Eleven people missing in Russian military plane crash

There were 11 people on board the Pacific Fleet's Tu-142 plane that has crashed off Russia's Pacific coast, an Air Force source in the Far Eastern Military District said on Saturday.

A Tu-142M3 Bear-F plane reportedly went down during a combat training flight around 21:19 local time (11:19 GMT) on Friday some 20 kilometers (12 miles) offshore in the Tatar Strait, which separates mainland Russia from the island of Sakhalin.

"According to latest data, the Tu-142 plane, which has crashed during a training flight, had 11 people on board," the source said, adding that the military authorities had a full list of the personnel on board the plane.

According to preliminary data, the crash was caused by a technical failure.

The remains of the plane were located on Saturday morning by several ships and planes at the depth of about 44 meters (144 feet).

"There are pieces of debris on the surface, which could be the remains of the fuselage and the interior of the plane," a local emergencies official said.

The search for the missing crew members is underway, although the rescue officials fear they have most likely died in the crash.

"Taking into consideration the circumstances of the crash, we could presume all military personnel on board the Tu-142 plane to be dead. However, the rescue operation will continue until the last hope to find the survivors is gone," a Russian military source said.

He added that the Russian Navy will deploy, if necessary, the newest Pantera and Kalmar robotic deep-water rescue vehicles to recover the plane's on-board recording devices.

Tu-142M3 is a Russian maritime reconnaissance/anti-submarine warfare (ASW) turboprop aircraft. It is a modified version of the Tu-95 Bear strategic bomber.

According to open sources, Russia's Pacific Fleet has at least eight Tu-142M3 aircraft in service.

Related Post:

• Tupolev 142A

Tupolev 142A

The Tupolev Tu-142 (Туполев Ту–142) (NATO reporting name: Bear F / J) is a Russian maritime reconnaissance/anti-submarine warfare (ASW) turboprop aircraft. It is based on the Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bomber.

Originally designed as a maritime surveillance aircraft to supplement the Bear D and the Ilyushin Il-38, the Bear F evolved to become the premier anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft of the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. The ASW variants were designated as Tu-142M2 (Bear F Mod 2), Tu-142M3 (Bear F Mod 3), and Tu-142M4 (Bear F Mod 4).

The Tu-142MR (Bear J) was a variant of the Bear F modified for use in submarine communications as well as other command, control and communications (C3) duties.

With eight-bladed contra-rotating propellers the engine that emerged was the Kuznetsov NK-12 with a nominal 8,948 kW (12,000 eshp) power rating. Although the engine was advanced, the fuselage design was conventional: it is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with 35 degrees of sweep. The angle ensured that the main wing spar passed though the fuselage in front of the bomb bay. It had a retractable tricycle landing gear, with the main gear retracting rearwards. The first aircraft flew in 1953.

Delta Air Lines Flight 191

Date: August 2, 1985
Type: Microburst-induced wind shear
Site: Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Texas
Passengers: 152
Crew: 11
Injuries: 27
Fatalities: 135 (1 on the ground)
Survivors: 27
Aircraft type: Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar
Operator: Delta Air Lines
Tail number: N726DA
Flight origin: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Stopover: Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Destination: Los Angeles International Airport

Microburst on Delta Aircraft Accident 8/2/1985

A microburst is a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that are similar to but distinguishable from tornadoes which generally have convergent damage. There are two types of microbursts: wet microbursts and dry microbursts. They go through three stages in their life cycle: the downburst, outburst, and cushion stages. The scale and suddenness of a microburst makes it a great danger to aircraft due to the low-level wind shear caused by its gust front, with several fatal crashes having been attributed to the phenomenon over the past several decades.

A microburst often has high winds that can knock over fully grown trees. They usually last for a couple of seconds.

Danger to aircraft
The scale and suddenness of a microburst makes it a great danger to aircraft, particularly those at low altitude which are taking off and landing. The following are some fatal crashes and/or aircraft incidents that have been attributed to microbursts in the vicinity of airports:

• Eastern Air Lines Flight 66, John F. Kennedy International Airport – June 24, 1975
• Pan Am Flight 759, New Orleans International Airport – July 9, 1982
• Delta Air Lines Flight 191, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – August 2, 1985
• Martinair Flight 495, Faro Airport – December 21, 1992
• USAir Flight 1016, Charlotte/Douglas International Airport – July 2, 1994
• Goodyear Blimp (Stars and Stripes), Coral Springs, Florida – June 16, 2005
• One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269, Phuket International Airport – September 16, 2007

A microburst often causes aircraft to crash when they are attempting to land (the above mentioned Pan Am flight is a notable exception). The microburst is an extremely powerful gust of air that, once hitting the ground, spreads in all directions. As the aircraft is coming in to land, the pilots try to slow the plane to an appropriate speed. When the microburst hits, the pilots will see a large spike in their airspeed, caused by the force of the headwind created by the microburst. A pilot inexperienced with microbursts would try to decrease the speed. The plane would then travel through the microburst, and fly into the tailwind, causing a sudden decrease in the amount of air flowing across the wings. The decrease in airflow over the wings of the aircraft causes a drop in the amount of lift produced. This decrease in lift combined with a strong downward flow of air can cause the thrust required to remain at altitude to exceed what is available.

