Continue reading »]]> A 12-year-old girl thought to be the only survivor of the Yemenia air crash has told how she was thrown into the ocean and watched her aircraft sink.

Baya Bakari told her father at a hospital in Yemen that she heard voices around her in the Indian Ocean, but could not see anyone.

She was found clinging to debris some two hours after the crash.

The plane, going to the Comoros Islands from Yemen’s capital Sanaa, came down in bad weather with 153 on board.

Many of the passengers were travelling to the Comoros Islands but had begun their journey in Paris or Marseille on another jet operated by Yemenia, the national airline of Yemen, before boarding flight IY626 in Sanaa.

The EU and France have both said they highlighted safety concerns over Yemenia planes and said the jet that crashed had not flown into EU airspace since 2007.

But no official cause for the crash has yet been found. Earlier on Wednesday a French government minister in the Comoros capital, Moroni, said that a detected signal thought to be from one of the plane’s “black box” flight recorders was in fact a distress beacon.

‘True miracle’

Ms Bakari, who lives in Paris with her family, was treated in hospital in Moroni for injuries, said to include a fractured collarbone and burns.

On Wednesday evening, she was reported to be flying back to Paris in a French government aircraft.

French officials earlier said that she was 12 years old, contradicting earlier reports she was 14.

Speaking from Paris, her father Kassim Bakari said she was thrown from the plane as it hit the water. He said she clearly recalled the chaos of her time in the water.

“She said: ‘Papa, we saw the plane going down in the water. I was in the dark, I couldn’t see a thing.

“‘[And] on top of that daddy, I can’t swim well and I held on to something, but don’t really know what’.

“She’s a very timid girl, I never thought she would escape like that,” he said, adding that she was “fragile” and barely able to swim.

Mr Bakari recalled how he said goodbye to his wife and daughter at the airport as they headed to the Comoros.

“I kissed them both, then my wife turned around, she looked at me and she waved, and my daughter she didn’t do anything, and that was the last time I saw my wife alive, because my daughter… I will see her again I hope, but for my wife it was the last time.”

French officials in Moroni praised the girl’s courage. International Co-operation Minister Alain Joyandet described her rescue as a “true miracle”.

“She is a courageous young girl. She really showed an absolutely incredible physical and moral strength.”

An uncle, Ali Abdou, who visited the girl in hospital in Moroni, told the BBC she did not yet know that her mother had died.

She was scheduled to be transferred back to Paris for treatment later on Wednesday, he added.

“She is conscious, speaking well, [she] is ok. She was joking, she was chatting, we laughed together.

“It’s a miracle. It was God’s will.”

‘No black box’

Earlier, a French government minister reversed earlier claims that one of the plane’s black box recorders had been found.

Mr Joyandet, the French minister in Moroni, said signals picked up by rescuers came from a distress beacon. Most aircraft have a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder.

“The Transall (military plane) that picked up an acoustic signal did not, despite what was said this morning, detect the beacons of the flight recorders, but rather what appear to be its distress beacons,” Mr Joyandet said in Moroni, the Comoros capital, AFP news agency reported.

There were 66 French nationals among the passengers. Most of the rest were Comorans, and most had flown on a different Yemenia aircraft from Paris or Marseille before boarding flight IY626 in Sanaa.

A French vessel has been sent to the site to start recovery operations, she added, and French rescue teams are involved in the search for survivors.

However, no-one from the plane has been confirmed alive apart from Baya Bakari, and rescuers say chances of finding more survivors are slim.

Angry protest

The French transport ministry said on Tuesday that the Airbus 310 plane which crashed had been banned from France because of “irregularities”.

But Yemenia responded by criticising “false information and speculation about technical problems” on the plane.

Several Comoran expatriates angry with what they see as the poor state of the company’s aircraft tried to stop passengers from checking in for another Yemenia flight leaving Paris Charles de Gaulle airport for Sanaa.

About 60 people failed to check in, reports said, but it was not clear how many did so as a result of the protest.

The crash was the second involving an Airbus aircraft in recent weeks. On 1 June an Air France Airbus 330 travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board.

Survivor speaks of Yemenia crash

Continue reading »]]> A twin-engine plane crashed in western Nevada Saturday afternoon, killing all five people on board, authorities said.

Witnesses saw the plane nosedive in the town of Gardnerville at about 4:10 p.m. (7:10 p.m. ET), but there was no fire, said Sgt. Jim Halsey of the Douglas County sheriff’s office.

