News Nation & World

Dubai airliner crashes in Russia killing all 62 on board


Wreckage:Russian Emergency Ministry employees investigate the wreckage of a crashed plane at the Rostov-on-Don airport, about 600 miles south of Moscow, on March 19, 2016.

A Dubai airliner with 62 people on board nosedived and exploded in a giant fireball early Saturday while trying to land in strong winds in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all aboard, officials said.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said the Boeing 737-800 operated by FlyDubai was carrying 55 passengers, most of them Russians, and seven crew members of various nationalities. FlyDubai confirmed that there were no survivors and said four children were among those killed.

The powerful explosion pulverized the plane into fragments, but investigators quickly recovered both flight recorders. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known, but officials and experts suggested a sudden gust of wind could have been a possible reason.

"Our primary concern is for the families of the passengers and crew who were on board. Everyone at FlyDubai is in deep shock and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those involved," said CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith.

Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region some 600 miles south of Moscow, was quoted by Russian news agencies as telling local journalists that the plane crashed about 800 feet short of the runway.
The cause of the crash was not immediately determined, but Golubev said: "By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level."

Russian investigators said they were looking into adverse weather and a possible pilot error as the most likely causes of the crash.

According to the weather data reported by Russian state television, winds at the moment of the crash at an altitude of 1,640 feet and higher were around 67 miles per hour.
Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, told The Associated Press that the plane missed its approach then entered a holding pattern.

According to Flightradar24, the plane circled for about two hours before making another attempt to land. It said a Russian Aeroflot plane scheduled to land around the same time made three landing attempts but then diverted to another airport.
According to its data, the Dubai plane began climbing again after a go-around when it suddenly started to fall with vertical speed of up to 21,000 feet per minute.

The closed-circuit TV footage showed the plane going down in a steep angle and exploding in a huge fireball that lit up the night sky.

Some Russian aviation experts said the steep descent appeared to indicate that the crash most probably have been caused by a gust of wind.

"It was an uncontrollable fall," Sergei Kruglikov, a veteran Russian pilot, said on Russian state television. He said that a sudden change in wind speed and direction could have caused the wings to abruptly lose their lifting power.

Several planes had landed in Rostov-on-Don shortly before the Dubai airliner was scheduled to touch down, but other flights later were diverted.

Another seasoned pilot, Viktor Zabolotsky, said a gust of wind probably caused the airliner to lose speed and crash as the pilot was making an attempt to go round.

President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the victims' families and top Russian Cabinet officials flew to the crash site to oversee the investigation.

Officials said the plane and bodies of the victims were torn into small pieces by the powerful blast, but investigators already have found the plane's cockpit conversation recorder and another one recording parameters of the flight.
It was FlyDubai's first crash since the budget carrier began operating in 2009. It was launched in 2008 by the government of Dubai, the Gulf commercial hub that is part of the seven-state United Arab Emirates federation. The carrier has been flying to Rostov-on-Don since 2013.
The airline shares a chairman with Dubai's government-backed Emirates, the Middle East's biggest airline, though the two carriers operate independently and maintain separate operations from their bases at Dubai International Airport, the region's busiest airport.
FlyDubai's fleet consisted of relatively young 737-800 aircraft, like the one that crashed. The airline says it operates more than 1,400 flights a week.

The airline has expanded rapidly in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Dubai is a popular tourist destination for Russian visitors, who are attracted by its beaches, shopping malls and year-round sunshine. Many Russian expatriates live and work in Dubai, a city where foreigners outnumber locals more than 4-to-1.
FlyDubai has a good safety record. In January 2015, one of its planes was struck on the fuselage by what appeared to small-arms fire shortly before it landed in Baghdad. That flight landed safely with no major injuries reported.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-russia-dubai-plane-crash-20160318-story.html/

Humm...... And how many plane 'incidents', have there been in the past year involving Russia & The Middle East?

And how many incidents has Dubai had ?

very interesting!

Caught on camera.
FZ981 crash
http://youtu.be/GHgYTV5uZgM/
02:23

RAW: FlyDubai Boeing-737 crash site in Rostov-on-Don
http://youtu.be/4yc9fpXsLGw/ 01:49

Pilots ‘worked to death’: Flydubai whistleblower says fatigue related crash predicted

http://youtu.be/slL2KMoM3p8/ 00:09:46 RT-News

'Emirates crews extremely fatigued': Exhausted pilots, tell RT of disturbing conditions

http://youtu.be/4dJl6T-oBlw/
00:11:07
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http://www.rt.com/news/337128-emirates-pilots-fatigue-scandal/

rt.com

#Flydubaigate spreads: Now exhausted Emirates airline pilots tell RT of overwork (EXCLUSIVE)

Following the Flydubai scandal, pilots with Emirates airline, the largest in the Middle East, told RT that the company is allegedly cheating on pilot schedules by illegally prolonging work hours and intimidating them from reporting feeling sick or tired.

All of the pilots from the Dubai-based carrier that reached out to RT by phone or email did so on condition of anonymity. Some said they literally fear for their lives, as people can “disappear” in the UAE.
Saving money at the expense of pilots… and passenger safety?

