occupants. Two fingers of the right hand of YSR were also severed while a leg of his Principal Secretary Subramanyam was also cut off.

The search teams have also recovered three mobile phones of the Chief Minister, his Secretary and Security Officer. But the mobiles of the two pilots were completely shattered. A forensic analysis of the phones will reveal whether there was any attempt by the passengers to contact anybody during the crisis aboard.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 09 Sep 2009 20:53

http://www.ptinews.com/news/273583_Emer ... pper-found

Emergency location transmitter of YSR's chopper found

STAFF WRITER 20:27 HRS IST

Kurnool (AP), Sep 9 (PTI) Emergency Location Transmitter (ELT)--a vital emergency alarm instrument--on which hopes were pinned to give clues when late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's chopper went missing for 24 hours before its wreckage was located was today found in a damaged and melted condition from the debris.

The ELT was recovered by the officials of the Civil Aviation Corporation Ltd beneath the burnt engine of the ill-fated Bell 430 chopper this afternoon, Kurnool Superintendent of Police Ch Srikant told PTI. The wreckage in which the bodies of Reddy and four others were found on Sept.3, a day after the chopper went missing.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy, who along with Director General of Police SSP Yadav today visited the crash site in Nallamala forest range in Kurnool district, also confirmed the recovery.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 11 Sep 2009 01:55

“YSR copter pilot violated norms, yet was given extension”

Kingshuk Nag,

TNN 10 September 2009, 05:05pm

HYDERABAD: The saga of the crash of the helicopter carrying Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is getting curiouser and curiouser with records accessed by TOI showing that the pilot, Group Captain S K Bhatia, had in the past contravened flight manuals and had been issued memos for "poor professional performance".

Incidentally, these facts about the performance of the now deceased pilot were part of the letter written by the managing director of AP Aviation Corporation K V Brahmananda Reddy on May 27, 2009, seeking repatriation of the pilot back to the Air Force on completion of his extended tenure with the AP government. At a rapid speed traversing the normal official channels, the letter reached the chief minister's office within a few days but curiously enough, not agreeing with the recommendations, Rajasekhara Reddy instructed: "Write to GOI immediately for one-year extension." The chief minister signed the note on June 5, 2009. The IAF is not known to have extended his term, maintaining a silence instead. Earlier on December 30, 2008, Air Force officials had written that no extension for the pilot beyond June 4, 2009, was feasible and that he would have to be reverted on that date.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Sep 2009 09:03

Maharaja flies into sunset - Capt. Ranganathan

Two questions remain unanswered. What caused the fire? Why were the escape chutes on the left side, where one of the engines was on fire, deployed? What was the reason for the crew not opening all the exits on the right side?

Kannan · Post by **Kannan** » 08 Oct 2009 04:23

narayanan wrote:Design load factors are based on experience, AFAIK - 3.0 to 3.5 for civilian craft, but much higher for combat aircraft. The factor is equal to the max lift divided by the weight. For instance, if you pull a 60 degree-banked turn and insist on keeping the aircraft at the same altitude, and if L is the lift, then only LCos60 = 0.5L is available to counter gravity, which means L should be twice the weight. IOW, n=L/W = 2.0

If the design load factor is 2.5, that means that if you do the above at 67 degrees, and you have enough thrust and flaps to maintain altitude, then you are dead, because n > 2.5 if Le Clowns designed their plane to break the moment the limit load was exceeded.
Those are ze rules, M'sieur! You cannot disobey them!

No knowledge is often better than half knowledge. The 2.5 limit you're implying about is probably one of the pitch laws, it's 2.5 clean and 2.0 dirty. The Airbus does not fall apart at 2.5, and that you're ranting so sincerely implies that you actually believe it would, and that's insane.

Most general aviation aircraft have relatively giant wings. If you've dumped flaps on a Cessna it probably feels like you just popped a parachute. You can find their wing loading on Wikipedia.

Cessna 172 Wing loading: 68.8 kg/m²
Piper Cherokee Wing loading: 64.4 kg/m²
Boeing 747 Wing loading: 762 kg/m² (Calculated from Airliners.net stats)

Note the highly loaded Boeing wing. It would be nuts to expect the same certification for a Boeing (or Airbus) as a Cessna 172. Most jet transports will have a -1g to 2.5g certification while most light GA planes will be in the -3g to +4g range. Neither Boeing nor Airbus is going to do that. On top of that, I'm pretty sure ICAO compliance means you consider 60 degrees as aerobatic category, not normal or utility.

