Armenian Plane Crashes in Sochi
Via iArarat, news of an Armenian Armavia Airbus A-320 flying from Yerevan crashing as it attempted to land in Sochi.
MOSCOW (AP) — An Armenian passenger plane with 100 people aboard crashed early Wednesday off the Black Sea coast shortly before it was to land in the Russian city of Sochi, Russian news agencies reported. Wreckage from the plane was spotted not far from the shoreline, but no passengers or crew have so far been found, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, quoting a Russian Emergency Situations Ministry official.
Reuters puts the number of passengers killed at 113. Artyom links to the latest news on the accident here.
Via the UK’s Guardian, AP has a more detailed report here.
CNN has news of the crash as a developing story on its web site.
Comment by Onnik — May 3, 2006 @ 9:01 am
List of passengers (in Russian)
http://forum.armkb.com/showpost.php?p=439186&postcount=61
List of airline personnel (in Russian)
http://forum.armkb.com/showpost.php?p=439206&postcount=73
Comment by Nessuna — May 3, 2006 @ 12:55 pm
Armasvia Airlines has no scheduled flights to Sochi. Could it be that it was a fueling stop since Armenia has been effectively cut off from outside supplies?
Comment by Darwin Jamgochian — May 4, 2006 @ 6:31 am
There are news reports that the Armenian pilot requested a “crash landing”. Someone had better check to see how much fuel was aboard.
Comment by Darwin Jamgochian — May 4, 2006 @ 8:08 am
Darwin, not having enough fuel is only one of the versions by the specilists. There are two others, namely - one is what they call “a human factor” - it can be pilot’s or dispatcher’s mistake, and finally bad weather. However, bad weather alone won’t account for a cause of the crash. What they say for sure is that it was not a terrorist attack. Interestingly, so far none of the passengers had a lifejacket, which suggests it all happened very quickly.
Comment by Nessuna — May 4, 2006 @ 8:51 am
Apparently, the authorities say there was more than enough fuel aboard- 10 tons instead of required 3.
Comment by Nessuna — May 4, 2006 @ 10:00 am
Not to beleaguer a point but its generally known in those parts that you only take as much fuel as you need out of Yerevan because its price is probably higher than anywhere else. That’s why British Med takes its fuel on in Tblisi. Remember in Armenia there’s only one person to deal with if you need jet fuel. So let’s just blame pilot error because some official said so and dead men don’t talk. He probasbly wanted to crash land to give his passengers something to talk about.
Comment by Darwin Jamgochian — May 4, 2006 @ 10:11 am
Monday 7, November 2005
Armenia Airport Hamstrung By Mysterious Fuel Shortage
By Heghine Buniatian
Armenia’s air communication with the rest of the world has been complicated for the past three months by mysterious shortages of fuel which aviators blame on its sole government-connected supplier.
The grave lack of aviation kerosene at Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airports is forcing domestic and foreign airlines to make refueling stopovers or carry additional fuel on their flights to the Armenian capital. The precise cause of the shortages is still now known.
“The airport itself doesn’t import fuel,” a Zvartnots spokesman, Gevorg Abrahamian, told RFE/RL over the weekend. “There is a supplier who is supposed to meet our needs. The fuel has been hard to come by or not available at all since August. Our demand is simply not being met.”
According to Abrahamian, each plane taking off from Zvartnots is now given one metric ton of fuel, instead of the required 13-14 tons. The airport has already run out of its fuel reserves, the official said.
Zvartnots’s exclusive kerosene supplier is the Mika Limited company that specializes in fuel imports and has a de facto monopoly on trade in aviation kerosene. Mika officials have declined to comment on the situation despite repeated inquiries from RFE/RL. One of them said they can not comment because the company’s owner and chief executive, Mikhail Baghdasarov, is “too busy.” A Russian citizen, Baghdasarov is believed to be close to Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian.
The airlines flying to and from Yerevan, meanwhile, are finding different ways of coping with the shortages. Russia’s Aeroflot now operates Moscow-Yerevan flights with smaller and more economical aircraft. “We have been forced to carry fewer people and less baggage and load more fuel on our way from Moscow,” said its representative in Yerevan, Gamarnik Ghahramanian. “It’s hard to operate like this.”
Armenia’s flagship carrier, Armavia, has dealt with the problem by having its planes land in the southern Russian city of Sochi for refueling. Passengers complain that they now need at least fours to reach Moscow instead of the normal two and a half hours. The delays could be even longer. On October 31, for example, an Armavia passenger jet bound for Moscow was forced to return to Yerevan after failing to refuel at Sochi airport.