While Emirates airline ads sport a modern aircraft park and luxurious service, there is allegedly an underlying employment crisis that could lead to disastrous consequences.

One former Emirates pilot told RT that the number one issue to investigate is the airline’s problem with fatigue, as seven pilots at Emirates are forced to do the same amount of work as 10 or 11 pilots at any European airline.

“Obviously, these pilots have to work a lot more and get a lot less time for sleep and for recovery,” he said, pointing to the dangerous consequences of such a routine.

The reason for the overstretch is profit, he argued, saying that the airline is attempting to save money by not hiring as many pilots as are needed to match the workload. “The airline wants to use the pilots to their maximum, because pilots cost money. So they want to save that money and just exploit the pilots.”

Meanwhile, another pilot still working at Emirates said that the number of pilots at the airline has been dwindling. “They are not able to employ enough pilots to make up for the losses… So what is happening is that pilots are working harder, harder and harder. It is becoming worse,” he described.

Emergencies Ministry members work at the crash site of a Boeing 737-800 Flight FZ981 operated by Dubai-based budget carrier Flydubai, at the airport of Rostov-On-Don, Russia, March 20, 2016. © Maxim Shemetov

A third pilot, who said that he had experienced intimidation for filing a report over a potentially dangerous situation that needed to be fixed, as well as for taking a sick leave because of the emotional pressure he was subject to at the airline, elaborated on what he sees as an employment crisis at the company that is impacting the remaining pilots.

“There is a big problem because a lot of experienced [pilots] are leaving now, because they do not want to support this fear system. That’s why people are resigning. That means less people to fly the airplanes, [and with] no newcomers joining. That means more workload on the remaining pilots. Their flight hours will go up dramatically, and their fatigue and sickness will go up dramatically as well,” he said.
'Cheating schedules'

Another side of the alleged abuse of pilots by Emirates is the manipulation of schedules, which extends the working day by failing to count the time pilots spend at the airport preparing for flights prior to the so-called “check-in.”

A former Emirates pilot said that using this technique, the airline “illegally” fails to record “one hour … and this happens on every flight.”

Considering the tight rosters and time belts, this amounts to quite a bit of extra stress for the pilots every month. “If you look at the duties the pilots go through … then an extra hour is really a lot and it makes flights illegal, as the overall workload is a lot more than it should be,” the former pilot said.

Apart from the electronic check-in, the pilots need to take care of their luggage, go through passport control, read the pre-flight briefing papers, which “can easily be a hundred pages of documentation,” and then discuss this material with the second pilot.

Another pilot, who is still at Emirates, also confirmed that a lot of fatigue comes from the airline’s manipulation of schedules. Crews are complaining about overworking “all the time,” but because the company “twists” the rules in its favor, it presents the situation as perfectly legal.

‘Intimidation’ tactics

One of the alleged issues accompanying over-exhaustion is that reporting it is looked down upon and largely avoided, a former Emirates pilot revealed, claiming that the company often uses “intimidation” techniques to prevent this.

“[Pilots] don’t get enough time to sleep and they [have no one to appeal to]. The company will not listen to them – they will punish them if they get sick. And the aviation authority will not accept any calls from pilots,” the pilot claimed.

The Flydubai Boeing 737-800 airplane, registration A6-FDN, is pictured in the sky over Dubai, United Arab Emirates. © Jan Seba

Moreover, as the majority of the pilots try to hide their exhaustion by calling in sick, they are limited to only two sick days per month. Getting more than that would have to be certified by a doctor, and employees who do that are allegedly being pressured by the company.

A pilot still working for Emirates described several tactics used by the airline to threaten employees into keeping mum about feeling tired.

Emirates reportedly uses the threat of an internal investigation, which involves endless additional examinations for depression and other illnesses not related to fatigue, to keep their pilots from reporting their exhaustion.

“They will investigate you for depression, for alcohol abuse and various other things. So, most pilots do not call in fatigued even though they are fatigued.”

The pilot noted that calling in sick is easier because it will not show up on a pilot’s record with the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

“I know from facts that most pilots will not call in fatigued for fear of retribution, they just call in sick,” he said. “Sick is just sick … you can disappear, you do not have to give a reason for two days.”

Another former pilot echoed the allegations: “If you have a certain amount of sick days, you will get a warning saying ‘your attendance is not good enough.’ It is a threatening environment which pushes people over the top and pushes them into sickness.”

The first pilot also cited tests conducted on truck drivers in Germany using a simulator that compared people suffering from fatigue with those who were drunk.

“It’s actually worse to be very tired than to be drunk. You will make more mistakes and your reaction time goes down. It’s a well-known common fact; there’s a lot of scientific research in this area but it’s not being applied in reality,” he stressed.
Aviation authority ‘covering up’ reports

Speaking to RT, a former Emirates pilot also claimed that a lack of proper monitoring by the aviation authority of Dubai exacerbates the fatigue problem.