Realistically, there's no way to get around the statistics that show neither Boeing nor Airbus have noticeably significant accident rates. Different philosophies that pretty much seem to work. If you chide the Airbus dependence on FCS, you'd have to criticize Boeing's handling of the DC-10 -> MD-11 which has had a lot of crashes with many pointing to its insufficient tailplane (which was fixed with - you guessed it- a strange computer).

SSridhar wrote:Maharaja flies into sunset - Capt. Ranganathan
Two questions remain unanswered. What caused the fire? Why were the escape chutes on the left side, where one of the engines was on fire, deployed? What was the reason for the crew not opening all the exits on the right side?

Nice article, except I don't recall Air India having a great reputation when I flew them in the 80s either. The bus driver at Heathrow joked that they got a lot of business from Air India cancellations, and that was '90. On that note, it's depressing how old I've gotten since then

As far as safety, I think we could use more VOR beacons and developing more flight instructors. Finding an instructor in India was practically impossible, and all I wanted was a ride in a Cessna (and conversion).

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 24 Jan 2010 15:24

The pilots are to blame for sure.

All politicians are teflon coated and entirely blameless onlee.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderaba ... -probe-235

[\Quote]
YSR pilots ignored weather, says probe

January 24th, 2010
By Our Correspondent

Hyderabad, Jan. 23: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) team, which is probing into YSR’s helicopter crash, has found that the flight planning was faulty as the pilots did not review the latest satellite pictures and weather reports before taking off.

The probe team found that though the crew was aware of the poor weather conditions, it did not review the weather situation.

On September 2, the crew obtained a meteorological briefing for the route from Hyderabad to Chittoor from the Aviation Meteorological Services at around 6.30 am. The pilot was briefed about the presence of CB clouds and was shown imagery and a satellite bulletin based on data at 5.30 pm of September 1. Subsequently, satellite pictures at 6.30 am, 7 am and 8 am of September 2 revealed increase in convection and aerial extension.

Possible formation of isolated cumulonimbus (Cb) clouds with base at 750 metre and top height of 9,000 metre along with temporary reduction in visibility was forecast. However, the crew did not review subsequent satellite pictures before departure at 8.29 am. “Due to continuous and fast-changing wind pattern, temperature and humidity, the helicopter operations were affected,” said the DGCA probe.

The report said, “They chose to fly in Instrument Meteorological Conditions whereas the flight was to be conducted as per the Visual Flight Rule.” Cockpit voice record’s showed that the pilots started encountering clouds at about 9.10 am. “They should have diverted to a nearby location or returned to Hyderabad,” the report said.[\Quote]

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 24 Jan 2010 15:45

Absolute poppycock.

This gearbox has a considerable amount of dry running time.

No sane pilot will divert his attention to search for the checklist in such extreme conditions. He will fly the aircraft as his own life depends on it.
Two experienced pilots searching for the checklist at the same time and no one flying the aircraft????

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/probe ... or/569940/

[\Quote] Probe panel blames YSR chopper crash on pilots’ error

ENS Economic Bureau
Posted: Thursday , Jan 21, 2010 at 0347 hrs
New Delhi:

.........
The crew noticed a snag and “was engrossed for vital six minutes before the impact in searching for the relevant checklist from the Flight Manual”. “This distracted their attention from the prevailing poor visibility weather conditions thus leading into the loss of situational awareness,” the report, prepared by the committee headed by Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd CMD S K Tyagi, said.
[\Quote]

cbelwal · Post by **cbelwal** » 24 Jan 2010 18:55

This might not be true. Pilots are trained to look at the check list first in case of on-board failures and then contact ATC or external resources for help. Usually one pilot looks at the checklist while the other flies. There have been documented crashes where mechanical failure led to crew distraction and this compounded by bad weather led to crashes. Adam Air flight 574 in Indonesia had navigation failures and crews used the checklist to recover for it while flying into bad weather. In Swiss Air flight 111 the crew desperately searched the checklist and lost valuable time as a fire raged through the flight deck. The problem is that going through the checklist is SoP and crews bypassing it can be accused on un-professionalism. This is a subject of quite some debate in aviation circles.

chetak wrote: No sane pilot will divert his attention to search for the checklist in such extreme conditions. He will fly the aircraft as his own life depends on it.
Two experienced pilots searching for the checklist at the same time and no one flying the aircraft????

