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Yemeni Airliner Down in Comoros (Indian Ocean)

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  • Twelve years ago today, Kenya Airways 431 crashed into the sea seconds after takeoff. An alarm was sent out immediately, yet the first survivors were not recovered for three hours. The airport had neither waterborne search and rescue capability nor direct coordination with certain other available means. A poorly coordinated effort was complicated by total darkness.

    The final report concluded:

    4.3 Rescue operations The Abidjan Airport emergency plan was applied as soon as the accident occurred. The investigation showed the difficulties encountered in organizing the sea rescue operations. The characteristics of Abidjan Airport are not an isolated case. These characteristics are representative of the majority of coastal airports with high traffic. All airports have permanent ground equipment for search and rescue on a permanent state of alert during opening hours. However, the majority of airports on the coast or near water do not have maritime rescue equipment available allowing for such operations to be undertaken in the area around coastal airports.

    Consequently, the Commission of Inquiry recommends that:

    • civil aviation authorities responsible for coastal airports or those near water ensure that appropriate equipment (aerial, maritime, etc.) be put in place so as to ensure immediate intervention at an accident site located in an area near a coastal airport.
    This recommendation could mean either airport-owned equipment or rehearsed coordination with nearby resources. It is exactly what I would like to see as a requirement for coastal airports. If it had been required at the time the report was released (2002), it is plausible that there would have been more survivors recovered from the Yemenia 626 crash.

    Comment


    • Originally posted by Evan View Post

      This recommendation could mean either airport-owned equipment or rehearsed coordination with nearby resources. It is exactly what I would like to see as a requirement for coastal airports. If it had been required at the time the report was released (2002), it is plausible that there would have been more survivors recovered from the Yemenia 626 crash.
      That might be the position you've arrived at now, but is a far cry from your original insistence that dirt-poor countries man state-of-the-art S&R operations 24-7. But thanks for exhuming this thread, anything's better than the Polish President debacle.

      Comment


      • I'd like to exhume this thread to ask if a report was ever issued for this incident?

        Comment


        • The first of these two links is about the closest I can find to an investigation...




          Looks like it's a typical Arab reaction to death. "They're dead...Moving on.... " !!
          If it 'ain't broken........ Don't try to mend it !

          Comment


          • Originally posted by brianw999 View Post
            The first of these two links is about the closest I can find to an investigation...




            Looks like it's a typical Arab reaction to death. "They're dead...Moving on.... " !!
            Thanks,

            Reading over the debate in the thread I'm going to throw in my 2 cents.

            While improving rescue facilities would be desirable. Providing working landing aids (ILS, glideslope) is a more practical first step, something that airlines flying there & the hotels they are serving should have been encouraged to provide the funding for.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by brianw999 View Post

              Looks like it's a typical Arab reaction to death. "They're dead...Moving on.... " !!

              Comment


              • Originally posted by Graham2001 View Post
                Thanks,

                Reading over the debate in the thread I'm going to throw in my 2 cents.

                While improving rescue facilities would be desirable. Providing working landing aids (ILS, glideslope) is a more practical first step, something that airlines flying there & the hotels they are serving should have been encouraged to provide the funding for.
                There is ILS at Comoros, but not on the backcourse. They were doing circle-to-land because of unseasonal tailwinds of 30+ kts, gusting to 40. There is PAPI on the circle in approach, and visibility was not an issue.

                There is also high terrain waiting nearby if the approach goes wrong. Based on what little we know, I can only imagine that something went wrong on that turbulent turn to base that caused a stall or messed up the approach, and evasive maneuvers to go around while avoiding the mountains caused something... swiss cheesy to happen. And we know what happens when you get aggressive with that rudder in turbulence.

                Apparently, they know where the black boxes are. I can't recall if they made an attempt to recover them. I guess solving this mystery wasn't as high a priority as AF447, but there might be a valuable lesson to be learned from it. Strange how passive the BEA has been about this, compared to their diligence with the AF447 salvage operation. Many on board were French citizens, and I think the aerodrome was under French regulatory jurisdiction.

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Fear_of_Flying View Post
                  Don't get the wrong idea...I'm as sorry as anyone else that people died in this accident regardless of their race and religion, and absolutely ecstatic that the little girl made such a miraculous escape...

                  ...but I've lived and worked in Arabia in medical and trauma rescue and the Arab nations tend to have a "shrug your shoulders" attitude to death and don't tend to expend a lot of energy on investigations, preferring instead to let the matter go.
                  Attitudes to safety improvement are at best described as "well, everyone dies at God's will at some time or other."
                  If it 'ain't broken........ Don't try to mend it !

