A second Airbus aircraft has crashed in less than 30 days!
An Airbus aircraft belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia Air has crashed in the Indian ocean near the Comoros archipelago.
The Airbus A310 crashed on Tuesday morning, about an hour before reaching its destination. It was flying from Sanaa, Yemen to Moroni, Comoros.
The location of the crash is unknown at the moment and nobody knows the fate of the 153 that were on board.
The Comoros is made up of 3 islands about 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Madagascar.
This is the second Airbus to crash in less than 1 month. This is truly a sad month in Aviation. First Air France, now Yemenia Air, both Airbus aircraft.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
This is horrible
A theory is, some aircrashes are related to the earthquakes and because of electromagnetic waves. please see
http://www.meteoquake.org/index.html
Bodies recovered in Yemeni plane crash
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE55T0LQ20090630
Very horrible, indeed. The one survivor is an infant.
Yes and this plane had a large number of French casualties as well. A very difficult time for France since it now has to deal with two tragic losses in such a short period.
Here are some interesting quotes I picked up from the article provided by Bircan.
It appears this airline was having difficulty meeting safety standards.
“The A310 in question was inspected in 2007 by the DGAC (French transport authorities) and they noticed a certain number of faults,” he told the I-tele television channel.
“The company was not on the black list but was subject to stricter checks on our part, and was due to be interviewed shortly by the European Union’s safety committee.”
Absolutely devastating, what is wrong with the airbus? Are they all just going to drop out of the sky? Thankfully there was one survivor, he was about 5 years old. I honestly don’t think I will ever fly again, I wish there were transatlantic cruises that didn’t only occur one month out of the year.
Jessica,
There are two main airplane constructors Boeing and Aribus. There is nothing suggesting that one is safer than the other. Relating these two sad happenings with both being Airbus is like relating a Brand new Mercedes crashing in an straight haigway with the crass of a 1970’s Merecedes in a muontain road.
Transatlantic cruises are much more dangerous than civil aircrafts.
Nevertheless, my deepest sorrow for the victims
Yes, but this one was a flying coffin, banned from european airspace
The focus of this investigation should be maintenance and a QC review and/or C-Check review of this particular aircraft. Alongside this, the fly-by-wire system AI uses should be thoroughly examined for system integrity.
We should not be standing for any more deaths due to negligence by anyone, airline or manufacturer alike.
This is really sad
You’re right that they shouldn’t be compared and that there’s nothing to suggest that one is safer than the other (Boeing vs. Airbus).
But, the fact of the matter is that Two Airbus aircraft crashed in less than 30 days, and it does raise questions.
Jonathan, I sent you an email 3 days ago, did you receive it?
Sad for the families and friends who lost there love ones…
As a passenger we can only hope our plane land safe every time…
Dear Jonathan,
I do not want to make an issue of this. But it does no rise more questions than usually. Examples of Boeing acidents with large number of deaths and less than 30 days of interval can be found:
29-Sept-2006; 29-Oct-2006
14-Ago-2005; 23-Ago-2005; 5-Sept-2005
25-Dec-2003; 03-Jan-2004;
Sad as it could be, we have to realize that airtraffic is quite intense the risk is very low.
One has aproximately the same risk of fatal event each time that he gets into a car than each time that he gets into an airplane. Actually, if you get a car to go to the airport and another at destination, you have double probability of an event happening in the two car movements than in the airplane one.
Lets keep on working in reducing the risks, but lets no exgerate ones in front of others or we will be spending effort in the wrong problem.
I’m not saying that flying is not safe. I know that flying is safer than driving.
All that I’m trying to say is that this doesn’t look good for Airbus to have two accidents in 1 month. I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t look good for any aircraft manufacturer when something as devastating as this happens twice in one month.
If all of the sudden 20 Toyotas exploded in a month without reason, wouldn’t that be a cause of concern for Toyota?
That’s all that I’m saying. I agree that we need to keep working on reducing the risk.
well it all depends on the actual cause of the crash you see, if Airbus sent recommendations that were not followed then its the airlines fault. For example if Airbus suggested that the pitot tubes should be replaced and the airline does not follow with the recommendation. Then I think the airline is more to blame than the manufacturer. But for sure Airbus is now put in a difficult position where even if they are not responsible they have to put a lot of effort to clear their name.
Lets pray that there will be more survivors from this crash.
Let us pray for the victims of both Al Yemenia and Air France….
“T.V.”
I wasn’t saying that the fault of the crashes are Airbus, I was simply pointing out that this is a little concerning, and I would be saying the same thing if they were both Boeing. The point I was trying to make was exactly what Jonathan said, but thanks for using your statistics to classify our lives. I was raising the question that everyone else was thinking. And my questions and concerns are not the Airbus planes themselves, but the maintenance and upkeep of the planes. It has come to light in these two incidences that there were clear mechanical causes other than that of mother nature leading to these horrific crashes. And like Jonathan said, we need to keep reducing the risks.
