Remembering Malaysia MH 370

 

            THE MISSING AIRCRAFT IS SIMILAR TO THIS ONE

Today marks the 8th anniversary of the disappearance of the Malaysian 777 and even though bits and pieces believed to be from the stricken 370 have been found, the actual aircraft is still missing. 
Flight MH 370 was a scheduled international passenger flight that disappeared on the 8th March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL/WMKK), Malaysia to Beijing-Capital International Airport (PEK/ZBAA) China. Flight 370 last made voice contact with air traffic control at 01:19 local time when it was over the South China Sea, less than an hour after take off. The aircraft disappeared from air traffic controllers' radar screens at 01:21 local time. Malaysian military radar continued to track Flight 370 as it deviated from its planned flight path and crossed the Malay Peninsula. Flight 370 left the range of Malaysian military radar at 02:22 while over the Andaman Sea, 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 miles) northwest of Penangin in north western Malaysia. The aircraft was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations; six of those were Australians. Investigators thought the most likely location for the jet was in the Indian Ocean after analysing information from the British satellite telecommunications company Immarsat. Likely locations for the airliner could be tracked by knowing the distance from the fixed satellite, but it would also change depending which direction the plane was flying in after its last known position and at what speed it was travelling at. If it was flying north then possible locations could stretch as far as the border between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Thailand. But if it was flying south possible sites could range from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. Authorities believe the Indian Ocean is the most likely site After 7 years of extensive searches and many possible sighting of floating objects, Investigators have found no trace of the Malaysia Airlines 777 or it's 239 passengers.
Initially search efforts focused on the South China Sea area. On the 24 March 2014 further analysis of the Inmarsat satellite data indicated that MH370 flew south and ended its flight in the southern part of the Indian Ocean. A surface search was conducted of probable impact areas along an arc, identified by calculations based on Inmarsat data. The search was carried out from the 18th March - 28th April 2014. This search effort was undertaken by an international fleet of aircraft and ships with the search areas over this time progressing generally from an initial southwest location along the arc in a north-easterly direction. No debris associated with MH370 was identified either from the surface search, acoustic search or from the ocean floor search in the vicinity of acoustic detection, which were initially believed to have been from the pingers on the flight recorders. The ocean floor search was completed on the 28th May 2014.
On the 26th June 2014 the ATSB published a new search area based on refinements to the analysis of both the flight and satellite data. The priority area of approximately 60,000 km2 extends along the arc for 650 km in a northeast direction from Broken Ridge, an underwater ridge. The width of the priority search area is 93 km.
On the 29th July 2015 a flapperon washed ashore on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. On August 5 it was established to have been from MH370.

Flight 370 was operated by a nearly 12 year old Boeing 777-2H6ER, registration 9M-MRO (MSN 28420). This was the 404th Boeing 777 produced, it first flew on 14th May 2002 and was delivered to Malaysia Airlines on 31st May 2002. For the sake of the loved ones left behind and for the staff at Malaysia Airlines I hope they find the aircraft soon.

OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND OF COURSE THE STAFF OF MALAYSIAN AIRLINES WHO ARE MISSING LOVED ONES



Spotting at Brisbane Airport

Yesterday morning I headed out to Brisbane airport to catch the two Lion Air 737's passing through Brisbane.(See previous post)  

Below are some other photos I took during the day.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES AIRBUS A350-941 9V-SHR (MSN 445)
SQ255 ARRIVING FROM SINGAPORE (SIN)

JETSTAR AIRBUS A321-231 VH-VWN (MSN 7438)
JQ565 OFF TO MELBOURNE (MEL)

REX BOEING 737-8FE VH-RQP (MSN 37822)
ZL332 ARRIVING FROM SYDNEY (SYD)

EMBRAER PHENOM 300 VH-VKX (MSN 50500316)

AIR NIUGINI BOEING 767-341 P2-PXV (MSN 303041)
PX4 OFF TO CAIRNS (CNS)

ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE BEECH 200C VH-FDS (MSN BL-68)
FD425 OFF TO BUNDABERG

