Crash at Phuket

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LX-LGX
Posts: 2004
Joined: 20 Jan 2004, 00:00
Location: ANR

Post by LX-LGX »

the passengers list is now widely available on internet:

http://www.google.be/search?hl=nl&q=pas ... o-go&meta=

FLY4HOURS.BE
Posts: 454
Joined: 01 May 2007, 22:13
Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Post by FLY4HOURS.BE »

The METAR's show there was no thunderstorm activity nor frontal activity and that the winds were calm and without gusts.
The timeframe seems to match the one of the accident...

I don't understand...
What was very low instead was the visibility...
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regi
Posts: 5140
Joined: 02 Sep 2004, 00:00
Location: Bruges

Post by regi »

because the insurer is foreign, they will have to pay...

read this strange conclusion, and a very unclear remark about what is exactly ensured, in The Nation:
http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/09/17/ ... 049244.php

"We're closely monitoring the accident. One-Two-Go is insured by a foreign insurer who could not deny the responsibility," she noted.

regi
Posts: 5140
Joined: 02 Sep 2004, 00:00
Location: Bruges

Post by regi »

and this report becomes very up to date now:

+ reading this:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/rec ... 19981211-0

Flight TG 261
SURAT THANI, Thailand - Equipment to allow aircraft to land safely in bad weather was removed from the airport here six months before a Thai Airways plane crashed Friday killing 101 people, aviation sources said Sunday.
The plane, an Airbus A310-200, made two failed attempts to land in heavy rain at the airport in this southern Thai town before coming in for a third fatal approach.
The plane crashed into nearby swampland and burst into flames, but forty-five people on board survived.

Surat Thani airport's Instrument Landing System (ILS) had been removed during construction work to extend its runway, said an air traffic control official at the airport who did not want to be identified by name.

A Thai air force pilot who had just flown into the airport Sunday said that the removal of the system meant pilots had to use a less accurate radio navigation system that relies on a visual sighting of the runway once the aircraft has descended to 500 feet (152 meters).

``The only system working at the airport is the radio system,'' he said. ``In bad weather all pilots prefer the ILS system over the radio system,'' he said.

Survivors of the crash said the pilot had complained of poor visibility, had twice failed to land and was trying a third time when the aircraft crashed into flooded swampland about three km (two miles) from the airport.

There were 45 survivors, including 12 of the 25 foreigners on board.

The pilot said the radio system guided the aircraft in a diagonal rather than straight approach to the runway and a visual sighting of the landing strip was needed to adjust the flight path for a straight landing.

``If you don't see the runway you should miss the approach and go around,'' he said.

All pilots, both civil and military, had been informed that the ILS was not operating at Surat Thani and that they needed to rely on the radio system and runway landing lights, the air force pilot said.

``If you cannot see the runway on the third attempt, then it's better to divert to another airport which has the ILS system,'' he said. The southern Thai airports at Hat Yai and Phuket had ILS.

The other alternative for the plane that crashed would have been to return to Bangkok, he said.

The Thai Airways pilot told passengers before the crash that if he could not land on his third attempt he would turn the plane around and return to the Thai capital.

Officials at the airport and at Thai Airways have declined to provide details of the navigation system except to say that a radio navigation system was functioning normally.

Asked Sunday if navigation systems at Surat Thani were up to international standards, the president of Thai Airways Thamnoon Wangle told reporters: ``I do believe so.''

The 700 million baht ($19.5 million) runway extension project at Surat Thani began in August last year and should have been competed in July this year, but work was delayed by Thailand's economic crisis, airport staff said.

The air traffic controller said pilots all over the world had been notified several months ago that navigation facilities were inadequate at Surat Thani for low-visibility landings due to the work on the runway and so they should not risk more than two approaches.

He said antennae for the ILS navigation system had to be installed at the head of the runway and that could not be done until the work on the strip was completed.

``All of the pilots knew. They should not have attempted a third approach,'' the controller said.

Investigators from the National Investigation Team for Air Accidents had already interviewed staff on duty at the Surat Thani airport's air control tower on the fateful night of the crash, the airport's director general, Chamnong Sarnhaksorn, told reporters.

He added that all the air traffic control equipment at the airport on the night of the crash had been fully functional.

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bits44
Posts: 1889
Joined: 03 Aug 2004, 00:00
Location: Vancouver CYVR

Post by bits44 »

Statement from Canadian passenger who survived the crash!


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TVNewsAt11
There are no strangers in the world, just friends we have yet to meet.

FLY4HOURS.BE
Posts: 454
Joined: 01 May 2007, 22:13
Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Post by FLY4HOURS.BE »

Airplane banging is stated by many survivors...

Engine malfunction? (low on fuel?stall?)

Just the usual landing gear lowering?

Flaps being extended at the last moment due to the strong winds?
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regi
Posts: 5140
Joined: 02 Sep 2004, 00:00
Location: Bruges

Post by regi »

just like I said dear members:
wind shear and a malfunctioning system. Fresh from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7000919.stm

And the only thing that the Thai side speaks about is that the foreign insurance company will have to pay.
Shame on them, they knew, every body knew that the wind shear system was not working, despite the relentless reports after the disaster at Surat Thani.

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