Jessica e’tal,
The one main difference from the Boeing fleet of commercial aircraft and the Airbus fleet of commercial aircraft is that ALL of the Airbus fleet encorporate a “fly-by-wire” system; whereas, only one aircraft in the Boeing fleet currently utilizes this system - The Boeing 777.
Theres 2 survivors a 14 year old girl and a 5 year old boy. 5 bodies were also reported to be found.
Come on people ! you have all made your point, and all of them are valid, whether we agree or not whit different comments, it is always important to share the information. Thank you for the facts on Airbus and for the facts on Boing as well. May all those who lost their lifes find peace now.
I agree Cristobal, I am sorry for getting carried away. I am deeply sorry for the victims and their families, and I hope peace can be brought to the victims and the relatives in this time of need.
The A310 in not a “fly by wire”. It is an older generation aircraft.
It might be just be a simple case of an airline neglecting to maintain its planes as recommended by the manufacturer, and were company policy seeks to maximize profit at the expense of passenger safety. Unfortunatelly, to some, souls are valued by weight!
Did they not find the Pilot as well of the Yemeni Airline? I thinkI read it yesterday that a 5 year old girl and a the pilot were found alive.
In any case, it will be interesting to hear his description of what happened.
If it truly was a weather incident, then Pilots should really do everything they can to avoid tropical storms
Hello,
The two disaster in one month have in common the same constructor .. that’s all … nothing more link (so far) the two events
I read “banned from European airspace” … that’s not true .. only banned from France (and for some toilets and seats defect)
This plane landed happily last week in England.
Seem’s it’s a tragic end of a go around .. like it’s happend sometime.
A other point is the Comoro airport have not navigation aid like JFK for sure and it was night and not too good wheater.
Again wait the black boxes if any.
Regards.
So sad news really .our life really became difficult when we hear news like this. I hope to know what is the reason for this accident. I ask Allah the mercy for those people. So sad really so sad
I do stand corrected in that the A310-300 are not completely fly-by-wire, though these aircraft are equipped with limited FBW systems.
Furthermore, as many have pointed out, we should all be concerned for the families of those who lost loved ones and strive to prevent these things happening again.
Also, you make a good point. Does anyone happen to know the nickname which was given to the FAA and it has stuck unto this day: “The Tombstone Agency.”
So, as far as the FAA is concerned, “souls ARE valued by weight.”
Indeed, I hope every passenger made his peace with God. For, in the Bible, we read, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, shall have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).
And, “For by grace are ye saved by faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
And, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12).
And That Name is: Jesus Christ
The Yemenia Airbus plane was a catastrophy. I heard and read reports about that plane on the French news. I also heard and saw on radio and TV the comments from many French who travelled with that airline. Catastrophy!
They (Yemenia) fly people from Paris to Marseille and then from Marseille to Yemen in a certified Airbus (otherwise the airplane would not be qualified to fly in European airspace). Then they make everyone change plane in Yemen and board those flying death traps: Seatbelts missing, seats not properly bolted, luggage racks broken and luggage falling on people, broken or plugged bathrooms, random seating etc…etc…
That airplane was an old Airbus, totally not FBW by the way, flying a very difficult approach with violent winds and bad turbulences, missing its first approach, doing a go-around and trying a second approach too low apparently, crashing in the ocean on final.
But in this particular case and regardless of the condition of that Airbus I would not be surprised if the main contributing factor was a pilot error.
Regarding AF 447, it is going to take a while to understand what really happened, but I am confident we will. The preliminary report released today brings a lot of new and detailed information but also raises more questions:
Did the airplane really disintegrate on impact with water?
Why was the airplane in a “normal” flying position when hitting the water and yet descended from an altitude of 10 kms in around 4 mns (meaning at high velocity)?
Why was that airplane flying in a middle of a very nasty system when one aircraft ahead of it and two behind (including another AF Airbus A 330 from Brasilia) avoided it by re-rerouting 20-30 miles around?
Why was no there any response from the airplane immediately after acknowledging a message from ATC/Atlantico? That was 35 mns prior to the craash.
Why was the airplane incapable of doing a link to Dakarafter three trials as the report shows ?
Let’s pray for the poor souls that died that night hoping that they never saw what happened to them.
The thing that scares me is that the Air France crashed on the LAST day of may, the Yemenia Air plane crashed on the LAST day of June. . . do we have to just wait to see if there is another crash the last day of July.. something seems up here.
Deepest sympathys to the familys involved
Do you think that the fact that Air France plane landed on it’s belly indicates that pilots tried to do emergency landing on the water?
Do you think that this is possible and pilot could not manage it? It’s a disaster. Things like that should not be happening, period. Prayers to the families and the people who died…
Please, take a look at the very interesting and thoughtful-thorough blog from Captain Dave, a REAL American airline pilot flying the international routes. There is the real thing with prospective and all.
http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/
Pat
I flew last month with Air- France there was technical faults. on my return this month there was still a technical faults My friends also travelled in that same conditions. This is very scary!! What’s going on Air-France?