Officials at the Armenian government’s Civil Aviation Department say Mika Limited has pledged to remedy the situation “in the next few days.” However, the company has already given such promises before.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Comment by Darwin Jamgochian — May 4, 2006 @ 3:12 pm
Ah
Comment by Nessuna — May 4, 2006 @ 4:20 pm
As you can see, these faults go to the highest level of oligarchy - Marshall Baghramian Ave.
Comment by Darwin Jamgochian — May 4, 2006 @ 4:50 pm
Apparently, the pilot told the dispatcher he was flying back to Yerevan. A bit silly thing to do when you don’t have fuel. With all due respect, in this case the problem was not lack of fuel. Not that I make much sense in this, but from what I hear from people who do, it’s the dispatcher’s mistake. The black box has been located, it shouldn’t take very long now.
Comment by Nessuna — May 5, 2006 @ 8:27 am
Reading a little more into this, it appears that the A320 was already committed to another flight and the pilot may have been under pressure to complete his mission and got on with it. From what I make of it, he was to:
1. Complete his mission quickly.
2. Refuel in Sochi.
3. Get his tail back to Yerevan ASAP to meet company timetable.
The blame? It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the people writing condolences are doing so because of a guilt trip.
Comment by Darwin Jamgochian — May 5, 2006 @ 4:31 pm
A1+ reports:
TWO ARMENIAN PLANES A-320 BURNT TO THE GROUND
[04:52 pm] 05 May, 2006
A fire destroyed a hanger at Zaventem Airport on Thursday night, leading to massive flight delays at the Brussels international airport on Friday.
The fire broke out at about midnight on Thursday in hangar 40, a shedowned by Sabena Technics where airplanes undergo maintenance works. Phase three of the regional disaster plan was put into action and airport fire fighters were given assistance by the Zaventem, Brussels, Vilvoorde and Leuven fire brigades. The A201 access road to the airport was temporarily sealed off.
Four people were injured. A worker with Sabena Technics suffered serious burns injuries and was rushed to the military hospital of Neder-over-Heembeek. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene. The fire brigade eventually brought the blaze under control, but could not prevent the roof of the hanger caving in. Firefighters are now letting the debris burn itself out under control.
Four planes that were in the hanger have been damaged. Two of them, an aircraft from the Armenian airline Armavia and a C-130 transport plane, were destroyed.
Despite the fact the hangar is situated a good distance away from the passenger terminal and runways, delays were being reported to flights on Friday nonetheless.
All flights were initially cancelled due to initial fears that the smoke from the fire contained toxic chemicals. But it was confirmed shortly before 8am that the smoke was not dangerous and flights resumed. Media reports at about 10am on Friday said planes were now departing as per schedule.
By the way, the company «International Armenian Airlines» informed that according to their information, their plane A-320 has burnt completely too, although the Belgian side does not inform about it.
As for «Armavia», the plane of which according to information from Belgium has totally burnt, does not have information about the situation in Belgium. Head of the press service of the company Jasmen Vilyan claimed that the schedule has remained the same.
Comment by Nessuna — May 5, 2006 @ 8:40 pm
Also, A1plus again :
THE HAVE HIDDEN THE DISPATCHER
[02:45 pm] 05 May, 2006
The administration of the Adler airport has hidden the workers of the shift who worked in the airport the day when the Armenian plane A-320 crashed. The police and the National Security Service are afraid of the mob law.
According to the Russian Mass Media, the RF National Security Service has not abandoned hopes of finding the record boxes which will shed light on the accident.
The plane crashed six minutes before landing which performing a second circle.
Comment by Nessuna — May 5, 2006 @ 8:41 pm
A-320 Inflammation in Belgium Confirmed
06.05.2006 01:05 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Head of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia Artem Movsesyan confirmed the information that early Ma4 two Armenian jets burnt in a Belgian airport. As it was reported earlier, May 5 night fire broke out in the airbase of Sabena-Technique Belgian company. As result 4 A-320 planes including two Armenian ones burnt. One plane belonged to Armavia national carrier, the other – to entrepreneur Versand Hakobyan. The Armenian planes were undergoing servicing in Belgium. Armavia press office said it will be possible to speak of the damage only after official information on the fire is received. The plane was insured. “Aibus-320 was a reserve one and the incident will not tell on the flight,” Armavia representatives said. To note, Armavia lost its second plane during the recent 3 days, reported IA Regnum.
Comment by Nessuna — May 5, 2006 @ 8:44 pm
None of this would have happened if the Armenian Government was fully transparent and its “allies” hadn’t put a noose on the neck of the Armenian people for 91 years.
Comment by Darwin Jamgochian — May 5, 2006 @ 11:47 pm