Three of the passengers killed were identified as Paul Dallas, 43; Leia Denner, 40; and Brent Fahey, 30; all of Nevada. The fourth passenger and the pilot would not be named until their families were told, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities believe all five occupants died of blunt force trauma.

The six-seat plane had taken off from Minden-Tahoe Airport — about 5 miles south of Gardnerville, Halsey said.

Witnesses said they did not hear any mechanical distress noises from the plane, nor did they see any parts separate from the plane before the crash, according to the sheriff’s office.

Officials said the plane appeared to fly normally until it crashed about 10 minutes after takeoff.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. Teams will inspect the crash site Sunday

5 killed in Nevada plane crash

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A FedEx cargo plane has crashed on landing at Tokyo’s international airport and burst into a ball of flames. A pilot and co-pilot were aboard but their safety could not immediately be confirmed.

The plane was on a regular flight from Guangzhou, China. It landed under heavy winds early Monday, appeared to bounce and burst into flames as it skidded to a halt. Firetrucks were trying to put out the flames more than 30 minutes after the crash.

Continue reading »]]> A FedEx cargo plane burst into flames after bouncing off a runway in unusually high winds at Tokyo’s main international airport Monday, killing the pilot and copilot and closing a major runway for several hours.

The flight from Guangzhou, China, skipped along the main runway at Narita Airport before skidding to a fiery halt, according to footage from airport security cameras. Firefighters and rescuers immediately swarmed the plane.

The pilot and copilot — the only people onboard the flight — were pulled from the cockpit and taken to a local hospital, where they were later confirmed dead.

National broadcaster NHK identified them as 54-year-old pilot Kevin Kylemosley and his 49-year-old copilot, Anthony Stephen-Pino.

FedEx could not immediately confirm details of the crash, spokeswoman Denise Lauer said in an e-mail from the company’s Memphis office. Police could confirm only that the two crew member has died.

The plane smashed into the longer of Narita’s two runways, which remained closed Monday morning with all incoming flights diverted, said airport spokeswoman Misuho Fukuda.

Ikuo Uda, a spokesman for Narita International Airport Corp., which manages the airport, said 16 international flights were canceled, and that the airport was operating with only one runway several hours after the crash.

Unusually strong winds of up to about 47 miles per hour (76 kilometers per hour) were blowing through Narita City on Monday morning around the time of the crash, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Airport officials said it was too early to say whether the strong winds caused the crash.

Local news reports said the plane was an MD-11, a widebody airliner built by McDonnell Douglas and based on the DC-10.

Strong winds and turbulence have caused other recent incidents at the airport. Last month a flight from the Philippines was jolted by severe turbulence as it circled prior to landing, injuring 50 passengers and crew members.

Narita Airport is a major international hub located about 35 miles (60 kilometers) east of central Tokyo. It is Japan’s second-busiest airport, after Haneda Airport, a largely domestic hub in Tokyo.

Cargo plane crashes on landing at Tokyo airport

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A small plane crashed Sunday as it approached an airport in Montana, killing 17 people, including several children, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.

The single engine turboprop plane crashed about 500 feet from the airport in Butte while attempting to land, said spokesman Mike Fergus. The Montana Standard reported in an online story that it crashed in Butte’s Holy Cross Cemetery.

Continue reading »]]> BUTTE, Mont. — A small plane — possibly carrying children on a ski trip — crashed Sunday as it approached the Butte airport, killing 14 to 17 people aboard, a federal official said. The single engine turboprop nose-dived into a cemetery 500 feet from its destination.

The aircraft crashed and burned while attempting to land, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus. The plane crashed in Holy Cross Cemetery.

An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board offered few details at a press conference in Butte Sunday night. No cause of the crash was given.

“We are just beginning our investigation,” said Kristi Dunks. “We don’t have a lot of information at this time.

“Certain family members were contacted,” she said. “At this point, I don’t have an exact number.”

The aircraft had departed from Oroville, Calif., and the pilot had filed a flight plan showing a destination of Bozeman, about 85 miles southeast of Butte. But the pilot canceled his flight plan at some point and headed for Butte, Fergus said.

Preliminary reports indicate the dead include numerous children, he said. There were no known fatalities on the ground, he added.

“We think that it was probably a ski trip for the kids,” Fergus said.

Martha and Steve Guidoni, who were at a gas station across from the cemetery, told the Standard that the plane “just nose-dived into the ground.”

“My husband went over there to see if he could do anything,” Martha Guidoni said.