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by brianw999 View Post
                    Don't get the wrong idea...I'm as sorry as anyone else that people died in this accident regardless of their race and religion, and absolutely ecstatic that the little girl made such a miraculous escape...

                    ...but I've lived and worked in Arabia in medical and trauma rescue and the Arab nations tend to have a "shrug your shoulders" attitude to death and don't tend to expend a lot of energy on investigations, preferring instead to let the matter go.
                    Attitudes to safety improvement are at best described as "well, everyone dies at God's will at some time or other."
                    Thanks for the clarification!

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Evan View Post
                      Strange how passive the BEA has been about this, compared to their diligence with the AF447 salvage operation. Many on board were French citizens, and I think the aerodrome was under French regulatory jurisdiction.
                      Relationship between France and the Comoros is undoubtedly complex.

                      France first established colonial rule over one of the Comoros Island, Mayotte, in 1841, then over the other Comoros islands in 1886.

                      In 1975, the Comorian parliament passed a unilateral resolution declaring independence. Ahmed Abdallah proclaimed the independence of the Comorian State and became its first president.

                      Mayotte, whose inhabitants had declined independence in a 1974 poll, remained under French jurisdiction. The island has eventually become, early 2011, France’s 100th department, granting its residents the same political and social rights as mainland French.

                      To make a long story short, the past 30 years have seen several attempts by the French secret services to overthrow the regime in Moroni, while the Comorian state, never admitting the French sovereignty over Mayotte, tried to withstand any overt or covert influence of its former colonial power.

                      This is just to explain why, beyond any aeronautical logic, French BEA investigators are as cheerfully welcome in the Comoros than NSTB teams would be when an Iran Air Boeing crashes let say in… Cuba .

                      The investigation on Yemenia Flight 626 accident is definitely under the jurisdiction of the Union of the Comoros, as is Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport (IATA: HAH, ICAO: FMCH). Obviously, ICAO neglected to change Airport code when Comoros assumed independence in 1975, which may lead to confusion.

                      On the contrary, Mayotte’s Dzaoudzi Pamandzi International Airport (IATA: DZA, ICAO: FMCZ) is still under French juridiction of course, (but not related to Yemenia 626 case).

                      The black boxes have been recovered, analyzed, but AFAIK the content has not been publicly released. As a matter of fact, the French BEA complained loudly and undiplomatically about the Comorian authorities lacking the commitment to investigate the accident properly, and made it known :

                      BEA Blasts Comoros Over Yemenia Crash, Aviation Week, Jul 20, 2011


                      The July 5, 2011 letter to the Head of the Comorian Investigation Team is even available (only in French) to download from BEA website :


                      Hope it helps "clarifying" the situation.

                      P.S. By the way, I would have expected the overthrow of Muhamar Kaddafi's regime to bring new insights on Afriqiyah’s A330 crash in Tripoli on May 12, 2010. Nothing in sight, yet. Keep looking.

                      Comment


                      • Final report out.
                        Aviation Herald - News, Incidents and Accidents in Aviation


                        Yet another stall accident.
                        It seems that the FBW Airbuses are not the only ones subject to the "what-is-it-doing-now" karma.

                        In fact, this accident would not have happened (or not in the same way at least) if the A310 had been say an A330 (which is FBW under Airbus philosophy).

                        --- Judge what is said by the merits of what is said, not by the credentials of who said it. ---
                        --- Defend what you say with arguments, not by imposing your credentials ---

                        Comment


                        • Scary. It reads like the flight deck crew got way behind the aircraft and never caught up.

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by Gabriel View Post
                            Final report out.
                            Aviation Herald - News, Incidents and Accidents in Aviation


                            Yet another stall accident.
                            It seems that the FBW Airbuses are not the only ones subject to the "what-is-it-doing-now" karma.

                            In fact, this accident would not have happened (or not in the same way at least) if the A310 had been say an A330 (which is FBW under Airbus philosophy).
                            It turned into a stall accident , but not what started the event.

                            Please refresh my blighted memory of the other crash(es) where the Heading and Altitude knobs got confused.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by TheKiecker View Post
                              It turned into a stall accident , but not what started the event.

                              Please refresh my blighted memory of the other crash(es) where the Heading and Altitude knobs got confused.
                              I'd say that NO stall accident starts with the stall.

                              --- Judge what is said by the merits of what is said, not by the credentials of who said it. ---
                              --- Defend what you say with arguments, not by imposing your credentials ---

                              Comment


                              • to a traveling fool like me, this is deathly terrifying. 12,000 combined hours on type and these two idiots flew a perfectly functioning aircraft into the water...

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