105 dead in Tripoli airport plane crash

[Dave Noble]

A Libyan plane arriving from South Africa crashed on Wednesday at Tripoli airport killing 105 people, a security official told AFP.

105 dead in Tripoli airport plane crash: official

 

[mannej]

A quick look is suggesting it was an A330-200

 

[markis10]

Their fleet of A330's are less than a year old.

 

[Slats7]

Thoughts and prayers are with those who were on board.

 

[Slats7]

Their fleet of A330's are less than a year old.

Yes, first flight was 12/08/2009.

Registration: 5A-ONG

 

[samh004]

I have to say Airbus isn’t doing well with their a/c recently :shock:

Apparently an 8 yo boy survived the crash.

Also read there were no flames after the crash, perhaps there was a fuel leak?

 

[markis10]

I have to say Airbus isn’t doing well with their a/c recently :shock:

Apparently an 8 yo boy survived the crash.

Also read there were no flames after the crash, perhaps there was a fuel leak?

Sam, second fatal A330 crash ever, thats a bit harsh, I have a feeling the aircraft type may be irrelevant in this case! Time will tell.

 

[mannej]

Second commercial fatal (not including the fatal test flight)

Just browsing over Avherald, Airbus does not seem to be over-represented in the reported accidents, Boeing have had two B738 hull-losses recently.

So close to the runway it is hard to tell what may have happened???

 

[haydensydney]

Sam, second fatal A330 crash ever, thats a bit harsh, I have a feeling the aircraft type may be irrelevant in this case! tell

Um, no it's not harsh - the A330's have had a cough run recently (although "only" 2 have been non-fatal), so after all of this bad press I am not filled with confidence when considering flying the A330.

 

[mannej]

Um, no it's not harsh - the A330's have had a cough run recently (although "only" 2 have been non-fatal), so after all of this bad press I am not filled with confidence when considering flying the A330.

How about the 738?

It has had more hull-losses than the A330 in about the same time period. I would suggest that the stats would be no different compared to most other aircraft at the moment.

In this day and age, if there was something wrong with an aircraft, why would companies still order it? It is a bit early to be speculating that this accident was caused by the aircraft itself and not some other human factor or other cause.

If you dig into things, you can see that the A330 does not seem over represented in reported incidents. The media is very selective in what they report on, and seem to only report on things they feel relevant. A SQ330 inflight diversion (SQ268) seemed to gather little media time, and so did the UA tail scrape.

It will be interesting to see what caused this accident so close to landing in what is being reported as fair weather?

 

[markis10]

I think its a bit harsh when not one hull loss has been attributed to the aircraft design, yes they have had a few issues lately but we need to look at how popular they are as well, there are over 1000 currently active and given the economics they offer airlines are bound to spend a lot of time in the air!

This page kind of says it all: Accidents statistics : Accidents by aircraft - Airfleets

 

[samh004]

I wasn’t aiming to upset anyone, but it just seems the A330 has had a bit of a hard time lately, and yes, I could wait several years for all the details surrounding the crash to come out, but I doubt posting here then would be much use.

I’m sure there are many other a/c types that are way more dangerous to fly in, but to have a QF plane dive, an AF plane disappear, a CX plane glide and now a 8U plane crash does seem very unlucky on the a/c types part.

Seeing as I’ve flown this type myself a few times and will be in the winter, I’d like to hear that it has nothing to do with the type, but as of right now…

Lets hope the boy can provide some clues as to what happened, what he heard or felt or saw on board. And not to be macabre, but his seat choice seems to be very good!

 

[markis10]

I dont think you have upset anyone Sam , they have had a few issues lately as have Boeing aircraft , I would be more concerned about flying with certain airlines rather than being concerned about an aircraft type, unless its Russian made :shock:.

 

[samh004]

I dont think you have upset anyone Sam , they have had a few issues lately as have Boeing aircraft , I would be more concerned about flying with certain airlines rather than being concerned about an aircraft type, unless its Russian made :shock:.

Well was/is Afriqiyah Airways a good operator or a bad operator. With their relatively new fleet, they look good.

 

[markis10]

Well was/is Afriqiyah Airways a good operator or a bad operator. With their relatively new fleet, they look good.

They were as close as you are going to get to a Libyan flag carrier, however most African airlines have been banned from flying in the EU simply because the structures dont exist to ensure safety standards are met, and while Afiqiyah is not one of them, there are a heck of a lot of neighboring countries whose airlines are banned.

They have had a good record up until now, the approach they were flying may not have been designed with worlds best practice in mind either so its hard to peg an airline as good or bad so early after an incident like this, however I would only fly on an African Airline if no other choice existed, simply because of the lack of standards that exist elsewhere.

 

[serfty]

More updates on the av herald

It appear to have crashed short of the runway on landing (into the sunrise) on 09.

Tripoli International Airport, Qaser Ben Ghashir, Libya, Libya‎ - Google Maps

 

[NM]

Afriqiyah crash investigation focusing on faulty landing aids, sunlight

From ATW Daily News:

Investigators examining the Afriqiyah Airways A330-200 crash are expected to focus on faulty landing aids and the pilots being blinded by the sun as possible causes.

 

[markis10]

Faulty Landing Aids, hmmm, the aircraft impacted the ground just short of the runway and there was no instrument landing system on that runway, so he needed to be visual with the runway for elevation guidance in order to continue the approach, which with the rising Sun in his eyes would have been interesting, VASIS or no VASIS ( I believe the VASIS was U/S).

Most approaches in Libya are labelled experimental :shock: (this was is one of the few that appear on the charts without that label).