An Armenian A320 with one hundred passengers and crew went down early Wednesday morning near Sochi, a Russian resort near the Georgian border. The aircraft went down in the Black Sea and the Russian emergency ministry sent an amphibious aircraft to investigate. The crew said they had found visible signs of the wreckage on the surface. The flight had originated from Yerevan and was headed for Sochi. It vanished from radar screen at 0215 local and bad weather would hamper the search for potential survivors.
My thoughts are with the families of those on the aircraft. More info to come later! 🙁
By: A225HVY - 3rd May 2006 at 13:31
Latest we received from Airbus
FROM : AIRBUS CUSTOMER SERVICES TOULOUSE TX530526F
TO : ALL
A300/A310/A300-600/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A318/A340-500/A340-6
00
OPERATORS
ACCIDENT INFORMATION TELEX – ACCIDENT INFORMATION TELEX
SUBJECT: ARMAVIA FLIGHT RNV 967 ACCIDENT IN SOCHI (RUSSIA)
OUR REF.: U8 967 AIT 1 DATED MAY 3, 2006
AIRBUS REGRETS TO CONFIRM THAT AN A320 AIRCRAFT OPERATED BY
ARMAVIA WAS INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING
WHEN APPROACHING SOCHI AIRPORT AT THE RUSSIAN BLACK SEA COAST
UNDER REPORTED POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS.
AIRCRAFT WAS OPERATING ARMAVIA FLIGHT RNV 967 FROM EREVAN,
ARMENIA, TO SOCHI.
THE AIRCRAFT INVOLVED IN THE ACCIDENT, REGISTRATION NUMBER EK-
32009 BEARING MSN 547 WAS DELIVERED TO ARMANIA IN FEBRUARY 2004
AND HAD LOGGED OVER 28,200 FLIGHT HOURS AND 14,400 LANDINGS. IT
WAS POWERED BY CFM56-5A ENGINES.
ACCORDING TO AVAILABLE INFORMATION, THERE WERE 105 PASSENGERS
AND 8 CREW MEMBERS ON BOARD. AT THE TIME OF ISSUANCE OF THIS
TELEX, THERE WERE UNCONFIRMED REPORTS OF 113 FATALITIES.
IN LINE WITH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, AIRBUS HAS OFFERED FULL
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO THE INVESTIGATION AUTHORITIES. FOR THIS
PURPOSE, AIRBUS IS PRESENTLY DISPATCHING A TEAM OF 5 TECHNICAL
ADVISORS TO ASSIST THE AUTHORITIES.
FURTHER UPDATE WILL BE PROVIDED AS SOON AS RELIABLE INFORMATION
IS AVAILABLE AND NOT LATER THAN 05 MAY 06.
YANNICK MALINGE
VICE PRESIDENT FLIGHT SAFETY
AIRBUS
supplementary sender/recipients information
from /c=fr/a=atlas/p=airbus/s=Lascours/g=Richard
A225HVY
By: Bmused55 - 3rd May 2006 at 12:27
I find the report about 5 approaches to be more sensationalist than realistic myself.
By: Skymonster - 3rd May 2006 at 11:52
Very sad news. 5 Emergency Landing attempts is quite odd isnt it? I mean i realise weather was bad but why hang around and not divert to a better alternative airfield.
BBC report says it was making a second approach. Weather, if as quoted above, was poor rather than bad. Whether it was within landing minima rather depends on servicability of equipment on aircraft, crew qualifications and currency for the specific type of approach being carried out, landing aids available at the airport, and the servicability of those aids. No doubt that these issues will form a part of the investigation although “The Russian prosecutor general’s office announced it had launched criminal proceedings for violation of air traffic procedures leading to loss of life” (quote from BBC) is interesting.
5 approaches (if correct – see contradiction from BBC) would indeed be odd – SOPs at the airline I used to work for dictated that (a) an approach would not be commenced if weather was reported below minima and (b) a divert must be initiated after two missed approaches – fuel carried to be sufficient for that scenario, obviously.
Andy
By: Newforest - 3rd May 2006 at 11:31
was this not a relatively new aircraft? Out of pure curiosity.
MSN 547, f/f 28/6/95 previously VH-HYO.
By: Bmused55 - 3rd May 2006 at 11:24
was this not a relatively new aircraft? Out of pure curiosity.
By: andrewm - 3rd May 2006 at 11:06
Very sad news. 5 Emergency Landing attempts is quite odd isnt it? I mean i realise weather was bad but why hang around and not divert to a better alternative airfield.
By: zoot horn rollo - 3rd May 2006 at 11:04
Very sad as I saw this just the week before last at DME
By: Skymonster - 3rd May 2006 at 10:59
Sad… Aircraft was EK-32009
Andy
By: lukeylad - 3rd May 2006 at 10:23
heres the BBC Report BBC Report
By: Shadow1 - 3rd May 2006 at 05:37
According to an article on msmbc, the aircraft had attempted several emergency landings and was coming in for it’s fifth attempt when it dissapeared.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12601815/
By: redsquare - 3rd May 2006 at 03:29
Very sad indeed. For info, I have the weather for Sochi (URSS) 2200z-2300z with accident at 2215z:
URSS 022200Z VRB01MPS 4000 -SHRA BR BKN006 OVC027CB 11/11 Q1018 TEMRO 1500 BR VV005 RMK G/?Z QFE762 SC05=
URSS 022300Z VRB01MPS 6000 -SHRA BR BKN005 OVC028CB 11/11 Q1017 TEMRO 1500 BR VV005 RMK QBB160 G/~Z QFE762 SC05=
Basically very light wind, 4000 metres visibility, light rain showers, mist, clouds broken 600 feet above ground, overcast at 2700 feet Cumulonimbus(CB) 11 degrees Celcius temporarily 1500 metres visibility, mist with low cloud at 500 feet.
Fairly bad weather with the cloud and vis but nothing which is out of the ordinary.
RIP to those who lost their lives 🙁
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May 3, 2006 at 2:40 am