“The aviation authority in the UAE is called General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and it cannot under the government of Dubai [ensure] independent [monitoring] of these airlines,” he said.

Pilots have no higher authority to complain to and any reports that do get out are usually quickly “covered up,” according to the former pilot, who stressed that such misconduct would be impossible with European or US airlines, where independent aviation watchdogs monitor procedures.

The pilot currently employed by Emirates explained that the aviation authority is controlled by the same people who are in charge of the airline. Specifically, he pointed out that the GCAA is chaired by the same person who is the CEO of Emirates airline & Group – Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

Replying to RT’s request for comments, Emirates airline denied the allegations, saying they were “based on anonymous people that we cannot confirm currently work or have worked at the airline.”

“We never compromise safety and always operate within the legal regulatory requirements with regard to flying times, operating hours, and layover times in between flights for our pilots,” Emirates PR Manager Rula Tadros wrote in an email.

“Emirates also encourages open dialogue and has systems in place to facilitate that and in fact we have an open forum for pilots to engage with the management team to voice their concerns.”

RT contacted the GCAA and asked for comment on the allegations coming from the employees of Flydubai and Emirates. Here is the response we got:

“We appreciate all the information which you have provided and we appreciate your professionalism. We would like you to advise contributors not to speculate as to the cause of the accident which we are working on together with colleagues from many different States and entities under the leadership of the IAC which represents the Russian Federation.

AAIS assures you that all information that you have provided will be examined carefully to assess its relevance to the investigation and relies on your understanding of the protocols regarding the care of information affecting investigations.

Best Regards,

Air Accident Investigation Sector

UAE General Civil Aviation Authority”

Pilots began speaking out on condition of anonymity following RT’s report citing a whistleblower pilot from Flydubai, who mentioned fatigue as a factor in the March 19 Rostov tragedy.

Pilots also expressed fear that the same kind of accident that happened with Flydubai in Rostov could happen with an Emirates flight due to the overextended hours.

Flydubai flight FZ981 crashed in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, killing all 62 people on board. A former pilot of the airline came forward following the tragedy, claiming that the company’s management forced their pilots to work while exhausted.

The pilot leaked the flight log of flight FZ981’s co-captain, Alejandro Cruz Alava, which showed that he had worked 11 days with only one off prior to the crash. He pointed out that Alava had been transferred from daytime to nighttime flights without being given enough time to adjust his sleep pattern.

The Flydubai FZ981 crash in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, could have followed the pilots' failure to manage the landing after taking control of the system, media reveal citing flight data. The final minutes are said to have been full of arguments and screams of terror.

Now that decoding of the flight data recorders of the crashed Boeing is complete, an unnamed source told Russian daily Kommersant that pilot error is now dominating the investigation as the probable cause. It appears that while trying to gain altitude after an unsuccessful landing attempt in bad weather, one of the pilots pulled the control stick up too much, causing a stall break and an uncontrollable nosedive.

The Interstate Aviation Committee believes that the official results of the decoding will be made public within a week or two. Meanwhile, according to Kommersant's sources, the recorder revealed that flight FZ981 had made two attempts to land in automatic mode, and since a veering squall wind hampered the second attempt, the pilot decided to make a third approach for landing in manual mode. One of the pilots pressed the TOGA (Take off. Go around) button and turned off the autopilot, writes the daily.

Anonymous experts Kommersant talked to believe the pilot did not manage the diving rudder and horizontal stabilizer, which steer the plane in opposite directions - down and up, respectively. When the pilot pulled up, he put both the rudder and stabilizer in a sharp climb mode, somewhat fighter-jet style, plus enacted the TOGA regime's retracted flaps, decreasing ascending force. As a result, the aircraft lost speed and got into the beyond-stall angle of approach. All this led to an uncontrollable dive, the experts believe.

At that moment, the voice recorder is said to have registered a conflict between pilots. The pilot that tried to force the aircraft to gain altitude apparently turned the engines to powerful take-off mode, forcing the aircraft to continue its climb. The other pilot believed the situation was dangerous and apparently did the opposite: he pushed his own control over to bring the Boeing's nose down and prevent the sweeping up, while yelling at his colleague to stop doing it that way.

The pilots' contrary actions caused the controls of the aircraft to 'split': the Boeing 737's onboard computer was receiving mutually-exclusive commands from the two controls, which are usually operated synchronously. This rendered the plane out of control.

When they felt the plummeting sensation, the crew coordinated their actions, but it was already too late. The Boeing 737-800 was roaring at 325kph downwards at an angle of about 45 degrees. It burst into flames upon collision with the ground, killing all 62 people on board. During the last seconds before the collision both pilots were screaming with terror, Kommersant reports.

On March 20, Russia's Investigative Committee named pilot error or technical failure as the prime theories as to the cause of the Flydubai's Boeing 737-800 crash in Rostov-on-Don on March 19.

It is unclear from the recording which pilot was doing what, Kommersant notes. At first the investigators even believed that only one man was speaking the whole time. Now, to identify the voices of the deceased pilots, the expertise of their former colleagues and even relatives may be needed.

not a real surprise here.