Conflicting Reports Over Plane Crash Survivor

The Associated Press says that initial reports that a 5-year-old boy had survived a jetliner crash in the Indian Ocean are now in question.
According to Rachida Abdullah, an immigrations officer in the Comoros, where the plane went down, it appears that the survivor is a 14-year-old girl, the AP says. Neither report could be independently confirmed.
The Yemenia Airbus jet with 153 people on board crashed into the Indian Ocean on Tuesday during an attempted landing in strong winds on the island nation. There was no word on other survivors.
(Photo of grieving relatives at Marseille airport by Claude Paris, AP)

What European Media are Saying About Air France Accident!

Assuming that the Air France flight is lost at sea, here is what some media are saying about the accident, with translations provided by Google:
Paris Match: Lightning likely cause of the loss of Air France
"...A spokesman for Air France evokes the possibility of lightning: the plane has indeed gone through a thunderstorm with strong turbulence." (Un porte-parole d'Air France évoque l'hypothèse de la foudre : l'avion a en effet traversé une zone orageuse avec de fortes turbulence.)
Le Monde:
"It is not known at this time the causes of this disappearance. The possibility of a detour is 'clearly ruled out,' said Minister for Transport, Jean-Louis Borloo. According to François Brousse, communications director of Air France, the device has probably 'been struck.' But some experts doubt that lightning is the sole cause of the disappearance of the Rio-Paris flight, as Pierre Sparaco Specialist Civil Aviation [says]: 'Normally, lightning can not have serious consequences for an airplane.'
("L'hypothèse d'un détournement 'est clairement écartée', a déclaré le ministre en charge des transports, Jean-Louis Borloo . Selon François Brousse , directeur de la communication d'Air France, l'appareil a vraisemblablement 'été foudroyé.' Mais certains experts doutent que la foudre soit l'unique cause de la disparition du vol Rio-Paris, comme Pierre Sparaco , spécialiste de l'aéronautique civile. 'Normalement, la foudre ne peut pas avoir de conséquences graves pour un avion'.)
Le Parisien:
"Sarkozy does not exclude any hypothesis"
The Times of London:
"Air traffic controllers had their last contact with the aircraft about four hours into the flight, when the pilot said that he had hit severe turbulence. Exactly 15 minutes later, seven hours before it was due in Paris, the aircraft's systems sent automatic error messages reporting multiple electrical faults and, according to a statement from the Brazilian air force, lost cabin pressure.
"The combination of the two implied that the Airbus A330-200 - a plane with an excellent safety record - might have simply broken up in the storm. Officials held out little hope of there being any survivors.
"'The most likely thing is that the plane was hit by lightning. The plane was in a stormy area with strong turbulence, which provoked problems,' said François Brouse, Air France's director of communications.
"'We are probably facing an air catastrophe,' added Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the airline's chief executive. 'It's certainly no longer in the air now. It would have run out of fuel.''

Source: Airline BIZ Blog

Boeing Sued Over Kenya Airways Crash!

Families who lost loved ones accuse makers of operating a 'dangerous' plane!

Fresh questions have emerged over the safety of the Kenya Airways plane that crashed in Cameroon, killing 114 people.

Three British families who lost their loved ones when the Boeing 737-800 plane crashed into a swamp two years ago have gone to court, accusing the plane's manufacturers of operating a ''defective and unreasonably dangerous'' aircraft.

yesterday, Kenya Airways, which lost all its cabin crew during the tragedy, could not be drawn into commenting on the suit, lodged in Chicago, US, this month.

"Kenya Airways cannot respond since the matter is in court" said the national carrier's communications manager, Ms Veronica Kaigai, in a short text message to the 'Nation'.

The Cameroonian government, the lead investigators into the the cause of the accident, is yet to release its findings.

Read more on the 'Nation' www.nation.co.ke

Do you Remember This Accident?

Accident description:
Status: Preliminary - official
Date: 03 FEB 2000
Time: 17:36
Type: Boeing 707-351C

Operator: Trans Arabian Air Transport - TAAT

Registration: ST-APY
C/n / msn: 19412/563
First flight: 1967-03-07 (32 years 11 months)
Total airframe hrs: 51200
Cycles: 21600
Engines: 4 Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B (HK2)
Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5
Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5
Airplane damage: Written off
Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Mwanza Airport (MWZ) (Tanzania)

Phase: Landing (LDG)
Nature: Cargo
Departure airport: Khartoum-Civil Airport (KRT/HSSS), Sudan

Destination airport: Mwanza Airport (MWZ/HTMW), Tanzania

Flightnumber: 310
Narrative:
The aircraft was departed Khartoum for a flight to Mwanza where it was supposed to pick up a cargo of 38 tonnes of fish fillet from Vick Fish Processors for
delivery in Europe. When it went dark en route to Mwanza, the radio altimeter integral light was found to be unserviceable. The crew were not able to fix the problem and the continued using the FMS. The crew contacted Mwanza tower at 16:58 and were being advised that there was no power at the airport and that efforts were being made to use a standby generator. Further information passed on the crew reportedly included VOR, DME and NDB all unserviceable, weather: wind calm, 8km visibility, temperature 25deg C and QNH 1015. After holding for 10 minutes, the airport generator came on and the runway lights went on. The first officer, who was pilot flying, started a visual runway 12 approach. When well established on finals with full landing configuration, the captain told the f/o that he was too low, and a few seconds later he told the f/o he was too high. Both the captain and the filth engineer then told the f/o to go around. The f/o overshot and climbed to 5500 feet on the downwind leg. Turning on the left base the captain remarked that the turn was too tight: ".. I will do a 360-degree turn to the right and position you finals". The captain thus took over control and started a right turn at 4400 feet. Just before completing the turn, the f/o said: "do not go down anymore, the altimeter is reading 4100 feet". Almost aligned with the runway, the f/o took over control again. At that same moment the aircraft bounced 2 or 3 times yawing to the left and came down to a halt in the middle of the lake.
Sources:
» Aviation Week & Space Technology 06.03.2000
» Graham Tanner
» ICAO Adrep Summary 2/00 (#24)
» NTSB
» Panafrican news Agency
» Tommy Maurer

Aerial shot shows a burnt out FedEx cargo plane after it crash-landed on the runway of the Narita International Airport (Japan). The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 FedEx cargo plane en route from China crashed in high winds and exploded in a ball of flames, killing both pilots,according to Japanese hospital officials (As adopted from phototricks blog).

ACCIDENTS!

U.S. Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger III, safely landed a US Airways airbus 320 jetliner in the Hudson River, All 155 people aboard the airplane survived.
In the pictures, Airline passengers on the wings of the aircraft wait to board a ferry to be rescued. The jetliner safely ditched in the frigid waters of the Hudson River in New York, Thursday Jan.15, 2009 after a flock of birds knocked out both its engines (from phototricks blog)