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 24 Jan 2010 20:38

cbelwal wrote:This might not be true. Pilots are trained to look at the check list first in case of on-board failures and then contact ATC or external resources for help. Usually one pilot looks at the checklist while the other flies. There have been documented crashes where mechanical failure led to crew distraction and this compounded by bad weather led to crashes. Adam Air flight 574 in Indonesia had navigation failures and crews used the checklist to recover for it while flying into bad weather. In Swiss Air flight 111 the crew desperately searched the checklist and lost valuable time as a fire raged through the flight deck. The problem is that going through the checklist is SoP and crews bypassing it can be accused on un-professionalism. This is a subject of quite some debate in aviation circles.

I do not dispute the points that you have made.

But in this case,

These guys were in low visibility conditions and in the vicinity of obstacles from terrain.

The basic instinct of any pilot would have been to climb under such circumstances as did the pilots in this case

Some pictures of the accident site showed the debris field that had climbed and spread over the top of the hillock / outcrop of mountain indicating that the helo was climbing when it impacted .

The inquiry seems to have picked and chosen what to reveal from the Cockpit voice recorder.

I wonder what the helo was doing so low, 25 - 30 nautical miles off course in a direction almost 90 to 95 degrees from its declared flight path. The helo had sophisticated nav instrumentation. The deviation would have been intentional and not any error in navigation.

I am very sure that the CVR would have been equally illuminating on this point.

The issue of political pressure on pilots to do things that directly impact flight safety needs to be discussed threadbare. Every inducement including offers of money and threat of physical harm is used to browbeat the pilots.

This is the bane of a charter and chopper pilot flying VIPs.

ranjithnath · Post by **ranjithnath** » 30 Apr 2011 12:50

chopper carrying arunachal CM goes missing.it was supposed to land at guwahati at 1130 en route from itanagar.

Chandragupta · Post by **Chandragupta** » 30 Apr 2011 13:15

No communication for 4 hours now.

sum · Post by **sum** » 30 Apr 2011 13:54

Damn, so many crashes within a week!!! ( 1 in Sikkim + 1 in Arunachal + IJT+ <edited. Thankfully CM is safe>)

manum · Post by **manum** » 30 Apr 2011 14:11

The Times of India
Just in: Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu's chopper makes emergency landing, all passengers safe. The chopper had earlier gone missing.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 125638.cms

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 30 Apr 2011 14:26

Chandragupta wrote:No communication for 4 hours now. We have to assume the worst.

Saar please do not dhoti shiver without good reason

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstyp ... sid=235792

tanagar, April 30 (IANS) A helicopter with Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu landed safely in Daporijo Saturday after going missing for a few hours, an official said.

The four-seater Pawan Hans chopper, which had gone missing after taking off from Tawang near the China border at 9.50 a.m., has landed safely at Daporijo in Subansiri district, the official said.

Everyone on board was safe, an official said.

ranjithnath · Post by **ranjithnath** » 30 Apr 2011 21:44

bhutan has denied chopper with arunachal CM landed on their soil.oh boy,teres somethin going on here.
http://www.anhourago.in/show.aspx?l=8458995&d=502

Bhaskar · Post by **Bhaskar** » 30 Apr 2011 22:16

We know Dorjee Khandu spoke against the Chinese regime, and had immense support from the people in Arunachal Pradesh for his tough stance against China. Could a Chinese hand in this be a possibility?
Too soon?
What do you guys think?

manum · Post by **manum** » 01 May 2011 00:11

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 129607.cms

NEW DELHI: Government on Saturday night alerted the Department of Space and ISRO for help in locating the whereabouts of the missing helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu and four others.

Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said that Indian satellites have made two passes over the probable area from where the Pawan Hans helicopter went missing 20 minutes after takeoff from Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh but has not picked up any signals.

He said Pawan Hans helicopter carries a a location transponder that can communicate at 406 MHz frequency in the event of any emergency or it could also be manually operated.

