A Ilyushin Il76 transport plane belonging to Algerian air force has crashed on April 11, 2018 at Boufarik military airport (ICAO: DAAK), near Algiers, capital of Algeria (North Africa). 

The plane was heading to Bechar and crashed soon after taking off according to local sources. It was transporting more than 100 military personnel. First report of Civil Protection says at least 105 people died.

The Ilyushin Il76 is a Russian medium transport plane developed during the Soviet era. It can host about 120 people.

AeroTime.aero

Ryanair to acquire 75% of LaudaMotion subject to EU competition approval

Ryanair Holdings Plc today (20 Mar) announced that it has entered into a binding agreement with Mr Niki Lauda to support his plan to develop and grow LaudaMotion GmbH, an Austrian Airline based in Vienna.

LaudaMotion is an Austrian AOC holder owned by Niki Lauda, which has recently acquired many of the assets, including A320 aircraft, of the former Niki Airline, and will shortly start a range of scheduled and charter services from Germany, Austria and Switzerland primarily to Mediterranean leisure destinations.

Under this agreement Ryanair will acquire an initial 24.9% stake in LaudaMotion and this will rise as soon as possible to 75% subject to EU Competition approval. Niki Lauda will chair the Board of the airline and oversee the implementation of his strategy to build a successful Austrian low fares airline. Ryanair will provide financial and management support to LaudaMotion as well as 6 wet-lease aircraft for S2018 to enable LaudaMotion to complete an extensive 21 aircraft flying program.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:
 
“We look forward to working in partnership with Niki Lauda to successfully develop his vision for a successful Austrian low fares airline to service the schedule and charter markets.  The LaudaMotion AOC will support a fleet of Airbus aircraft which is something we have hoped to develop within the Ryanair Group for some years.
 
LaudaMotion will benefit from this partnership between Niki Lauda and Ryanair. With access to the Ryanair fleet and financial resources, LaudaMotion will now grow more rapidly, as it seeks to compete in a market which is dominated by Lufthansa’s high airfares with its Swiss and Austrian subsidiaries.
 
This LaudaMotion partnership is good news for Austrian and German consumers/visitors who can now look forward to real competition, more choice and lower fares.  It is also great news for LaudaMotion’s people who can look forward to improved job security and more promotional opportunities in Vienna and other bases as we work with Niki Lauda and his team to accelerate growth of LaudaMotion – Austria’s low fares airline.”

Thermal runaway in passenger luggage in China

A China Southern Airlines Boeing 777-300, registration B-2009 performing flight CZ-3539 from Guangzhou to Shanghai Hongqiao (China), was boarding for departure. A passenger had placed his luggage containing a power bank and other equipment in the overhead locker, when the power bank suffered a thermal runway and a fire developed. Flight attendants and passengers extinguished the flames.

The airline reported during boarding a passenger placed his luggage into the overhead locker, the luggage containing caught fire, which was promptly extinguished, emergency services responded. The passenger was taken away by police for interviews. No damage beyond the luggage occurred.

The aircraft departed after a 3-hour delay.

http://avherald.com

Iran Aseman Airlines ATR72 passenger plane crashed in Zagros Mountains in Iran on February 18, 2018. All 66 people onboard the flight EP3704 are presumed to be dead.

The plane departed Tehran Mehrabad International Airports at 8:00 AM en route to Yasuj, southwest of Iran. Approximately 50 minutes into the flight, the plane disappeared from radars as it hit Dena Mountain (part of Zagros Mountains), the airline noted in a statement on social media.

There were 66 people onboard. 60 passengers, four crew members (two pilots and two flight attendants) and two members of security forces are presumably dead, but the casualties cannot be confirmed until the wreckage is recovered.

Mohammad Tabatabaie, Aseman Airlines spokesperson, told ISNA news agency: “Given the special circumstances of the region, we still have no access to the spot of the crash and therefore we cannot accurately and definitely confirm the death of all passengers of this plane”.

Rescue teams have been dispatched to the crash site, but bad weather conditions, fog and heavy snow have prevented emergency teams from using helicopters to reach the crash site.

In a statement on social media, Aseman Airlines revealed that one of the pilots of the crashed plane was captain Hojjatallah, describing him as a very experienced pilot who had previously successfully avoided a similar accident. According to the airline, back in 2013 Hojjatallah safely landed in Yasuj airport following an emergency situation when the second engine of ATR72 went out during a flight from Tehran to Yasul.

Dec 13th 2017 – West Wind Aviation ATR 42-300 accident. A West Wind Aviation ATR 42-300 impacted terrain shortly after takeoff from Fond-du-Lac Airport (CZFD) in Fond-du-Lac, Saskatchewan. The aircraft sustained substantial damage and there are reports of “multiple injuries ” among the twenty-two passengers and three crew onboard the airplane.

https://aviation-safety.net/

Qatar A321 at Doha on Dec 8th, aircraft on fire during maintenance. A Qatar Airways Airbus A321-200, registration A7-AIB, was parked at a remote stand for maintenance concerning the inflight entertainment system and satcom antenna, when at about 06:50L fire broke out in the cabin burning through the roof of the aircraft before the fire could be extinguished. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage and possibly needs to be written off.

The aircraft had last flown on Dec 6th 2017 performing flight QR-234 from Moscow Domodedovo (Russia) to Doha (Qatar). The airline reported a fire broke out inside the cabin but was promptly extinguished. “Whilst there was some damage to the aircraft there were no injuries”, the airline stated.

