Showing posts with label crashes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crashes. Show all posts

Saturday, 21 June 2014

More than 400 US military drones lost in crashes: report




WASHINGTON: The United States has lost more than 400 military drones in major crashes worldwide since 2001, The Washington Post said Friday in a report questioning the safety and reliability of the unmanned aircraft.

Citing 50,000 pages of accident investigation reports, the Post said military drones have since the 9/11 attacks "malfunctioned in myriad ways," including mechanical breakdowns, human error and foul weather.

"Military drones have slammed into homes, farms, runways, highways, waterways and, in one case, an Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane in midair," it said.

Of the 418 known crashes between September 11, 2001 and the end of 2013, the Post said it had identified 194 so-called Class A crashes that resulted in either the total loss of a drone or damages in excess of $2 million.

The total figure is almost equal to the number of major crashes involving US Air Force fighter jets and attack planes during the same period -- even though the drones flew far fewer missions and hours.

Sixty-seven drone crashes occurred in Afghanistan, and 41 in Iraq, but 47 occurred within the United States during test and training flights, the Post said on its website.

One army drone crashed near an elementary school playground in Pennsylvania in April, while a Reaper belonging to the air force disappeared into Lake Ontario in upstate New York in November.

The hefty Predator -- arguably the best-known American military drone -- was involved in 102 Class A crashes, followed by the smaller Hunter and larger Reaper models with 26 and 22 losses respectively.

The Post´s investigation comes as the Federal Aviation Administration drafts a set of regulations to govern an expected surge in the use of commercial drones in the coming years.

The United States owns about 10,000 drones, from the one-pound (0.5-kilogram) Wasp drone that combat troops can deploy in a firefight to the huge Global Hawk high-altitude reconnaissance platform.

Friday, 6 June 2014

China navy plane crashes on training mission: Xinhua


SHANGHAI: A Chinese navy plane crashed on a training mission over the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, the official Xinhua news agency said Friday, but did not say if there were casualties.

The military plane crashed late Thursday night in a mountainous area near the city of Yiwu, it said.

Xinhua said the plane belonged to the navy´s East China Sea fleet while the military news channel of the Sina website quoted sources as saying the aircraft was a fighter-bomber JH-7 "Flying Leopard".

The fleet´s area of responsibility includes disputed islands in the East China Sea, according to state media, which Japan administers and calls the Senkaku islands but which China also claims and names the Diaoyu islands.

For more than a year since Tokyo nationalised some of the islands in September 2012, Chinese vessels and aircraft have regularly approached them, playing cat and mouse with the Japanese coastguard.
Search and rescue teams were looking for the crew of the crashed plane, Xinhua reported, but did not say how many people were on board. The JH-7 typically carries two.
 

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Karachi: 4 killed, 3 injured as PAF trainer jet crashes in Baldia Town





KARACHI: Four persons including the pilot and co-pilot were killed and three others injured when a training jet of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed in Baldia Town area of Karachi on Tuesday, Geo News reported.

According to sources, a PAF fighter jet crashed near a bus stand in Yousuf Goth area of Baldia Town during a routine training session. As soon as the jet came down, a blast occurred and fire broke out that engulfed several buses at the bus stand.

Four persons including a pilot, co-pilot and two civilians lost their lives in the unfortunate incident. Three others also sustained injuries in the mishap who were shifted to hospital for treatment.

The PAF spokesman has confirmed the incident.

Rescue teams, fire brigades and PAF personnel reached the crash site and kicked off rescue efforts immediately.

Further details about the accident are yet to be confirmed.

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Pilot dies as plane crashes at California air show




FAIRFIELD: A pilot who had thrilled audiences for decades with acrobatic stunts was killed when his vintage biplane crashed upside-down on a runway at a California air show.

Sunday´s tragedy brought to a quick halt the "Thunder Over Solano" show at Travis Air Force Base, which was attended by an estimated 100,000 spectators. No one else was injured.

