Plane crashes @ Phuket Airport

(Bangkok Post) - A One-To-Go Airlines passenger jet with 128 people
aboard crashed and broke in two while landing at Phuket Airport in
foul weather late Sunday afternoon. Rescue workers said the death toll
could be high.

The plane of the budget airline skidded off the runway after landing
and crashed into trees, bursting into fire, said Channel 7 TV.

Initial reports estimated that at least 60 passengers died in the
fiery accident. But there was hope there were survivors.

"The plane was landing and slid off the runway. We are rescuing people
and carrying injured people to hospitals," said Pol Lt Sokchai
Limcharoen, a police officer in the area in an early report.

Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of
Thailand said the aircraft broke in two as it attempted to land at
Phuket airport in bad weather.

Chaisak told TITV that there was heavy rain when flight OG269 of
parent Orient Thai Airways traveling from Bangkok's Don Muang airport
to Phuket attempted to make a landing. Planes in both Orient Thai and
One-Two-Go livery use the OG flight identifier.

"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to
make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed,". he said.
"The plane then fell onto the runway and broke into two. It is
expected that there will be deaths.

"The airplane asked to land but due to the weather in Phuket -strong
wind and heavy rain -maybe the pilot did not see the runway clearly,"
said Chaisak.

Witnesses said the airline was using its usual MD-82 twin-engine
passenger jet aircraft, a model of the McDonnell-Douglas DC9. One-Two-
Go owned seven such planes, which it used for frequent flights around
Thailand, including six each day from Bangkok to Phuket and return.

Airport officials and rescue workers are still working to help the
victims from the plane which caught fire after it crashlanded and
skidded off the runway.

Authorities said there were 123 passengers and five crew members on
board when the plane crashed at about 3:35pm Sunday afternoon.

65 killed in plane crash in Thailand

16 Sep, 2007, 1801 hrs IST, IANS


BANGKOK: At least 65 people were killed and 40 were injured as a Thai
commercial airliner with 128 persons aboard crashed when landing at
the Phuket International Airport in southern Thailand on Sunday
afternoon, Bangkok's transport radio station FM 100 reported.

The MB 82 aircraft of Thailand's budget airline, One-Two-Go airline,
crashed into trees and caught fire, after it attempted a failed
landing at around 3.40 pm Sunday (0840 GMT).

Thailand's TITV station quoted Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of
the Air Transport Authority of Thailand, saying that the aircraft
broke into two as it attempted to land at the airport in bad weather.

Chaisak told TITV that there was heavy rain when the plane tried to
land.

"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to
make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed. It was torn
into two parts," he said.

Weather in Phuket has been bad for several days, with thunderstorms
and high wind gusts at times. On board the plane were 79 foreign and
44 Thai passengers.

Rescue work is till going on. More than 20 injured have been sent to
hospitals, at least three of them were reported to be in serious
condition.

A Thai survivor, a 70-year-old Thai man named Nong, told The Nation
media group in the hospital that the whole plane was burning within
three minutes of the crash.

Phuket is an island located on the eastern coast of Indian Ocean in
southern Thailand and is one of southeast Asia's most popular tourist
destinations.

66 dead' in Thai plane crash


(CNN) -- A Thai airliner carrying 130 people crashed Sunday at the
Phuket airport in southern Thailand shortly after landing, witnesses
and officials said. Reports say at least 66 people were killed.
art.rana2.irpt.jpg

Image of firefighters attending the crash scene taken by I-Reporter
Manoj Rana.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image

A spokesman for One-Two-Go Airlines said Flight 269 left Bangkok at
2:30 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Phuket at 3:50 p.m.
The plane was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members, he said.

He had no information about casualties.

Phuket's Deputy Governor Worapot Ratthaseema told The Associated Press
that dozens of bodies were laid out in the airport building.

"At least 66 people have been confirmed and 42 have been
hospitalized," Worapot said, adding the remaining passengers are
missing and presumed to be still inside the wreckage.

Two main hospitals in Phuket were treating 38 patients, hospital
representatives told CNN.

Bangkok Hospital Phuket was treating 28 patients, five in critical
condition; Phuket International Hospital was treating 10.

The hospitals detailed their nationalities as: Australian: 1,
Austrian: 1, British: 8, Dutch:1, German: 4, Iranian: 3, Irish: 3,
Italian: 1, Swedish: 2, Thai: 14.

The passenger jet skidded off the runway during a landing attempt amid
heavy rain and strong crosswinds, according to Thai News Agency (TNA).

"What it looked like to me was that it actually landed, and then
crashed, maybe skidded off the runway," witness William Harding said.
Video Watch images from scene of crash. »

"The inside (of the plane) was totally on fire and about five minutes
of burning, there was a small explosion that blew off top of the
plane."