Fergus said the Pilatus PC-12 aircraft was manufactured in 2001. Such planes are certified to carry 12 people.

The plane was registered to Eagle Cap Leasing Inc. in Enterprise, Ore., Fergus said. He didn’t know who was operating the plane.

I. Felkamp is listed in Oregon corporate records as Eagle Cap’s president. Attempts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful.

The flight originated at Brown Field Municipal airport in San Diego on Saturday evening and flew to Redlands, Calif., where it left Sunday morning for Vacaville, Calif., according to Flight Aware, a Web site that tracks air traffic. From there it flew to Oroville, Calif., and then to Butte. The NTSB could not confirm that information.

“We are still gathering the information of the aircraft, it’s purpose, what they were doing and where they were going,” Dunks said.

In California, Tom Hagler said he saw a group of about a dozen children and four adults Sunday morning at the Oroville Municipal Airport, about 70 miles north of Sacramento.

Hagler, owner of Table Mountain Aviation, described the children as ranging from about 6- to 10 year olds. He let the children into his building to use the restroom.

“There were a lot of kids in the group,” he said. “A lot of really cute kids.”

Hagler said he showed the pilot where he could fuel his plane, and the pilot said he expected his flight to take two-and-a-half hours. The pilot didn’t file a flight plan at the Oroville airport.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said its investigators were expected to arrive in Butte late Sunday or early Monday.

The crash is the fourth major plane accident in the U.S. in slightly more than three months.

On Dec. 20, Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at Denver International Airport, injuring 37 people. No one was killed. In January, a US Airways jetliner landed in New York’s Hudson River after a flock of geese disabled both its engines. All 155 people onboard survived. Last month, commuter plane fell on a house in a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y., killing all 49 passengers and a man in the home.

Before the Buffalo crash there hadn’t been an accident involving a commercial airliner in the U.S. in which there were fatalities in more than two years.

The Associated Press:

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A Turkish airliner carrying 134 people crashed at Amsterdam’s main airport Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring more than 50 others.

The airliner crashed into a muddy field just short of Amsterdam main airport mid-morning local time, breaking into three pieces. The Boeing 737 aircraft had been en route from Istanbul to The Netherlands and was trying to land in misty weather. The Turkish airline initially said there had been no casualties, but Dutch authorities quickly amended that claim.

The Turkish Transport Minister said it was a miracle there weren’t more casualties.

At a news conference, a local mayor, Michel Bezuijen, briefly sketched the events before the crash and its aftermath to reporters.

“At this moment, rescue operations are still in full force,” he said. “At this moment, nine mortally wounded are to be regretted. About 50 wounded persons have been brought to hospital in Amsterdam and Haarlem.”

Survivors told Turkish television that the events took place very quickly. Dutch authorities are promising a quick investigation, and so far, they say, it’s unclear just what caused the crash.

The plane’s manufacturer Boeing is sending a team to provide technical assistance to Dutch investigators. A spokesman for the investigators said the plane’s flight data recorders had been found and will be analyzed by experts.

Turkish Airliner Crashes at  Amsterdam Airport, Killing 9 People

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Continue reading »]]> Investigators are trying to determine what caused the crash of an airplane with a good safety record, flown by a well-respected airline, at one of the world’s most modern airports.

At least nine people were killed and 55 injured when the Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed Wednesday in a field near Amsterdam’s main airport, splitting into three parts, officials said.

It is too early to determine the cause of the crash but the flight data and voice recorders have been recovered, said Michel Bezuijen, acting mayor of Haarlemmermeer municipality, which is home to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

He said investigators still need to determine what, if anything, the pilots said in the moments before the crash.

The injured included both crew and passengers, he said. The names of the dead and injured will not be released before Thursday, Bezuijen said.

“It will take more time. Probably tomorrow afternoon we can tell you about the identity of the victims, including the fatalities,” he said.

Another official said earlier that both pilots and an apprentice pilot are among the dead.

“There are still three crew members in the cabin,” said Bob Steensma of the Dutch Justice Department. “I’m sorry to say they are dead. We leave them there because we have to investigate the cockpit before we take the cockpit apart.”

Turkish Airlines said earlier the plane was carrying 134 people — 127 passengers and seven crew members.

Six people were critically injured, Ineke Van Der Zande of Amsterdam Emergency Services told reporters at a briefing.

Twenty-five passengers were severely injured, she said, and 24 were lightly injured. Some 60 ambulances transported 84 people to 11 hospitals throughout the region, she said. There was no word on injuries to the others who were transported.