JETSTAR BOEING 787-8 VH-VKA  (MSN 36227)
JQ9985 OFF TO TOKYO (NRT)

QANTASLINK BOEING 717-2K9 VH-NXH (MSN 55055)
QF1711 ARRIVING FROM CAIRNS (CNS)

LEARJET 60 VH-OLJ (MSN 60-211)

AIR NEW ZEALAND AIRBUS A321-271 ZK-NNB (08542)
NZ200 OFF TO CHRISTCHURCH (CHC)

CESSNA 525 CITATION VH-DAA (MSN 525-0138)

QANTAS AIRBUS A330-202 VH-EBL(MSN 0976)
QF6018 OFF TO SYDNEY (SYD)

HEVILIFT ATR 72-500 VH-FVI (MSN 0955)
HT710 OFF TO GLADSTONE (GLT)

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE 
DASSAULT FALCON 7X A56-003 (MSN286)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-8SA VH-IXJ (MSN 44226)
OFF TO BE PAINTED IN VIRGIN COLOURS WAS 9V-MGJ

AVCAIR BEECH 200 KING AIR VH-EWG (MSN BB-1694)

ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE BEECH B200
VH-VJU (MSN BB-1881)

AVCAIR BEECH 300 KING AIR VH-EWQ (MSN FL-122)

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BOEING 737 7DF
A36-002 (MSN 30790)

EMIRATES A380-842 A6-EVC 9MSN 248)

Lion's found in Brisbane

Late last month there have been a fair few aircraft leaving the Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage facility in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia, and today was no different. 

Two Lion Air Boeing 737-8GP departed Alice Springs bound for the USA and called into Brisbane for a fuel stop.
N381AG, with the callsign of Nomadic 553, departed Alice Springs from runway 12 at 9.31am (Alice Time) and set course for Brisbane landing on runway 01L 2 hours 30 minutes later at 12.34pm local. 

N381AG is the new registration as the aircraft started its life with Thai Lion Air in August 2015 with the registration HS-LUI. Then in March 2020 it ended up with Lion Air and had the registration PK-LQV (MSN 39861).

Twelve minutes later N386AG, with the callsign Nomadic 554, departed Alice also from runway 12 at 9.43am (Alice Time) and he too set course for Brisbane. Nomadic 544 landed on runway 01L fourteen minutes later at 12.48pm.

N386AG is the new registration as the aircraft also started its life with Thai Lion Air in October 2015 with the registration HS-LUK. Then in March 2020 it ended up with Lion Air and had the registration PK- LQW (MSN 39868).

At 1.51pm Nomadic 553 pushed back from the gate and made the long taxi out for the 01L holding point, then at 2.02pm starting rolling for take off and headed off for Honiara. From there it will travel to Honolulu, Los Angeles and on to Miami's Opa Locka.

At 2.13pm Nomadic 554 pushed back from the gate and also made the long taxi out for the 01L holding point, then at 2.26pm starting rolling for take off and headed off for Honiara. From there it will travel to Honolulu, Los Angeles and on to Miami's Opa Locka.

Thanks to Damian F for the heads up, really appreciate it.

Remembering Turkish Airlines 981 -48 yrs on

 

TURKISH AIRLINES B787-9 TC-LLI (MSN 65809)

Similar to the United 811 story I posted back in late February, The crash of Turkish Airlines 981 occurred when an incorrectly secured cargo door at the rear of the plane burst open and broke off, causing an explosive decompression that severed critical cables necessary to control the aircraft. To maximize the working space within the cargo hold, the cargo doors opened outwards, making them vulnerable to being forced open at high altitudes under normal in-flight pressure. To prevent this, a special latching system was used that locked shut under pressure when properly closed. To ensure the latches were properly positioned, a handle on the outside of the door pressed small metal pins into the latches; if the latches were not in the proper location the pins would not align and the handle would not close.

