Russian airline crash, has similarities to 2002 Flight 611 to Hong Kong crash.
At 14:38 Taipei Delivery cleared Flight 611 to Hong Kong: "Dynasty six one one cleared to Hong Kong Airport via Jessy one departure after Jessy direct to Chali Makung alpha one maintain flight level two six zero expect flight level three five zero at Makung squawk two six six one". The gate closed around 14:50, ten minutes after the scheduled departure time and the crew requested ground start and pushback from stand B2. At 14:57 pushback was completed and the aircraft taxied to runway 06. Ten minutes later the aircraft had taxied into position and was cleared for take off. While climbing through 1600 feet the crew contacted Taipei Approach and received clearance to climb to and maintain FL260 and proceed direct to Chali. At 15.16, while climbing through FL187, Dynasty 611 contacted Taipei Control. The Flight was cleared to climb and maintain FL350 and proceed from Chali direct to Kadlo. Some 13 minutes later, while approaching 35,000 feet, the aircraft disappeared off radar screens. Wreckage and bodies were found at sea, about 45km Northeast off the Penghu islands. The flight probably disintegrated at high altitude since other debris was found near Changhua, about 45 kilometers from the crash site.
FINDINGS RELATED TO PROBABLE CAUSES:
1. Based on the recordings of CVR and FDR, radar data, the dado panel open-close positions, the wreckage distribution, and the wreckage examinations, the in-flight breakup of CI611, as it approached its cruising altitude, was highly likely due to the structural failure in the aft lower lobe section of the fuselage.
2.
In February 7 1980, the accident aircraft suffered a *tail strike occurrence in Hong Kong. The aircraft was ferried back to Taiwan on the same day un-pressurized and a temporary repair was conducted the day after. A permanent repair was conducted on May 23 through 26, 1980.
3. The permanent repair of the tail strike was not accomplished in accordance with the Boeing SRM, in that the area of damaged skin in Section 46 was not removed (trimmed) and the repair doubler did not extend sufficiently beyond the entire damaged area to restore the structural strength.
4. Evidence of fatigue damage was found in the lower aft fuselage centered about STA 2100, between stringers S-48L and S-49L, under the repair doubler near its edge and outside the outer row of securing rivets. Multiple Site Damage (MSD), including a 15.1-inch through thickness main fatigue crack and some small fatigue cracks were confirmed. The 15.1-inch crack and most of the MSD cracks initiated from the scratching damage associated with the 1980 tail strike incident.
6. Maintenance inspection of B-18255 did not detect the ineffective 1980 structural repair and the fatigue cracks that were developing under the repair doubler. However, the time that the fatigue cracks propagated through the skin thickness could not be determined.
Russian airline reveals holiday jet crash could only have been caused by a 'mechanical impact' (
DM)
Fears were growing today that a bomb could have destroyed the Russian holiday jet that crashed in Egypt killing all 224 people on board.
The Airbus A321 broke up mid-air shortly after takeoff from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, scattering wreckage over a wide area in Sinai.
Terrorism and aviation experts believe a bomb may have been responsible, pointing to the fact there was no distress call and that the fuselage skin had peeled outwards possibly due to a 'force acting outwards from within'.
A top official at Russian airline Metrojet also blamed 'external activity' for the disaster, insisting the jet was in 'excellent' condition and that the pilots 'totally' lost control of the aircraft.
Alexander Smirnov, the deputy general director of Metrojet’s parent company Kogalymavia, told reporters in Moscow today that the cause of the crash 'could only have been a mechanical impact on the plane' in the air.
'The plane was in excellent condition. We rule out a technical fault and any mistake by the crew,' he said.
The airline said its plane dropped 186mph in speed and around 5,000 feet in altitude one minute before it crashed into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Kogalymavia's deputy general director for engineering, Andrei Averyanov, said a 2001 incident when the plane's *tail section struck the tarmac on landing was fully repaired and could not have been a factor in the crash.
He said the aircraft's engines had undergone routine inspection in Moscow on October 26 which found no problems and he said in the five flights before the crash, the crew recorded no technical problems in the aircraft's log book. Read the full story
here.