Witnesses said they saw the nose of the plane pitch up suddenly before the crash, according to RTL journalist Greg Crouch.

The plane broken into three pieces. One break was in front of the wing, splitting the “Turkish” logo in two, and a larger break was farther back along the fuselage.

Most of the injured were seated toward the back of the plane, which sustained the most damage, a passenger on the plane told Turkish station NTV.

Many of the passengers simply walked off the plane through the cracks in the fuselage, witnesses said.

A passenger on the plane who spoke to Turkish network DHA said he saw injured people trapped and squeezed between the seats when he walked out.

Flight 1951 was arriving at Schiphol from Istanbul, Turkey, when it went down around 10:40 a.m. (4:40 a.m. ET). It came to rest in a farmer’s field about 500 yards short of the runway, near the major A9 highway.

Crouch said the weather at the time was partly sunny with no wind or rain. No fire broke out after the crash, Bezuijen said.

A bank manager who was a passenger on the plane told NTV that there were no emergency announcements. The crew’s last word to the cabin was an announcement to fasten their seat belts and prepare for landing, the bank manager said.

He said he felt the pilot giving more power to the engines before feeling “turbulence,” then a sudden drop. He described the crash as similar to a sudden impact that was over in a matter of seconds.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators to Amsterdam to assist in the crash investigation.

The Boeing 737-800 is a reliable aircraft that has been successful and safe in service, said aviation expert Kieran Daly of Air Transport Intelligence.

“They really are pretty much state-of-the-art airlines with every imaginable technical benefit the industry has come up with over the years,” Daly told CNN. “You would be optimistic that they would be quite survivable in an accident.”

Daly said Turkish Airlines, a national carrier, has a “very good record.”

Turkish Airlines said it has 52 Boeing 737-800s in its fleet. They can carry as many as 165 passengers each, it said.

Before Wednesday, the airline’s last accident was of a small commuter jet in 2003, Daly said. It was a fatal crash that happened at a remote airfield in southeastern Turkey, he said.

“Their mainline operation is safe,” Daly said. “Their pilots are well thought of.”

Worldwide, there have been two fatal commercial airline crashes this year.

The last previous fatal incident at the Amsterdam airport happened in April 1994 when a KLM aircraft crashed as it tried to return to Schiphol shortly after takeoff. Three of the 24 passengers and crew members on board were killed.

Flight recorders found at Dutch crash site

Continue reading »]]> About 30 people were injured Friday when a Northwest Airlines flight suffered turbulence before landing at Japan’s Narita International Airport, a Northwest spokesman said.

Three people where seriously injured, fire officials said. Tokyo ‘s Kyodo news agency later put the number of overall injured at 47.

There were 408 passengers and 14 crew members on the Boeing 747-400 flight from Manila, Philippines .

American passenger Vincent Salazar told Kyodo News that he heard screams around 30 minutes before the plane was scheduled to arrive as it suddenly fell, then ascended.

Salazar added that several passengers were thrown into the cabin ceiling, hitting their heads and hurting their necks because they were not wearing their seatbelts.

”We were flying and then the seatbelt sign came on and when we were trying to get back to the seats, the plane dropped and so some people went up and hit the top (ceiling),” he told the agency.

”I actually was pretty calm because I’ve flown a lot, but the lady next to me was screaming… And unfortunately some people weren’t in their seatbelts. They were just flying.”

The plane eventually touched down east of Tokyo at Narita airport at around 12:20 p.m. Friday, the agency quoted the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry as saying.

Those injured during the incident were taken to nearby hospitals, the airport’s operator and fire department officials told Kyodo.

Turbulence is air movement that normally cannot be seen. It may occur when the sky appears to be clear and can happen unexpectedly. Most injuries result from passengers who are not belted into their seats.

It can be created by any number of different conditions, including atmospheric pressures, jet streams, mountain waves, cold or warm fronts, or thunderstorms.

Passenger: People were ‘flying’ around the plane

Continue reading »]]> A U.S. Border Patrol helicopter went down Thursday night near the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the FAA said.

The McDonnell Douglas 600N, with three people on board, made a forced landing because of engine trouble.

The three people were able to exit the helicopter on their own and were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Aerial images showed the chopper sitting on the edge of the surf, just north of the nuclear plant. The aircraft was significantly damaged, authorities said.

The helicopter was going from the airport in Long Beach, California, to the Brown Field airport in San Diego, said Vince Bond, the Border Patrol’s public information officer.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the case.

Helicopter goes down near California nuclear plant