On Sunday the 3rd March 1974 flight TK981 departed Istanbul (IST/LTFM) for a flight to Paris-Orly Airport (ORY/LFPO), France to London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL), United Kingdom. The DC-10 landed at Paris-Orly at 11:02am and taxied to stand A2. There were 167 passengers on board, of whom 50 disembarked. The aircraft was refueled and baggage was loaded onto the plane. The planned turnaround time of one hour was delayed by 30 minutes. An additional 216 passengers embarked. Most of the passengers were booked on this flight because of a strike at British Airways. The door of the aft cargo compartment on the left-hand side was closed at about 12:15 pm. When all preparations were complete the flight received permission to taxi to runway 08 at 12:24. Four minutes later the crew were cleared to line up for departure and were cleared for departure route 181 and an initial climb to flight level 40. The aircraft took off at approximately 12:30 and was cleared by Orly Departure to climb to 6000, which was reached at 12:34. The North Area Control Centre then cleared TK981 further to FL230. Three or four seconds before 12:40:00, the noise of decompression was heard and the co-pilot said: "the fuselage has burst" and the pressurization aural warning sounded. This was caused by the opening and separation of the aft left-hand cargo door. The pressure difference in the cargo bay and passenger cabin, the floor above the cargo door partly collapsed. Two occupied tripe seat units were ejected from the aircraft. All the horizontal stabilizer and elevator control cables routed beneath the floor of the DC-10 and were thus also severely disrupted. Also the no. 2 engine power was lost almost completely. The aircraft turned 9 deg to the left and pitched nose down. The nose-down attitude increased rapidly to -20 deg. Although the no. 1 and 3 engines were throttled back the speed increased to 360 kts. The pitch attitude then progressively increased to -4 degrees and the speed became steady at 430 kts (800 km/h). At a left bank of 17 degrees the DC-10 crashed into the forest of Ermenonville, 37 km NE of Paris killing the 11 crew and the 335 passenger - total of 346 SOB.


The crash is also known as the Ermenonville air disaster. At the time, Flight 981 was the deadliest plane crash in aviation history until 27th March 1977, when 583 people perished in the collision of two Boeing 747s in Tenerife. It remained the deadliest single-aircraft accident until the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 on the 12th August 1985, and the deadliest aviation accident without survivors until the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision on the 12th November 1996. It remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident without survivors, the first fatal and deadliest crash involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and the deadliest aviation accident to occur in France. It is also the deadliest aviation accident that does not involve a Boeing 747.

Aircraft Information

Airline: Turkish Airlines

Code: TK/TKY

Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10

Registration: TC-JAV

Serial Number: 46704

Engines: 3 General Electric CF6-6D

First Flew: 15/02/1972

Age: 2 Yrs 1 Mth

Aeroflot flight to New York turns around mid-flight

The world is getting much smaller for Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot, and that was reflected in Sunday’s flight from Moscow to New York, as seen on Flightradar24.

On Sunday, the European Union and Canada officially banned Russian airlines from using their airspace. While the United States hasn’t yet banned Aeroflot, it looks like Aeroflot may be canceling flights to the United States due to lack of feasible routings to operate these flights, at least temporarily.

This was most evident on Aeroflot flight SU124 from Moscow (SVO/UUEE) to New York (JFK/KJFK) on Sunday, the 27th February 2022. The flight was supposed to depart at 2:40PM and arrive at 5:20PM, the flight was operated by a Boeing 777-3MOER with the registration VP-BHA (MSN 65307).

The flight took off roughly on schedule, and continued a standard northerly routing for around four hours, over Finland and Sweden, and then toward Greenland.

However, I suppose the news that both the EU and Canada are banning Aeroflot caused Aeroflot’s operations people to cut their losses while they could, and have the flight return to base. Without being able to use Canadian airspace, odds are that the plane didn’t have enough fuel to land in New York, and where can the plane even really refuel at that point?

So in the end Aeroflot operated a roughly eight hour flight to nowhere. For context, below is what a standard routing would have looked like for this Aeroflot service.

Aeroflot uses Canadian airspace by lying?

On Sunday morning, Aeroflot flight SU110 from Moscow (SVO/UUEE) to Miami (MIA/KMIA) operated as scheduled, departing at 7:10AM and arriving at 11:50AM. That’s because the flight (which used an Airbus A350-900) operated before both Canada and the European Union officially banned Russian planes.

