Author Topic: At Least 12 People Are Killed in Plane Crash in Kazakhstan  (Read 3223 times)

Offline KB4TEZ

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At Least 12 People Are Killed in Plane Crash in Kazakhstan
« on: December 27, 2019, 06:48:21 AM »
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/at-least-12-people-are-killed-in-plane-crash-in-kazakhstan/ar-BBYnwMx?li=BBnb7Kz

MOSCOW — A passenger jet carrying 98 people crashed into a building shortly after takeoff from Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan on Friday morning, killing at least 12 people and injuring scores more.

The crash of the Bek Air plane was the latest aviation tragedy to befall a former Soviet republic, a region plagued by a still-checkered safety record even as passenger numbers increase with the proliferation of low-cost carriers like Bek, a small Kazakh airline.

Most of the passengers survived, the Kazakh authorities said. There were conflicting reports on the total number of people on board, but the Health Ministry, in a statement, eventually fixed the numbers at 93 passengers and five crew members.

Photographs carried by Kazakh news outlets showed the fuselage of the passenger jet ripped to pieces in the snow amid the rubble of a building. Rescue workers combed the wreckage. In one photo, emergency workers were seen picking through the debris — a red suitcase, a building’s window frame and pieces of the aircraft.

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At 7:22 a.m., the plane, a Dutch-made Fokker 100, bound for Nur-Sultan, the Kazakh capital, lost altitude and crashed into a two-story building in a residential area near the airport, officials said.

Eight people were confirmed dead at the scene, two more while being treated at the airport and another two after being taken to a hospital, officials said. Ten people were reported hospitalized in critical condition.

A surviving passenger, Aslan Nazaraliyev, 34, said he was watching the TV show “Billions” in an aisle seat in row 15 when the plane started “rocking like a boat” as it gained altitude after takeoff. Then, he said, it started shaking violently and people on board started to panic, even as the craft continued to climb.

About a minute later, “the flight got out of control,” like a car skidding on ice, Mr. Nazaraliyev, a businessman whose company makes professional cleaning supplies, said in a phone interview.

The plane started to fall at an angle before it made impact some 20 seconds later, he said, slamming into a two-story building, pieces of which rained down. A man and woman to his right opened the emergency exit and clambered out, slipping and falling on the plane’s icy wing.

Guided by their smartphone flashlights and by people’s moans, Mr. Nazaraliyev and others dragged the injured away from the plane for fear it would catch fire.

“Where is the ambulance?” a woman can be heard saying on a video from the scene circulated by the Kazakh news media. “People are asking for an ambulance and it’s not arriving.”

In another video, apparently filmed about 20 minutes after the crash, people can be heard moaning and screaming. No emergency workers can be seen.

“We’re taking them out on our own and helping on our own,” a man says.

Among the dead, Interfax reported, were the plane’s 38-year-old captain, Marat Muratbayev; an editor for a Kazakh news outlet, Dana Gruglova, who was 35; and a prominent Kazakh major general, Rustem Kaydarov, 79.

Mr. Nazaraliyev said he was unharmed in the crash. After rescue workers arrived, he got a ride back to the same airport from which he had just departed and then took a cab home.

He said that some survivors asked if they would get their tickets refunded and when they would get their luggage back.

“I said, ‘Guys, you should be happy you’re alive,’ ” Mr. Nazaraliyev recalled.

Almaty, in southeastern Kazakhstan near the mountainous border with Kyrgyzstan, is the Central Asian country’s biggest city.

The Kazakh authorities have halted flights of the Fokker 100, a twin-engine model built in the 1980s and ’90s, news agencies reported, citing the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development.

The authorities were investigating pilot error or technical problems as possible causes of the crash, Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar said. The plane’s tail twice touched the runway as it was taking off, Mr. Sklyar said, according to Russia’s Tass state news agency.

Bek Air, which was Kazakhstan’s first low-cost airline, operates seven Fokker 100 jets and flies to 12 Kazakh destinations as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. A brief statement from the airline offered condolences and warned Kazakhs about the risk of fraudsters taking advantage of the tragedy.

The accident is the second deadly commercial aviation accident in the former Soviet Union this year. An Aeroflot plane made a fiery emergency landing in Moscow in May, killing 41 people. A Saratov Airlines crash outside Moscow last year killed all 71 aboard.

The last major commercial airline crash in Kazakhstan was in 2013, when a SCAT Airlines Canadair CRJ-200 regional jet went down outside Almaty, killing all 21 on board.