Harding said he landed at Phuket on another One-Two-Go airliner that
landed five minutes before the plane crash.

"It was the roughest landing I've ever experienced," he said. "I've
never been through anything like that."
Don't Miss


Harding, who lives in the resort town of Phuket, said the plane
"knocked up against a hill."

Video showed dozens of ambulances and fire trucks on the scene, which
was enveloped in black smoke.

"The jet was crashed and up into a hill that's the size of a runway,"
Harding said. "It looked basically intact. The wing was still attached
to the fuselage. The tail was down. But the inside of the plane was
totally ablaze."

One-Two-Go, a subsidiary of Orient Thai Airways is a low-cost airliner
that operates in Thailand.

Phuket International Airport is the second-busiest airport in
Thailand, according to the airport's Web site. The airport is about 20
miles (32 kilometers) from downtown Phuket. E-mail to a friend E-mail
to a friend

On Sep 16, 10:39 am, joeblow wrote:
66 dead' in Thai plane crash

(CNN) -- A Thai airliner carrying 130 people crashed Sunday at the
Phuket airport in southern Thailand shortly after landing, witnesses
and officials said. Reports say at least 66 people were killed.
art.rana2.irpt.jpg

Image of firefighters attending the crash scene taken by I-Reporter
Manoj Rana.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image

A spokesman for One-Two-Go Airlines said Flight 269 left Bangkok at
2:30 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Phuket at 3:50 p.m.
The plane was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members, he said.

He had no information about casualties.

Phuket's Deputy Governor Worapot Ratthaseema told The Associated Press
that dozens of bodies were laid out in the airport building.

"At least 66 people have been confirmed and 42 have been
hospitalized," Worapot said, adding the remaining passengers are
missing and presumed to be still inside the wreckage.

Two main hospitals in Phuket were treating 38 patients, hospital
representatives told CNN.

Bangkok Hospital Phuket was treating 28 patients, five in critical
condition; Phuket International Hospital was treating 10.

The hospitals detailed their nationalities as: Australian: 1,
Austrian: 1, British: 8, Dutch:1, German: 4, Iranian: 3, Irish: 3,
Italian: 1, Swedish: 2, Thai: 14.

The passenger jet skidded off the runway during a landing attempt amid
heavy rain and strong crosswinds, according to Thai News Agency (TNA).

"What it looked like to me was that it actually landed, and then
crashed, maybe skidded off the runway," witness William Harding said.
Video Watch images from scene of crash. »

"The inside (of the plane) was totally on fire and about five minutes
of burning, there was a small explosion that blew off top of the
plane."

Harding said he landed at Phuket on another One-Two-Go airliner that
landed five minutes before the plane crash.

"It was the roughest landing I've ever experienced," he said. "I've
never been through anything like that."
Don't Miss

Harding, who lives in the resort town of Phuket, said the plane
"knocked up against a hill."

Video showed dozens of ambulances and fire trucks on the scene, which
was enveloped in black smoke.

"The jet was crashed and up into a hill that's the size of a runway,"
Harding said. "It looked basically intact. The wing was still attached
to the fuselage. The tail was down. But the inside of the plane was
totally ablaze."

One-Two-Go, a subsidiary of Orient Thai Airways is a low-cost airliner
that operates in Thailand.

Phuket International Airport is the second-busiest airport in
Thailand, according to the airport's Web site. The airport is about 20
miles (32 kilometers) from downtown Phuket. E-mail to a friend E-mail
to a friend

i can just vaguely recall the news report w/in the past 25 years of a
delta jet crash-landing at dallas (?) in a storm, and the alleged
cause was
then said and/or later described as an unusual "windshear" or close to
that ugly word/phrase, and now i must ask:

how often do passenger planes land and take-off in "bad
weather?" (i'll just guess 10 percent or less)

i presume "windshear" is one of the bigger nightmares of the people in
the industry

On 16 Sep, 18:53, Robert Cohen wrote:
On Sep 16, 10:39 am, joeblow wrote:





66 dead' in Thai plane crash

(CNN) -- A Thai airliner carrying 130 people crashed Sunday at the
Phuket airport in southern Thailand shortly after landing, witnesses
and officials said. Reports say at least 66 people were killed.
art.rana2.irpt.jpg

Image of firefighters attending the crash scene taken by I-Reporter
Manoj Rana.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image

A spokesman for One-Two-Go Airlines said Flight 269 left Bangkok at
2:30 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Phuket at 3:50 p.m.
The plane was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members, he said.

He had no information about casualties.