The return flight was a different story, though. Aeroflot 111 from Miami to Moscow was scheduled to depart at 1:55PM and arrive at 8:35AM on Monday morning. However, by the time the flight departed Miami, new restrictions had already been put in place by both Canada and the European Union.

The world is slowly closing to Russian airlines, with Aeroflot being the most global of those airlines. With new airspace restrictions from the European Union and Canada, Aeroflot decided to turn around on its service between Moscow and New York on Sunday.

Meanwhile Aeroflot’s eastbound transatlantic flights on Sunday also had quite a journey — the flight from Miami still used Canadian airspace, apparently by lying and claiming it was a humanitarian flight. That’s now being investigated.

Airlines stop codesharing with Aeroflot and cancels flights to Russia

KLM BOEING 747-406 PH-BFT (MSN 28459)

KLM, the Royal Dutch Airline, will immediately stop all code-sharing flights with Aeroflot, a KLM spokesperson reported. Delta Air Lines also announced last week that it had withdrawn its codeshare agreement with Russian flag carrier Aeroflot with immediate effect, due to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

Both airlines are part of the Skyteam alliance.

“We have removed our code from Aeroflot-operated services beyond Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport and removed Aeroflot’s code from Delta-operated services from Los Angeles and New York-JFK,” the airline wrote in a statement.

KLM decided to cancel all flights to, from and over Russia. Last Saturday two of its flights were called back to Amsterdam after almost reaching their destination (Moscow and St. Petersburg) in Russia. 

KLM cancelling flights to Russia

KLM has decided to cancel all flights to Russia scheduled for departure in the next seven days. KLM will also cease operating flights that pass over Russian territory en route to other destinations in the same period.

This decision was prompted by sanctions agreed upon by EU states, stipulating that no spare aircraft parts may be sent to Russia, even if they are intended for the airline in question. This means KLM can no longer guarantee that flights to Russia or passing over Russian territory can return safely. Alternatives are currently being sought for flights scheduled to pass over Russian territory en route to other destinations.

DELTA BOEING 757-251 N545US (MSN 26492)

Delta Airlines will no longer partner with Russian Aeroflot and has discontinued all codeshare and frequent flyer relationships due to the United States’ economic sanctions against the Russian government. Delta does not fly directly to Russia or Ukraine, but the codeshare agreement allowed consumers to book Aeroflot flights there through Delta’s website.

British Airways has also paused its three weekly flights to Moscow. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has prohibited Aeroflot planes from landing in the United Kingdom, and Russia has responded by banning British carriers from landing in Russia.

Part of the story sourced from here:

KLM stops codesharing with Aeroflot and cancels flights to Russia - Aviation24.be

Ukraine confirms the World's largest plane has been destroyed

Following on from yesterdays post, I was really hoping this wasn't true but unfortunately it is.

The country's authorities have now confirmed that the world's only Antonov An-225 Mriya has been destroyed following Russian attacks.

As the aviation industry's heaviest and longest operational aircraft, the An-225 Mriya has attracted significant fanfare from across the globe. It was built by the Antonov Serial Production Plant while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and conducted its first flight on the 21st December 1988. Only a single unit had ever been produced as a planned second one wasn’t delivered amid the downfall of the Soviet Union.

Meaning 'Dream' in Ukrainian, Mriya was developed to support the Soviet space program and carry Buran orbiters. After the dissolution of the union, the aircraft was placed into storage in 1994 but was restored by 2001, the same year that it broke a record on September 11 by carrying four main battle tanks, which was a record load of 253.82 tonnes of cargo.

It did suffer minor damage when landing last month, but the long-term future wasn’t a concern, with an operational life that was expected to last until at least 2033, helped by a recent refurbishment.

Sadly, the damage is far more considerable this time around. There were reports that the plane was hit following an air assault operation in Hostomel, Kyiv Oblast. The An-225, holding registration UR-82060, had been sitting at Hostomel Airport since the 5th February.

The country has declared that it will rebuild the aircraft as it looks to a brighter future. With skin as thick as Mriya, the plane will undoubtedly find its way back in the air.