The chopper was last in communication with the base when it was overflying Sela Pass, 20 minutes after taking off from Tawang, and all communication was lost after that.

There was confusion in the afternoon with claims made by Governor Gen (retd) J J Singh first and then by the chief minister's office and defence spokesperson that the chief minister had landed safely in a place called Daporijo in Upper Subansiri district. The CM's office said the helicopter had landed in a place in Bhutan.

what is happening, he was lost, then announced safe...and then again?

ranjithnath · Post by **ranjithnath** » 01 May 2011 12:38

ISRO said 2 satellites would be passing over AP today and will analyze images from that after 12 noon.no info as of nw yet of how that went.
OT:any idea which are those 2 satellites exactly??cartosat 2B,2A??

Bharadwaj · Post by **Bharadwaj** » 01 May 2011 17:59

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... ation.html

My jaw is yet to get itself up from the floor after seeing this.... How did the thing not break apart under the loads?

partha · Post by **partha** » 01 May 2011 22:32

Bhaskar wrote:We know Dorjee Khandu spoke against the Chinese regime, and had immense support from the people in Arunachal Pradesh for his tough stance against China. Could a Chinese hand in this be a possibility?
Too soon?
What do you guys think?

http://www.c3sindia.org/india/2283

(ii) In connection with the report in question, it may be useful to pay attention to what a Chinese language blog ( Yadong Junshi, examined in Chennai Centre for China Studies Paper No. 633 dated 19 October 2010) had sated (16 October 2010).Quoting Russian and American reports, it claimed that “on 9 June 2009, China’s HQ 9 Air Defence unit brought down a Falcon Aircraft of the Indian military, in the country’s Southern Tibet border”, thereby conveying an implied message that China has capacity to target Indian flights operating across the border.

( The writer, Mr D.S.Rajan, is Director, Chennai Centre for China Studies, Chennai, India.Email:director.c3s@gmail.com)

Chandragupta · Post by **Chandragupta** » 04 May 2011 11:04

Reports on Twitter say the crash site has been found, CM Dorjee Khandu is no more.

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » 10 May 2011 08:59

Jeppesen has presented a white paper titled "Airside Services: Simplifying the Transition to Electronic Flight Bags". The target audience is the entire civil aviation community, focusing on Air Carrier Executives and Pilots. The document is available on the ifile.it link below:

http://ifile.it/ctpivl8.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 26 May 2011 20:44

Apollo Air Ambulance crashed last night killing all 7 on board and three women on ground at Faridabad at about 10.30PM 25.5.2011.
The Aircraft was Single engine turboprop Pilatus PC-12 .

The light and the sound came from an air ambulance crashing into the residential colony resulting in 10 people being killed. The air ambulance was carrying Rahul Raj, a critical patient suffering with jaundice, and six others from Patna to New Delhi, for further treatment.
The plane crashed into the houses of Parvatiya Colony, killing all seven on board and three on ground. Residents of Parvatiya colony didn't just lose their sleep but lost the lives of loved ones and also property.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp ... _Crash.asp

No Black box. That is surprising. But it is understood that for small planes that is not a mandatory requirement.

Apollo launched Emergency Evacuation Services which included Air Ambulances with help of Deccan in 2007. But with closure of Deccan I think they would have made alternative arrangement with KF or other for Aircraft maintenance. However immediate cause seems to be bad weather. I hope Apollo finds a way to keep this service alive.

neerajb · Post by **neerajb** » 21 Jun 2011 10:48

44 killed, 8 injured in passenger plane crash in Russia's north

MOSCOW, June 21 (RIA Novosti)
Forty four people were killed and eight injured after a Tu-134 passenger aircraft crash landed in Russia's northern republic of Karelia, a spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Tuesday.

The plane en route from Moscow to Petrozavodsk crash landed on a highway one kilometer (0.6 miles) away from the airport, where it was scheduled to land at 0.04 Moscow time on Tuesday (20.04 GMT Monday). The plane fell apart and burst into flames upon the landing.

"According to new information, 52 people were on board of the plane that crashed. Forty four people were killed and eight injured," the spokesman said.

Previous reports said the plane carried 43 passengers, including eight children, and five crew members.

