02 May 2013

747 crash caught on dashcam in afghanistan

29 April 2013; National Airlines; 747-400; N949CA; Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan: The aircraft had just departed on a cargo flight to Dubai, UAE when the aircraft entered a stall and crashed near the end of the runway, a crash caught by a nearby vehicle's dashcam. At one point, the aircraft had rolled to the right in excess of 45 degrees. Although the crew was able to put the wings more or less level, the aircraft impacted the ground at a high vertical speed, resulting in an explosion and fireball.

All seven crew members were killed. Cargo included several vehicles. Although the aircraft was flying in support of coalition forces in Afghanistan, there is not indication that the crash was caused by hostile action.

National Airlines is a US-based all cargo airline. The flight was operating support the coalition forces in Afghanistan, but there is no indication that the aircraft crashed due to hostile action.


Resources
747 Plane Crashes

20 April 2012

Near collision of USAF KC135 and NATO E3 AWACS

Shortly after a NATO E3 AWACS connected to a USAF KC135 for refueling, the refueling boom is disconnected and the AWACS comes perilously close to hitting the KC135.


The USAF KC135 was from the combined 537/137 Air Refueling Wing of Tinker AFB near Oklahoma City, OK. It is not clear from the video where the NATO AWACS was based. If anyone has any information about this event, please contact us.

17 April 2012

The Flight of the Phoenix was a 1965 movie starring James Stewart, and featured the story of how after a transport aircraft crashes in the middle of the Sahara desert, the pilot (Stewart) and surviving passengers and crew built an aircraft out of the wreckage and used it to return to civilization.

During the filming of the movie, movie stunt pilot Paul Mantz was killed in a crash on July 8, 1965. The fatal flight was being filmed, and part of the footage that day did end up in the movie.


About the aircraft
The aircraft was custom designed for the movie Tallmantz Aviation. It was a flyable model that was used for some of the scenes for the movie.


Additional Information
Aero Vintage Books - The Last Flight of the Phoenix

05 January 2012

Recreations of the Miracle on the Hudson Ditching

The following is on e of a series of simulations related to the ditching of US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320, in the Hudson River in January 2009. The three dimensional recreations were largely based on publicly available data released by the NTSB during the course of the accident investigation, and includes transcripts of pilot and air traffic controller conversations.


Additional videos from this video's creator include alternative recreations of the accident, as well as a video depicting the bird flock that struck the aircraft.

Additional Resources
Jet airliner ditching events
AirSafe.com page on Flight 1549

03 January 2012

Post evacuation video from 2008 Iran Air crash

2 January 2008; Iran Air Fokker 100; Tehran, Iran: The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Tehran to Shiraz, Iran. The aircraft skidded off the runway during the takeoff attempt which was attempted in snowy conditions. There was reportedly landing gear damage and a post-crash fire, but all six crew members and 53 passengers were able to escape.
Because this event did not cause a passenger fatality, it is not counted as a fatal event as defined by AirSafe.com.

While the accident didn't result in fatalities, it is remarkable for a passenger video of what happened after the evacuation. Would you hang around a burning airplane as many of these passgeners decided to do? If you look closely, several passengers seemed to have taken their carry on bags as well.


15 November 2011

Video of July 2010 C-17 Crash in Alaska

The Air Force released a video that showed the flight, prior to the time of impact, of 28 July 2010 crash of a US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, AK.

According to a summary of the Air Force accident investigation, the aircraft was practicing maneuvers for an upcoming air show at the base. After the initial climb out and left turn, the pilot executed an aggressive right turn. As the aircraft banked, the stall warning system activated to alert the crew of an impending stall.

Instead of implementing stall recovery procedures, the pilot continued the turn as planned, and the aircraft entered a stall from which recovery was not possible. Although the pilot eventually attempted to recover the aircraft, he employed incorrect procedures, and there was not sufficient altitude to regain controlled flight. The four crew members; two pilots, a loadmaster, and a safety observer, were all killed, and the $185 million aircraft was destroyed.

The video below starts just before the takeoff of the accident aircraft and ends shortly before impact.



The head of the military accident board found clear and convincing evidence that the cause of the mishap was pilot error. The pilot violated regulatory provisions and multiple flight manual procedures, placing the aircraft outside established flight parameters at an attitude and altitude where recovery was not possible. Furthermore, the copilot and safety observer did not realize the developing dangerous situation and failed to make appropriate inputs. In addition to multiple procedural errors, the head of the board found sufficient evidence that the crew on the flight deck ignored cautions and warnings and failed to respond to various challenge and reply items. The board also found additional crew behavior and organizational factors contributed to the crash.

This was the first fatal crash involving the C-17. In two previous incidents, a C-17 sustained engine damage after being struck by a surface to air missile in Iraq in 2003, and a 2009 gear up landing in Afghanistan.

04 November 2011

Two gear up landings in October and November 2011

Gear up landings involving large jet airliners tend to be spectacular affairs that result in no injuries. Typically, crews are aware af the problem well in advance of the landing, giving ample time for both the airport authorities and anyone with a camera to get into position. Two recent gear up landing events in October 2011 in Tehran, Iran, and November 2011 in Warsaw, Poland certainly fit this pattern.

In the first event, the crew of an IranAir 727 on a flight from Moscow to Tehran had to land with its landing gear, in this case the nose landing gear, still retracted. As was the case with the LOT 767 landing, because of the skill of the crew, this event was spectacular, but not tragic. There were no injuries among the 94 passengers and 19 crew members.

The second event involved a LOT 767-300 on a scheduled international flight from Newark, NJ to Warsaw. The flight was uneventful until shortly before landing when the crew was unable to lower the landing gear. The crew continued to fly and burn off fuel for about 90 minutes, giving emergency crews time to foam the runway, and allowing the authorities to dispatch a pair of F-16s to inspect the LOT aircraft. The crew executed a successful gear up landing that resulted in no injuries among the 220 passengers and 11 crew members.

The first video is a summary of both events from the Conversation at AirSafe.com podcast, and the others are individual videos from both events.

Gear up landings in Warsaw and Tehran


Audio: MP3 | Video: YouTube | Download M4V



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