The Air Force identified the pilot as Edward Andreini, 77. Federal Aviation Administration records show he was the registered owner of the 1944 Stearman biplane, a World War II-era plane commonly used to train pilots.

Andreini was trying to perform a maneuver known as "cutting a ribbon" where he inverts the plane and flies close to the ground so that a knife attached to it can slice a ribbon just off the ground, Col. David Mott, 60th Operations Group commander at the base, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Andreini´s website said audiences would be "thrilled at the sight of this huge biplane performing double outside loops, square loops, torque rolls, double snap rolls, and ... a heart-stopping, end-over-end tumble maneuver."

It said he had flown since he was 16.The plane, flying low over the tarmac, crashed and caught fire, letting off a thick plume of black smoke seen in video of the aftermath.

Roger Bockrath, a retired photojournalist who was photographing the afternoon show, chronicled the routine and witnessed the crash. He said Andreini, flying into a sometimes gusty wind, passed on two attempts before trying a third time, hitting the tarmac and sliding to a stop in an open field.

"He got down too low and hit the tarmac. He skidded about 500 feet and just sat there. The plane was essentially intact, just wrong side down," Bockrath told The Sacramento Bee.

Bockrath said nearly 2 1/2 minutes went by before someone appeared with a fire extinguisher. By then, the aircraft was fully enflamed and collapsing from the heat. He said it took a total of five minutes before fire crews arrived.

The National Transportation Safety Board is heading up an investigation. Lynn Lunsford of the FAA said the FAA was already on site and will be a member of the team. (AP)

Friday, 28 March 2014

IAF's Super Hercules plane crashes near Gwalior, 4 commandos killed





GWALIOR: At least four commandos were killed as an Indian Air Force's newly-acquired C-130J Super Hercules special operations aircraft crashed near Gwalior, officials said.

The plane, carrying an unknown number of people, crashed 72 km west of Gwalior on the Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan border.

Four commandos have been killed as reported so far and rescue operations are underway.

India had signed a $1.2 billion contract with the United States in 2008 for buying six C-130J planes. The IAF has plans to place a follow-on order for six more.

The Super Hercules planes are operated by 15 countries including the air forces of the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Denmark and Italy.

IAF had landed the C130J at the world's highest airstrip in northeastern Ladakh on August 20, 2013
 

Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Israel drone crashes in Gaza

An unmanned aircraft of the sort Israel uses for surveillance and missile strikes in Gaza crashed in the south of the territory early Tuesday, sources on both sides said.
“A Sky Rider drone crashed in the southern Gaza Strip due to a technical malfunction,” an Israeli army spokeswoman said. “An investigation is under way.”
A news agency, run by the territory’s Islamist rulers, Hamas, said the drone came down east of the southern city of Khan Yunis.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters had retrieved the drone.
The incident was followed by an Israeli air strike, also east of Khan Yunis, which killed three Islamic Jihad fighters, the militant group said.
It was unclear if the two incidents were related.

Monday, 10 March 2014

Timeline of worst plane crashes in recent years

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 Flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines had 227 passengers aboard. (AP Photo)
The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 Flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines had 227 passengers aboard. (AP Photo)