Valentina Ulich, the health and social development minister of the republic of Karelia, said that among the killed in the crash was one foreigner. He was a rescuer from Sweden, she added.

Various crash versions are being studied at the moment including a human factor, said Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, adding that a criminal case into the crash has been launched.

Rescuers working at the crash site have already discovered both flight recorders from the aircraft.

A Russian Emergencies Ministry's Il-76 aircraft with rescuers and psychologists on board took off from Moscow to Petrozavodsk. It will take eight injured to hospitals in the Russian capital.

Tu-134 aircraft was launched in 1967 to become the most widely used airliner in the Soviet Union. It is capable of carrying 76 passengers.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110621/164736004.html

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » 30 Jun 2011 15:02

The July 2011 edition of the R&W magazine featuring Exercise Crimson Eagle and columns on water egress tactics for pilots can be found here:

Link 1 (Pdf)
Link 2

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » 09 Jul 2011 04:05

Atleast 46 dead in a plane crash in eastern Congo (DCR).

The plane was on its regular commercial route from Kinshasa to Kisangani and Goma when it was hit by the storm as it approached the airport, Lambert Mende, a spokesman for the local administration said.

A plume of black smoke could be seen at the end of the runway, an AFP journalist reported. But flights, which had been suspended after the crash, resumed a short time later.

Hewa Bora said the plane was carrying 112 passengers and a crew made up of three pilots, two stewardesses and a mechanic.

Plane accidents frequently occur in DR Congo which are often blamed on ageing and poorly maintained aircraft, the flouting of safety rules and bad weather.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 20 Jul 2011 18:13

AI plane skids off runway after tyre burst

Kanpur, Jul 20 (PTI): An Air India plane with 54 passengers and five crew members on board skidded off the runway today after a tyre burst while landing in rain but all are safe.

The nosewheel of the Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-700 (AI-9801) got stuck in the mud when the 70-seater plane skidded and came to a screeching halt in a muddy area after its tyres burst during touchdown at the IAF-controlled Chakeri airport, Air India sources said here.

The flight, launched about a month ago, operates from Delhi to Kolkata via Kanpur.

The aircraft was soon pulled back to the terminal building. While 52 of the 54 passengers were travelling to Kanpur, the rest of them were sent to Lucknow for their onward journey, the sources said.

Airport Manager A K Sarin said it was raining when the plane landed and its front tyres got stuck in the mud.

uhh, how much mud was there on the landing strip?!

Ganesh_S · Post by **Ganesh_S** » 18 Jul 2014 12:17

Kudos! Air India pilots avert major tragedy, save over 300 lives on board

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 10 Aug 2014 12:23

48 reported killed as airliner crashes near Tehran's Mehrabad airport

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 14 Aug 2014 03:42

Pilot asleep, co-pilot on tab, Jet flight drops 5,000 feet

another one of those reasons, I hate Jet Airways.. the rude service, plus ignorant+arrogant attitude of their staff is simply ridiculous.

SanjayC · Post by **SanjayC** » 14 Aug 2014 12:02

Jet flight drops 5000 feet as pilot naps, co-pilot logged on tab

Fantastic -- Jet flight plunges 5000 feet as pilot sleeps and co-pilot is busy browsing her tablet and did not notice the fall.

A Brussels-bound Jet Airways flight from Mumbai on Friday reportedly dropped 5000 feet above Turkey after the pilot went on a 'controlled rest' or a nap.

An inquiry has been ordered to find out if the co-pilot, who claims she was busy on her tablet and did not notice the fall, had also dozed off, reports said.

The alarming situation was brought under control after the air traffic control at Ankara airport alerted the commandaders of the Boeing 777, who went back to their assigned altitude.

Sources in Jet Airways said the two pilots have been grounded while the probe is on.

With the airspace above Central Asia declared one of the most sensitive zones in the world because of the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, the incident has sent the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in a tizzy.

Reports said the DGCA has also decided to evaluate the way Jet Airways trains its pilots.

Jet Airways, in a statement, said it has also ordered an internal inquiry into the incident. "The airline is extending all cooperation to the DGCA by providing all necessary assistance for the inquiry. Safety is of paramount importance to Jet Airways, as is also the welfare of our guests and crew, and the airline will always take appropriate steps to ensure the same," it said.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/jet- ... 77075.html