On Twitter, Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, expressed his condolences to the victims and said a government commission led by Prime Minister Askar Mamin would investigate the crash.

“All the guilty will be punished severely in accordance with the law,” Mr. Tokayev said.

Production on the Fokker 100 ceased in 1997, after the plane’s Dutch manufacturer went into bankruptcy in 1996. Though many airlines have retired the aircraft, more than 100 are still active, mostly in Australia and Iran, and a well-maintained airliner can remain in service for more than 30 years. The plane is almost 117 feet long and can carry up to 109 passengers.

In July this year, a Fokker 100 flying for Virgin Australia suffered engine failure after taking off from an airport in Western Australia. Crew members tried to restart the left engine after it began to fail as the aircraft was climbing, said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is investigating the incident.

They could not restart the engine, but were able to fly to their destination 260 miles away. The plane landed safely with no injuries reported. A report on the investigation is expected in the first few months of the new year.

And last month, a Fokker 100 flying for Alliance Airlines lost speed preparing to land at Rockhampton Airport in the Australian state of Queensland, the safety bureau said. The craft ran into turbulence on its final approach and fell below the minimum approach speed.

It landed safely, but the authorities were scrutinizing technical logs and recorded data and interviewing crew members. A report is expected next year.

The Fokker 100 is still sought after for its durability. “The Fokker 100 is a very, very good plane, properly maintained,” said Geoffrey Thomas, editor in chief of Airlineratings.com. “They work in the most harsh environments around the clock.”

Ivan Nechepurenko and Oleg Matsnev contributed reporting from Moscow, and Daniel Victor and Jamie Tarabay from Hong Kong.



Offline FAHEEM ABRAHAMS

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Re: At Least 12 People Are Killed in Plane Crash in Kazakhstan
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2019, 03:07:41 PM »
This is awful news! plane crashes, car accidents... lost of life is never easy. I can't imagine what it feels like
waiting for love ones to arrive only to hear the heart breaking news. As tragic as it may sound, we all have
hope that our love ones survived. I did a video recently on some of the deadliest plane crashes.
You can check it out here! 

Offline joeyb747

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Re: At Least 12 People Are Killed in Plane Crash in Kazakhstan
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2020, 05:59:54 AM »
More info here, including METARS, early FDR data, and photos:

http://avherald.com/h?article=4d127dc6&opt=0

Offline joeyb747

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Re: At Least 12 People Are Killed in Plane Crash in Kazakhstan
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2020, 01:48:38 PM »
"On Jan 20th 2020 Kazakhstan's CAA reported that examination of the airline found a number of severe violations with respect to the airworthiness of their fleet, the condition of which was generally described as poor. The CAA reported amongst others: "Coupled with this, the most serious safety finding is that Bek Air has removed component data plates. These data plates have serial numbers to help track hours and cycles. This practice means the identity of engines can no longer be verified and that hours and cycles attributed to that engine no longer provable. Several engines with this problem have been identified, which casts doubt on all aircraft engines operated by Bek Air. In addition, Rolls Royce, the manufacturer of the Fokker-100 aircraft engines, reported that they have received no information about the overhaul of these engines since these aircraft were put into operation in Kazakhstan. Rolls Royce also further informed the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan JSC that there is no procedure which would require the removal of a data plate, nor would Rolls Royce authorize such a procedure." The CAA wrote with respect to the accident:

"During the inspection of video evidence at Almaty Airport, it was discovered that the Bek Air Crews usually do not conduct a walk-around, or a wing check as instructed and required in the Bek Air’s operations manual.

In the Fokker 28-100 aircraft operations manual, it clearly states that the aircraft wing MUST be checked prior to each flight and, unusually for aircraft of this type, the manual specifies how this check must be done. This procedure was introduced as an airworthiness directive after the 1993 crash in Skopje, Macedonia. The clean wing check requires a tactile check of the wing at three points along the leading edge on the upper surface, the lower surface and the front of the wing. The manual states that if there is ice present, then the all critical surfaces must be de-iced. Reviews of video footage of preparations of Bek Air aircraft do not show that this check was ever completed.

Training records show no evidence of winter operations training being conducted. No training syllabus was produced to show that crews are trained to identify and treat ice risks for this type of aircraft.""


From the updated AvHerald article:

http://avherald.com/h?article=4d127dc6&opt=0