Phuket's Deputy Governor Worapot Ratthaseema told The Associated Press
that dozens of bodies were laid out in the airport building.

"At least 66 people have been confirmed and 42 have been
hospitalized," Worapot said, adding the remaining passengers are
missing and presumed to be still inside the wreckage.

Two main hospitals in Phuket were treating 38 patients, hospital
representatives told CNN.

Bangkok Hospital Phuket was treating 28 patients, five in critical
condition; Phuket International Hospital was treating 10.

The hospitals detailed their nationalities as: Australian: 1,
Austrian: 1, British: 8, Dutch:1, German: 4, Iranian: 3, Irish: 3,
Italian: 1, Swedish: 2, Thai: 14.

The passenger jet skidded off the runway during a landing attempt amid
heavy rain and strong crosswinds, according to Thai News Agency (TNA).

"What it looked like to me was that it actually landed, and then
crashed, maybe skidded off the runway," witness William Harding said.
Video Watch images from scene of crash. »

"The inside (of the plane) was totally on fire and about five minutes
of burning, there was a small explosion that blew off top of the
plane."

Harding said he landed at Phuket on another One-Two-Go airliner that
landed five minutes before the plane crash.

"It was the roughest landing I've ever experienced," he said. "I've
never been through anything like that."
Don't Miss

Harding, who lives in the resort town of Phuket, said the plane
"knocked up against a hill."

Video showed dozens of ambulances and fire trucks on the scene, which
was enveloped in black smoke.

"The jet was crashed and up into a hill that's the size of a runway,"
Harding said. "It looked basically intact. The wing was still attached
to the fuselage. The tail was down. But the inside of the plane was
totally ablaze."

One-Two-Go, a subsidiary of Orient Thai Airways is a low-cost airliner
that operates in Thailand.

Phuket International Airport is the second-busiest airport in
Thailand, according to the airport's Web site. The airport is about 20
miles (32 kilometers) from downtown Phuket. E-mail to a friend E-mail
to a friend

i can just vaguely recall the news report w/in the past 25 years of a
delta jet crash-landing at dallas (?) in a storm, and the alleged
cause was
then said and/or later described as an unusual "windshear" or close to
that ugly word/phrase, and now i must ask:

how often do passenger planes land and take-off in "bad
weather?" (i'll just guess 10 percent or less)

i presume "windshear" is one of the bigger nightmares of the people in
the industry

I thought it was relatively rare and certain airports had detection
equipment.











- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Robert Cohen writes:

how often do passenger planes land and take-off in "bad
weather?" (i'll just guess 10 percent or less)

They are never supposed to take off or land in weather that is dangerous. But
it's hard to precisely draw a line between acceptable but poor weather and
unacceptable weather, even if the extremes are pretty obvious ("don't fly into
tornados").

i presume "windshear" is one of the bigger nightmares of the people in
the industry

Less so now than before it was known, of course. It's possible to train for
it, in order to reduce the chances of a problem, and there are some systems
for detecting it and/or conditions that lead to it, but one can't always
successfully deal with a really strong windshear if it occurs in the wrong
place at the wrong moment.

I doubt that windshear was a factor here. Chances are the crew made a poor
decision to land in weather that was really too severe for a landing, and bad
things happened in consequence.

On Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:17:59 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:


I doubt that windshear was a factor here. Chances are the crew made a poor
decision to land in weather that was really too severe for a landing, and bad
things happened in consequence.

You are probably right. To go to Krabi instead would not have made
such a difference. A parallel here to the crash in Suratthani a few
years ago?

On 17 Sep 2007 11:09:18 GMT, (Guenter Bellach)
wrote:

On Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:17:59 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:


I doubt that windshear was a factor here. Chances are the crew made a poor
decision to land in weather that was really too severe for a landing, and bad
things happened in consequence.

You are probably right. To go to Krabi instead would not have made
such a difference. A parallel here to the crash in Suratthani a few
years ago?

If the forecast weather at both the destination itself and any
possible diversion airports (Krabi?) were marginal then they shouldn't
have departed from Bangkok in the first place.

Chris

Guenter Bellach writes:

You are probably right. To go to Krabi instead would not have made
such a difference. A parallel here to the crash in Suratthani a few
years ago?

It's probably an instance of "get-home-itis," which afflicts even airline
pilots. There may have been tremendous pressure to land at the scheduled
airport, too.

Chris Blunt writes:

If the forecast weather at both the destination itself and any
possible diversion airports (Krabi?) were marginal then they shouldn't
have departed from Bangkok in the first place.

A lot of things that probably shouldn't be done in aviation nevertheless seem
to get done in the Third World.