A Malaysian Airlines flight operating from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in Ukraine with 298 on board; 283 passengers and 15 crew. The tail number is reported to be 9M-MRD. The flight was operating as flight 17.
The plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, was delivered to Malaysia Airlines in 1997. The plane’s first flight was July 17, 1997, which is exactly 17 years before its crash. At this point, we know that the plane was taken down by a surface-to-air missile, but we are unsure who fired it.
9M-MRD, the plane in question with a different livery then at the time of the accident – Photo: marcusaffleck | Wikimedia Commons
US Airways flight 1702 from Philadelphia (PHL) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) slid off the end of the runway at PHL after an aborted take off. The flight was scheduled to take off at 5:50pm EST with 149 passengers and five crew.
The airport has reported via their Twitter account that the “Nose gear of plane collapsed on runway. The incident is under investigation. All passengers safely evacuated. No reported injuries.” The airport has done a great job keeping passengers up to date with their their situation.
This incident once again shows the power of social media and how stories and photos can quickly circulate around the internet. There has even been a selfie of the wrecked aircraft posted, which has gone viral in both mainstream media and social media.
The airport was on a ground stop while handling the situation.
Just before 8:00pm, US Airways posted on Twitter, “Initial reports flt 1702 PHL-Fort Lauderdale blew a tire on takeoff & takeoff was aborted. We are taking care of our customers & crew.”
The Association of Flight Attendants reports that, “there are no crew injuries and only minor injuries to passengers.”
US Airways released a statement: ’œInitial reports indicate Flight 1702 from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale blew a tire on takeoff and the pilot elected to abort takeoff. Our crew safely evacuated the passengers and one person has requested medical assistance. We are re-accommodating passengers on a new aircraft, which is scheduled to depart later this evening.’
For most AvGeeks, this whole video will probably be quite interesting. But to get to the good stuff, try fast forwarding until about the 2:45 mark. Here you are able to watch the experimental Bradley Aerobat BA-100 (reg N27BD) lose power and come to an almost instant stop when crashing into some trees.
The crash occurred on August 10th, shortly after the aircraft took off from Skylark Airfield (ILE) in Killeen, TX. According to the Killeen Daily Herald, the aircraft experience engine failure (which can be heard in the video) and struck a group of trees. The pilot was okay and called 911 for help. It took a while for officials to find the plane and pilot which were stuck 6′ above the ground.
The 56 yr old pilot, Brian Douglas, stated that the crash has not deterred him from flying, but his wife has told him he is not doing any more experimental flying.
UPS Airbus A300-600F (N155UP) involved in the crash. Photo by NTSB / Flickr CC.
Initial story posted 08/14/13, scroll down for the most recent updates on UPS Flight 1354 crash.
Early this morning, an Airbus A300-600F operated by UPS crashed at Birmington Airport (BHM) killing both the pilot and co-pilot. UPS Flight 1354 was heading from Louisville, KY to BHM when it crashed short of runway 18.
At the time of the accident the weather seemed clear, and the NTSB has stated there were not any distress calls made from the aircraft.
Yesterday I talked about how flight attendants must learn a lot about safety and hopefully never have to use it. Once per year current flight attendants must return to AirTran’s training facility in Atlanta, GA to practice their safety skills. Part of that training involves the proper procedures during a water landing. The recent US Airways ditch in the Hudson River is a reminder that these things can happen and by following the flight attendant’s commands can save lives.
The ditch training was inside a mock Boeing 717 with about seven rows. The flight attendants had no idea that fake smoke would be pumped into the cabin. I knew it was going to be dark (I had night vision on my camera, in reality you could barely see anything). I knew it was a water landing. I knew there was going to be smoke pumped in. I also knew it was all fake. However, once the training started, it was very disorienting and although the flight attendants were yelling to get my life vest, I initially forgot it and had to go back to get it. That could have been the difference between life and death.
In the video you can hear some laughing and we were all having a good time with the practice, but it was taken very seriously. There were only about 15 of us in that small cabin, but it was shocking how long it took us to get out. There obviously was no real panic or rush to save our own lives, I couldn’t imagine the chaos that would occur during a real crash with over 150 passengers trying to evacuate an aircraft.
I wish every passenger could experience something like this, to be prepared to react in a life or death situation, since reading the safety information card, just cannot prepare you.
