Sukhoi Superjet 100 missing

[Rabbi O'Genius]

Russian passenger jet reported missing in Indonesia

A Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane with at least 44 people aboard has gone missing on a demonstration flight in Indonesia, reports say. The plane disappeared from radar screens during a flight meant to last 30 minutes, a blogger with the Sukhoi delegation said. Helicopters were dispatched to look for the jet, thought to have been flying near a mountain, Sergey Dolya said. Emergency services confirmed a Sukhoi plane was missing. Gagah Prakoso, spokesman for Indonesia's national search and rescue agency, said 46 people had been aboard the plane, which vanished from radar near Bogor, a city in West Java province. "We are still looking for it and we are uncertain whether it crashed," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency in the capital, Jakarta. Dolya tweeted that there were 44 people aboard, eight of them Russians


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18004097

[J]

Not much more news since Rabbi posted this several hours ago. At this time (1300 GMT) it is 2000 in Jakarta so it looks like not much more news until sunrise Thursday.

[Rabbi O'Genius]

Reports say that it descended from 10,000ft to 6,000ft in the vicinity of a 7,200ft mountain (Mt. Salak) before disappearing from radar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18004097

[OldSowBreath]

Yahoo!'s news blurb had it missing with 44 people after being on a "test" flight (sic). God, I wish those half-wits at Yahoo! would take a Journalism 101 class.

[Sickbag]

Yahoo!'s news blurb had it missing with 44 people after being on a "test" flight (sic). God, I wish those half-wits at Yahoo! would take a Journalism 101 class.

Why?

[Verbal]

This is going to negatively impact future sales.

[Procede]

This is going to negatively impact future sales.

By at least one...

[GlennAB1]

A demonstration flight? WTF were they demonstrating? That there is no reason to be afraid of flying?

[666]

They demonstrated it could take off and they demonstrated it could get back to the ground. The marketing department has no reason to panic.

[3WE]

...descended to 6,000ft in the vicinity of a 7,200ft mountain...

This seems like such a bad idea.

And, I'm not really trying to point out the ironing or be blatantly obvious, but there seems to be an incredible Murphy's law aspect to this...

With modern ATC and navigation (or even old fashioned stuff), you figure the crew should know there's a mountain in the area.

It just seems that once you descend, there's some mysterious attractive force that leads you to the mountain.

...just like last month.

[Marc 1]

It's just the Polish getting back at the Ruskies for killing everyone on the VIP jet a couple of years ago. That should stir the conspiracy theorists up on Jetpaedo's...

[Rabbi O'Genius]

Wreckage reportedly found

Indonesia searchers find missing Russia jet wreckage

Indonesian officials say a helicopter has spotted what is thought to be wreckage of the Russian Sukhoi Superjet plane that disappeared on Wednesday. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 vanished from radar screens 50 minutes after taking off from Jakarta for a brief demonstration flight. Officials said the helicopter had seen debris on the side of a cliff near a dormant volcano. About 50 people are said to have been on board the aircraft. There was no information given about the fate of those on the plane, but a search and rescue operation is continuing in the area. "The aeroplane crashed at the edge of Salak mountain," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono said on television. "I have spoken directly to our officer in the field, it was found around 1.5km (one mile) from the spot where the plane last made contact," he said. "An investigation must be carried out immediately and thoroughly. Search and rescue operations must prioritise finding any survivors." Eight Russian pilots and technicians, Indonesian airline representatives and journalists were among those said to be on board the plane.

Sales tour

Aerial searches for the plane on Wednesday were hampered by darkness and strong winds. Fog early on Thursday also delayed search efforts. The plane took off from east Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma airport at 14:00 (07:00 GMT) on Wednesday, on its second flight of the day. At 14:50, it was recorded as dropping from 10,000ft (3,000m) to 6,000ft near Salak, a peak measuring 7,200ft (2,200m).
Juanda, a villager who lives near the mountain, told local TV: "I saw a big plane passing just over my house."Rescue teams on the ground were working to reach the site where the debris was spotted, officials said. Sukhoi officials have been on an Asia-wide tour in recent months to show off their aircraft to airline firms. The Superjet, a mid-range airliner that can carry up to 100 people, is military plane-maker Sukhoi's first commercial aviation plane. It was created by a joint venture, majority-owned by Sukhoi, with Italy's Finmeccanica and a number of other foreign and Russian firms also involved. Sukhoi aimed to sell 42 of its planes to Indonesia, which has witnessed a fast-expanding aviation market to cater for a growing middle class in the world's fourth most populous nation, Reuters adds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18015534

[Gabriel]

Pulverized against a wall...

