Simviation Forum - Ethiopian Airlines plane crashes into Mediterranean Sea

Jan 25^th, 2010 at 2:37pm

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Just read about this in the newspaper:
http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2010/01/25/ethiopian-airplane/
Cry

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Reply #1 - Jan 28^th, 2010 at 9:29pm

Jeff.Guo Offline
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Tuesday's USA Today said there were witnesses who saw the plane go down in a fireball...

...apparently the Lebanese government has already denied terrorism as the cause, but then again 738's don't spontaneously explode for no reason either.

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Reply #2 - Jan 29^th, 2010 at 4:29am

C Offline
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Jeff.Guo wrote on Jan 28^th, 2010 at 9:29pm:

Tuesday's USA Today said there were witnesses who saw the plane go down in a fireball...

There were also witnesses who said they say a flash in the sky...

...and the crash happened during a thunderstorm. In short, put very little credence at face value on eyewitnesses.

As for terrorism, I'd suspect airport security in Lebanon might actually be rather good, as I suspect it also is over the border in Israel.

Lets wait and see.

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Reply #3 - Jan 29^th, 2010 at 8:26am

Jeff.Guo Offline
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I'm quite aware about the poor weather. It's not impossible, but with an aircraft like a 738, the bird would have to suffer catastrophic damage from the lighting strike for it to go down the way it did.

...and the captain had 20 years experience made a few erratic manoeuvres and did not follow ATC recommendations. So I can only speculate two possibilities: 1.) Something was going on in the cockpit/cabin or 2.) Captain was avoiding the worst parts of that storm. But with someone who has had that much experience, it would be sheer crap luck (and irony... Tongue

) to be struck by lighting while in an attempt to avoid it...

...and I would like to see, but I DO NOT trust anything that comes out of that country, and this crash is not getting the media attention that it deserves.

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Reply #4 - Jan 29^th, 2010 at 8:43am

C Offline
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Jeff.Guo wrote on Jan 29^th, 2010 at 8:26am:

I'm quite aware about the poor weather. It's not impossible, but with an aircraft like a 738, the bird would have to suffer catastrophic damage from the lighting strike for it to go down the way it did.

And there are far more dangerous things in thunderstorms than lightning strikes...

As for manoeuvring outside of ATC recommendations and clearance, if you're trying to avoid a rather large thunderstorm cell, you may well be doing that as a far greater priority than telling ATC.

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Reply #5 - Jan 29^th, 2010 at 10:34am

Jeff.Guo Offline
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C wrote on Jan 29^th, 2010 at 8:43am:

And there are far more dangerous things in thunderstorms than lightning strikes...

As for manoeuvring outside of ATC recommendations and clearance, if you're trying to avoid a rather large thunderstorm cell, you may well be doing that as a far greater priority than telling ATC.

Aye, but I can't think of an alternate scenario that would set the aircraft on fire...

...and as far as the manoeuvres go, it'll be a long time before anyone determines the actual reasons. However, if the captain decided to fly around the weather, isn't it ironic that he would be brought down by, what has to be, the worst part of it?

I honestly don't know. The US Navy is salvaging the fuselage as we type, and I have a nasty feeling they'll find evidence of an explosive detonation in or near the aircraft.

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Reply #6 - Jan 29^th, 2010 at 11:42am

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Jeff.Guo wrote on Jan 29^th, 2010 at 10:34am:

C wrote on Jan 29^th, 2010 at 8:43am:

And there are far more dangerous things in thunderstorms than lightning strikes...

As for manoeuvring outside of ATC recommendations and clearance, if you're trying to avoid a rather large thunderstorm cell, you may well be doing that as a far greater priority than telling ATC.

Aye, but I can't think of an alternate scenario that would set the aircraft on fire...

...and as far as the manoeuvres go, it'll be a long time before anyone determines the actual reasons. However, if the captain decided to fly around the weather, isn't it ironic that he would be brought down by, what has to be, the worst part of it?

I honestly don't know. The US Navy is salvaging the fuselage as we type, and I have a nasty feeling they'll find evidence of an explosive detonation in or near the aircraft.

Do they usually publicize the list of casualties? Maybe someone was trying to kill somebody Undecided

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Reply #7 - Jan 29^th, 2010 at 12:39pm

C Offline
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Jeff.Guo wrote on Jan 29^th, 2010 at 10:34am:

Aye, but I can't think of an alternate scenario that would set the aircraft on fire...

Again, we're trusting eyewitnesses; the "fireball" could well have been the aircraft meeting its watery end.

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