The “unprecedented mystery” of a missing Malaysian plane has deepened with no trace of wreckage found even after three days of multinational search operations.
The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 Flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines had 227 passengers aboard, including five Indians and one Indian-origin Canadian, and 12 crew members.
Here is a look at some of the world’s deadliest air disasters in recent years:
February 16, 2014 | Nepal: All 18 people aboard a small passenger plane that crashed into a snow covered mountain bad weather in Nepal were killed. The plane carrying 15 passengers and crew of three was en route from Pokhara to Jamia. The crash highlighted the poor safety record of Nepal, where more than a dozen airlines fly to nearly 50 airports, many in remote hills and mountains shrouded in cloud and cut off from roads.
February 11, 2014 | Algeria:  A military transport plane carrying members of the Algerian armed forces and their relatives crashed into a mountain, killing 77 people, the worst air disaster in the North African country in a decade. State television showed footage of the wreckage of the plane near the village of Ouled Gacem in eastern Algeria, smoke rising from the site and emergency crews scouring the forested area for survivors and bodies.
Reuters Photo  November 17, 2013 | Russia: Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 went into a nearly vertical dive and crashed onto the runway on landing in Kazan, Russia, killing all 50 people on board. The Boeing 737 belonging to Tatarstan Airlines was making its second attempt at a landing in Kazan, 720 kilometers (520 miles) east of MoscowThe jet hit the runway and burst into flames. All 44 passengers and crew of 6 were killed.
November 13, 2013 | Namibia: A Mozambique Airlines plane en route to Angola crashed in a game park in northeast Namibia, killing all 33 people on board. Flight TM 470 left Maputo for the Angolan capital Luanda with 27 passengers and six crew when it lost contact with air traffic controllers.
October 16, 2013 | Laos: A Lao Airlines plane flying in stormy weather crashed into the Mekong river in southern Laos, killing all 44. The virtually new ATR-72 turboprop plane flying from the capital Vientiane crashed just eight kilometers (five miles) short of its destination Pakse and sank into the river. The weather was poor at the time of the accident.
AP Photo  Lagos: A Dana passenger plane crashed into a densely populated part of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, killing all 147 people on board. The McDonnell Douglas MD-83, operated by privately owned domestic carrier Dana Air, was coming into land on a flight from the capital Abuja when it hit the building, not far from Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed Airport and burst into flames.
May 14, 2012 | Nepal: A Dornier plane owned by a private company crashed in northwest Nepal, killing 15 people including 13 Indians. The aircraft was carrying 18 passengers and a crew of three on a flight from the resort town of Pokhara to Jomsom when it crashed while landing at the mountain airstrip.
April 20, 2012 | Pakistan:  A Pakistani airliner on an Airblue domestic flight from Karachi with 127 people on board crashed in bad weather as it came in to land in Islamabad, leaving no sign of survivors. The Boeing 737, operated by local airline Bhoja Air, was flying to the capital from Pakistan’s biggest city and business hub Karachi. It crashed into wheat fields more than 5 miles from the airport.
July 26, 2011 | Morocco: At least 78 people were killed hen a Moroccan military transport plane crashed into a mountain in the south of the country during bad weather. There were three injured survivors so far from the crash, which happened when a Hercules C-130 aircraft was trying to land in Guelmim, having flown north from the disputed Western Sahara territory.
July 08, 2011 | Congo: An airliner ploughed into dense forest as it tried to land during a rainstorm in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, killing 127 people on board. There were 51 survivors.
November 05, 2010 | Cuba:  A state airliner filled with Cubans and travelers from Europe and Latin America crashed and burst into flames in a mountainous area, killing all 68 people on board. AeroCaribbean Flight 883 was en route from the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba went down near the village of Guasimal in Santi Spiritus province, carrying 61 passengers and a crew of seven.
July 28, 2010 | Pakistan: In the worst aviation accident in the country, a Pakistani passenger plane crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board. The Airbus 321, belonging to a private airline crashed into a heavily wooded and hard-to-access hillside while flying from the southern port city of Karachi.
AirIndia_AP_475  May 22, 2010 | India: In the country’s worst air disaster in a decade, an Air India Express Boeing 737 plane overshot the airport runway in Mangalore and burst into flames early this morning killing 158 persons but eight others survived. The aircraft, carrying 160 passengers and a crew of six, hit a concrete localiser instrument, a navigation aid, and fell into a ravine 200 to 300 metres deep. The passengers included four infants and 19 other children.
April 10, 2010 | Russia: The plane of Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashed outside the western Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 aboard.