Qantas calls for air traffic overhaul

ABC
October 7, 2009, 7:27 am

Qantas has increased pressure on the Federal Government to help airlines cut fuel use, pollution and travelling times.

Chief executive Alan Joyce used last night's Sir Reginald Ansett Memorial Lecture to call for Australia's air traffic systems to be modernised.

He says more efficient use of air space would cut emissions and save airlines millions of dollars each year on fuel.

"The agenda for action is not just driven by environmental concerns, vital though they may be," he said.

"There are pressing economic imperatives here too. Oil prices will not return to the levels of the good old days, they may continue to rise and could even spike to levels dangerous for the commercial viability of many airlines, including Qantas."

Mr Joyce wants massive changes to the way Sydney's air space is managed.

Sydney Airport was named one of the world's best in a poll run by an international magazine last week.

But Mr Joyce told the audience the city's air traffic systems are inefficient and its flightpaths should be redesigned.

"I appreciate that this overhaul will require a lot of work and sensitive handling, but I can assure you that Qantas will lend all our support, because of what we believe is the extreme importance," he said.

"We'd love to see Sydney's airspace management as worthy of accolades as its airport."

Mr Joyce has also called for an urgent roll-out of a navigation system being trialled in Brisbane.

"We believe the savings for Qantas alone can conservatively be placed in the order of $20 million per year," he said.

"The savings double if the fuel price reaches last year's level of $140 per barrel."

He also announced it will hire 100 more engineering apprentices in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Qantas calls for air traffic overhaul

ABC
October 7, 2009, 7:27 am

Qantas has increased pressure on the Federal Government to help airlines cut fuel use, pollution and travelling times.

Chief executive Alan Joyce used last night's Sir Reginald Ansett Memorial Lecture to call for Australia's air traffic systems to be modernised.

He says more efficient use of air space would cut emissions and save airlines millions of dollars each year on fuel.

"The agenda for action is not just driven by environmental concerns, vital though they may be," he said.

"There are pressing economic imperatives here too. Oil prices will not return to the levels of the good old days, they may continue to rise and could even spike to levels dangerous for the commercial viability of many airlines, including Qantas."

Mr Joyce wants massive changes to the way Sydney's air space is managed.

Sydney Airport was named one of the world's best in a poll run by an international magazine last week.

But Mr Joyce told the audience the city's air traffic systems are inefficient and its flightpaths should be redesigned.

"I appreciate that this overhaul will require a lot of work and sensitive handling, but I can assure you that Qantas will lend all our support, because of what we believe is the extreme importance," he said.

"We'd love to see Sydney's airspace management as worthy of accolades as its airport."

Mr Joyce has also called for an urgent roll-out of a navigation system being trialled in Brisbane.

"We believe the savings for Qantas alone can conservatively be placed in the order of $20 million per year," he said.

"The savings double if the fuel price reaches last year's level of $140 per barrel."

He also announced it will hire 100 more engineering apprentices in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Qantas pilots forgot to lower landing gear

Shane McLeod for AM, ABC

An air safety investigation has been launched after a Qantas jet made its approach to land at the nation's busiest airport without deploying its landing gear.

The pilots apparently noticed their oversight less than 300 metres above the ground.

The airline has stood down the two pilots pending the safety investigation.

Are you nervous of flying because of recent plane incidents? Leave your comments below.

The Qantas 767 was on a morning flight from Melbourne as it came in to land at Sydney airport last Monday.

Once the error was realised, the pilots returned power to the engines and regained altitude, before circling and successfully landing.

But how they came so close to trying to land their jet without being ready to do so is now the subject of a serious incident investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Qantas has released a statement, agreeing it was a serious incident.

"This is an extremely rare event but one we have taken seriously," the statement said.

"The flight crew knew all required procedures but there was a brief communications breakdown. They responded quickly to the situation and instigated a go-around. The cockpit alert coincided with their actions."

The cockpit alert was an audible warning from the ground proximity warning system.

The airline says there was no issue of flight safety and it is fully cooperating with the investigation.

The president of the Australian and International Pilots Association that represents Qantas flight crew, Captain Barry Jackson, says coming in to land is when pilots are at their busiest.

"You're dealing with air traffic, you're dealing with slowing the aircraft down, configuration changes, changing frequencies, all those things," he said.

Mr Jackson says pilots welcome the investigation, to work out what went wrong and how to avoid similar problems happening again.

"It's very serious if the enhanced warning system is activated," he said.

"It's designed to go off when an aircraft is close to the ground and it's not configured for landing, it's designed for that. And so therefore it's done its job.

"I can't comment on the detail. The pilots have been stood down while an investigation takes place, the proper investigation process will take place, will find out the facts, then we'll start to ask the questions how the pilots got there and obviously deal with that as it comes up."

Mr Jackson says it is hard to speculate on the key areas the investigation will need to focus on.

"I believe the go-around was attempted a little bit higher than the altitude that the warning went off," he said.

"I don't know if they actually started to climb straight away because usually when you do a go-around you select the go-around switches. The aeroplane will climb rapidly and if for some reason it's continued to a lower altitude before it's gone around and that warning has been set off."