Breaking: Flydubai B738 Crash in Russia

[Flanker2]

CNN reports that Flydubai 981 crashed in Russia during a landing attempt.
All aboard (59 souls) killed.
More info later.

https://fr.flightaware.com/live/flight/FDB981

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/18/europ ... index.html

http://www.ibtimes.com/flydubai-flight- ... ng-2339536

[Flanker2]

Video claimed to capture the crash impact below.
Caution: could be disturbing.

[Flanker2]

VHF com audio recordings between the accident flight and ATC:

[Passenger]

55 passengers and 7 crew have died. RIP.

http://avherald.com/h?article=495997e2&opt=0

[luchtzak]

Flightradar24:

We are following reports that FlyDubai flight #FZ981 has crashed in Rostov-on-Don. Playback and our data for the flight is available at the link below. We will update this post as we learn more.

FZ981 was operated by a Boeing 737-800 (reg A6-FDN) delivered in 2011.

Update 2: FlyDubai has posted a statement confirming the crash of flight FZ981 and the loss of those on board: https://www2.flydubai.com/en/emergency/ ... ubai-FZ981

Update 1: Active METAR (weather conditions) at the time of the crash.

METAR text: URRR 190030Z 24012G19MPS 6000 -SHRA SCT018 BKN036CB OVC100 06/04 Q0998 R22/290046 TEMPO 25017G25MPS 1000 SHRA BR SCT003 BKN020CB RMK QFE741/0988
Conditions at: URRR (ROSTOV-ON-DON , RU) observed 0030 UTC 19 March 2016
Temperature: 6.0°C (43°F)
Dewpoint: 4.0°C (39°F) [RH = 87%]
Pressure (altimeter): 29.47 inches Hg (998.0 mb)
Winds: from the WSW (240 degrees) at 26 MPH (23 knots; 12.0 m/s)
gusting to 43 MPH (37 knots; 19.2 m/s)
Visibility: 4 miles (6 km)
Ceiling: 3600 feet AGL
Clouds: scattered clouds at 1800 feet AGL
broken clouds at 3600 feet AGL
overcast cloud deck at 10000 feet AGL
Weather: -SHRA (light rain showers)

[sn26567]

FlyDubai confirms that both the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder have been recovered from flight FZ981.

Passengers killed in the FlyDubai crash include: 44 Russians, 8 from Ukraine, 2 from India, and 1 from Uzbekistan, the Dubai Media Office stated.

The cause of FlyDubai crash is unconfirmed, but a Russian investigative committee says human error or technical failure are 2 main theories; "By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level," Governor of the Rostov region said, according to Al Arabiya.

[Pocahontas]

Hurricane level? Can someone convert the wind in KTS please? If it was 23 gust op to 37 as mentioned in a previous post that isn't really hurricane is it?

[Poiu]

Hurricane level? Can someone convert the wind in KTS please? If it was 23 gust op to 37 as mentioned in a previous post that isn't really hurricane is it?

12*3600/1852= 23kts
19mps=37kts.
(There was a time pilots were supposed to know that 1mps=2kts)

[Predixs]

Hurricane level? Can someone convert the wind in KTS please? If it was 23 gust op to 37 as mentioned in a previous post that isn't really hurricane is it?

12*3600/1852= 23kts
19mps=37kts.
(There was a time pilots were supposed to know that 1mps=2kts)

They still need to

[Passenger]

"...According to weather data reported by Russian state television, when the FlyDubai plane first tried to land, winds at ground level weren’t dangerously strong, but at an altitude of 500 metres (1,640 feet) and higher, they reached a near-hurricane speed of about 30 metres per second (67 miles per hour). Later, when the plane crashed, winds near the surface reached 22 metres per second (49 miles per hour) and could have been even stronger at altitude..."

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/weather-m ... xperts-say

[Acid-drop]

Isnt it too simple ?
Since when do we have crash from wind ?
Or crash from only one factor ?
Isnt it always a combination of factors ?

[Poiu]

The post from Passenger seems to point towards a low level wind shear . Quite challenging if encountered at the wrong moment during approach/ go around.

[Passenger]

Isnt it too simple ?
Since when do we have crash from wind ?
Or crash from only one factor ?
Isnt it always a combination of factors ?

Indeed. You are right. Of course. But then, nobody here, and certainly not this Luchtzak member, says that a hurricane (let alone "wind") caused the crash. Only mr Vasily Golubev did so. He's the governor of the Rostov region, but I don't think he is a Luchtzak member. So others continued his statement about "near hurricane level" that was reported here by André:

The cause of FlyDubai crash is unconfirmed, but a Russian investigative committee says human error or technical failure are 2 main theories; "By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level," Governor of the Rostov region said, according to Al Arabiya.

Perhaps someone can tell us if the inclination agle on this video (already posted by Flanker) gives some indication:

[Flanker2]

Is it me or is the aircraft or its engines on fire?
Considering the angle of the descent, in the video the aircraft appears to be seen from the starboard side as a constant bright light.
An aircraft seen from this angle would be near invisible as there are no strong lights shining sidewards. The NAV lights are near invisible and the strobe would flicker stronger than anything. Landing lights would shine forward, not sideways.
The cabin lights would have to be dimmed given night operations and usually the strobe flickers stronger than the cabin lights seen from outside.

What I mean is best illustrated by the following video, where the aircraft becomes less visible as it's angle relative to the camera becomes sidewards.

[sean1982]

to me it looks like the aircraft is falling nose down in a left bank and the lights are the landing lights shining right into the camera. For the reported winds, those trees seem to be very calm though

[Flanker2]

How could the landing lights shine right into the camera at that angle though? The landing lights shine straight forward, not sideways. There seems to be quite a distance from the camera so if those are the landing lights shining straight into the camera as you say, the aircraft would have to be falling flat and not nose down.

[sean1982]

because i have the impression its yawing and banking towards the camera

[Flanker2]

The following video suggests a bank angle close to 90 degrees left, with a high angle nose down attitude.
So perhaps the aircraft seems so bright because we are seeing its belly with the landing lights reflecting on the lower part of the fuselage.

But even so, it's very bright for a reflection IMO.

[sean1982]

exactly my thought. Because the underside of the aircraft is white I think that's why the reflection seems so bright.

[quixoticguide]

The data and voice recorders (black boxes) of Flydubai flight FZ981, which crashed in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday, had been heavily damaged, the Interstate Aviation Committee, IAC (Межгосударственный авиационный комитет, МАК) said in a statement on Sunday.