The aircraft seen after the fire was extinguished:

 http://avherald.com/

L-410 crashes in Eastern Russia, six fatalities. On November 15, 2017, Khabarovsk Airlines passenger plane L-410 crashed during the landing in the Nelkan settlement in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. The aircraft was flying from Khabarovsk. There were seven people on board: five passengers, including a 3-year-old girl, and two crew members. Six people died, the girl – survived.

As for now, the reason for the plane crash in unknown.   According to the emergency service in the region, before taking off the plane was checked and its technical conditions were good, TASS.Ru informs. Moreover, the L-410 aircraft was operated by an experienced pilot-instructor with a long record of service, RIA Novosti reported.  

“We organized all internal checks of all documents,“ NTV.Ru quotes the governor of the Khabarovsk Krai Vyacheslav Shport. “But we already know that the aircraft was operated by a very experienced pilot, he was an instructor pilot with a lot of experience. The plane was new. Apparently, something unpredictable happened, now it’s difficult to say what“.

The Khabarovsk Krai government will pay about $16 500 of compensation to relatives of victims, NTV.Ru informs. The family of a surviving girl, who is now in the hospital, to be paid $6 600 as compensation. Also,  the regional authorities will take over the organization of the funerals. November 16 is declared a day of mourning in the region. 

The black boxes from the crashed plane have not been found yet. 

www.aerotime.aero

Plane crash in Khabarovsk region

Image courtesy www.metro.co.uk

EASA revisits angle-of-attack upgrade on A330 computers. Airbus A330 operators are to be instructed to update software on flight-control computers in order to reduce the risk of undetected blockage of angle-of-attack sensors.

The proposed order from the European Aviation Safety Agency covers the A330-200 and -300 variants and follows the discovery that sensor blockage could, under certain circumstances, lead to unexpected activation of angle-of-attack protection.

Although Airbus developed new software standards for enhanced angle-of-attack monitoring, EASA says – in some cases – blockages “were not detected” by this revised system.

Airbus has since upgraded the software to improve further the detection capability, and has issued service bulletins to implement the modifications on the in-service A330 fleet.

EASA is intending to order modification, within a year, of the three primary flight-control computers on the type. By the end of September Airbus had delivered 653 A330-200s – including 38 freighters – and 715 A330-300s.

https://www.flightglobal.com/

Loss of control, B735 on approach to Moscow-Vnukovo. UTair flight UT588 from Krasnodar to Moscow, Russia, reportedly suffered a loss of control incident while on approach to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. 
Unconfirmed reports from Russian aviation sources suggest that the aircraft was on approach to runway 06 when a situation developed where the aircraft attained a pitch attitude of +45 degrees.

The aircraft rolled 33 degrees to the right, then -34.8 to the left. The pitch supposedly decreased to 30 with the speed dropping to 60 KIAS. 

The aircraft is then thought to have rolled 96 degrees to the right, pitching -14 degrees (nose down).

It then banked 45 degrees to the left with speed increasing to 150 KIAS. The flight crew then regained control and reported to ATC that they were going around because the approach was unstabilised.

The crew positioned the aircraft for another approach and proceeded for a landing at 06:35 UTC, about 18 minutes after the event. 

The aircraft was still on the ground at Vnukovo, eleven days after the event. 

Weather reported about the time of the incident (0617Z): 
UUWW 130400Z 16004MPS 2000 R24/1600U BR OVC001 08/07 Q1002 R24/290050 TEMPO 1000 -SHRA BR BKN015CB RMK QBB040 
UUWW 130500Z 17003MPS 1800 1300SE R24/1300N BR OVC001 08/08 Q1002 R24/290050 TEMPO 0400 FG RMK QBB040 
UUWW 130600Z 17003MPS 2100 R24/1600U BR OVC001 09/08 Q1002 R24/290050 TEMPO 0400 FG RMK QBB050 
UUWW 130700Z 16002MPS 120V200 4400 BR OVC001 09/09 Q1001 R06/290050 NOSIG RMK QBB050 

https://aviation-safety.net/

Atlas 747F came within 670ft of Hong Kong mountain. An Atlas Air Boeing 747-8 Freighter came very close to a mountain after taking off from Hong Kong International Airport on 24 September.

After departing from runway 07R at 15:44pm local time, the aircraft (N856GT) deviated right from its assigned track toward the high ground of Lo Fu Tau on Lantau Island, says Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department (CAD) in a preliminary report.

Air traffic control informed the crew that the aircraft was off track, and told them to turn left to resume the standard instrument departure (SID). This was followed by a request to “expedite the climb to 5,000ft.”

With the aircraft at 2,000ft, its Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) gave a “terrain, pull up” aural and visual warning.

“In response, the [pilot flying] reacted and the aircraft turned left away from the high ground,” says the report.

“The aircraft evaded the high ground by approximately 670ft. Subsequently, the aircraft re-established the SID track at approximately 15:46 and continued without further incident. There was neither injury to personnel nor damage to the aircraft involved and no other air traffic was affected.”

Meteorological data from 24 September shows that visibility was 10km, with few clouds at 1,500ft and scattered clouds at 2,800ft. There were no indications of wind shear or turbulence.

The aircraft was operating under a wet-lease by Cathay Pacific Airways. It was bound for Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and carried a crew of four.

www.flightglobal.com