[PurduePilot]

Yahoo!'s news blurb had it missing with 44 people after being on a "test" flight (sic). God, I wish those half-wits at Yahoo! would take a Journalism 101 class.

Why?

What were they "testing"?

...descended to 6,000ft in the vicinity of a 7,200ft mountain...

This seems like such a bad idea.

And, I'm not really trying to point out the ironing or be blatantly obvious, but there seems to be an incredible Murphy's law aspect to this...

With modern ATC and navigation (or even old fashioned stuff), you figure the crew should know there's a mountain in the area.

It just seems that once you descend, there's some mysterious attractive force that leads you to the mountain.

...just like last month.

I don't think the mountain was a secret. My speculation (read: parlour talking) is that they wanted to do some sightseeing and show the passengers a good time, but got a little too aggressive in trying to maneuver the airplane to follow the terrain. They're trying to sell airplanes, after all.

There's nothing inherently wrong with flying near mountains, even at altitudes lower than their peaks, as long as you know where you are, where you're going, and what is coming up. I do it all the time--just not at speeds much over 100 knots and not with more than 3 passengers.

[Peminu]

Apparently this same aircraft was recently in Mexico for the same class of flight (demonstration) that convinced Mexican company Interjet to purchase many aircraft (up to now Interjet flies only Airbuses A 320).

Reference (sorry, but in Spanish):

http://www.excelsior.com.mx/index.php?m ... ota=764448

[3WE]

...There's nothing inherently wrong with flying near mountains, even at altitudes lower than their peaks, as long as you know where you are, where you're going, and what is coming up.

C130 last month
AA in VMC down south
Old guys doing CAP tomfoolery near Las Vegas
Near Phoenix a few months back
What's his name- that we thought crashed in a lake
Another airliner or two
How many more over the history of avation (a lot)

...There should be nothing inherently wrong with flying near mountains, even at altitudes lower than their peaks, as long as you know where you are, where you're going, and what is coming up; however, there are lots of smoking holes from situations where the pilots should seemingly know where they were, where they are going and what is coming up.

[Sickbag]

What were they "testing"?

I guess we will never know.

[Gabriel]

What were they "testing"?

I guess we will never know.

Why not? The Russians will find the CVR (and then tamper with it)

[Sickbag]

What were they "testing"?

I guess we will never know.

Why not? The Russians will find the CVR (and then tamper with it)

Indeed, the words" Carpet, Sweep, Under, The" come to mind.

[PurduePilot]

...There's nothing inherently wrong with flying near mountains, even at altitudes lower than their peaks, as long as you know where you are, where you're going, and what is coming up.

C130 last month
AA in VMC down south
Old guys doing CAP tomfoolery near Las Vegas
Near Phoenix a few months back
What's his name- that we thought crashed in a lake
Another airliner or two
How many more over the history of avation (a lot)

...There should be nothing inherently wrong with flying near mountains, even at altitudes lower than their peaks, as long as you know where you are, where you're going, and what is coming up; however, there are lots of smoking holes from situations where the pilots should seemingly know where they were, where they are going and what is coming up.

My sentence (in its entirety) stands.

[Rabbi O'Genius]

Some video of the wreckage....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18046024

[reubee]

Some interesting analysis http://gerryairways.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... ly_17.html although not sure about his final theory. I figure you would need to know the heading at impact

[GlennAB1]

Yahoo!'s news blurb had it missing with 44 people after being on a "test" flight (sic). God, I wish those half-wits at Yahoo! would take a Journalism 101 class.

What were they "testing"?

I suppose it wasn't a ferry flight, or revenue flight... maybe a prospective customer was testing their service....

[Not_Karl]

Yahoo!'s news blurb had it missing with 44 people after being on a "test" flight (sic). God, I wish those half-wits at Yahoo! would take a Journalism 101 class.

What were they "testing"?

I suppose it wasn't a ferry flight, or revenue flight... maybe a prospective customer was testing their service....

A test dri... fly.

[Gabriel]

A test dri... fly.

A test fry.