CHINA EASTERN AIRLINE MU5735 REMINDS ME OF XL AIRWAYS FLIGHT 888 (NIK ZAFRI)

It always saddens the whole world to hear or to witness air plane crashes. Our hearts go to China Eastern Airline MU5735 immediate family, company workers and friends of the victims. Here's what some friends of mine thinks.

Setting aside act of terrorism or foul play, the case of China Eastern Airline crash is almost similar to XL Airways Flight 888 (acceptance flight for an Airbus A320 on 27 November 2008), the plane stalled and the captain increased power while pushing his side stick forward to bring the nose down - a maneuver to prevent stalling but it doesn't work. The plane continues to pitch up until it loses lift and falls from the sky - crashed into the Mediterranean sea - believed to be in vertical attitude just like China Eastern Airlines

Based on the investigators finding :

Computer simulations help to analyze flight 888's final flight check. It appeared that the Captain deliberately slows his plane down for the test, but the computer lets the speed drop too far. Below the minimum needed to keep the plane in flight. There was a warning on the cockpit flight display (Use Man Pitch Trim) - moments before the crash. It's to alert the pilots that the flight computer is no longer helping to fly the plane. The plane has been switched to full manual mode. The warning comes on when the plane's computer gets conflicting information.

The sensors are telling the computer the plane is flying level but other onboard sensors are relaying its' extreme nose up attitude. One of these readings must be wrong. Perhaps in the chaos, the pilots didn't see the warning.

In manual mode, by increasing power while pushing his side stick forward to bring the nose down is not enough where they also need to adjust the trim wheel for a more dramatic change of pitch.

Note :

The abovementioned was only a test flight (acceptance flight) using Airbus A320 and it was being operated by the best pilots just like China Eastern Airline. A320 is different than the China Eastern Airline where it involved Boeing 737 800. (Both A320 and B737 800 have a good reputation of a long safety-track record)

However, we still have to wait for the recovery of the "black box" and data analysis captured by Flightradar24 in order to know the real findings.

TransAsia plane crashes in Taiwan river, killing at least 23 people (Source : The Guardian)

(Source)

Dramatic footage shows regional airliner clipping taxi cab and bridge minutes after takeoff



Footage of TransAsia Airways plane crashing.

A TransAsia Airways flight in Taiwan carrying 58 passengers and crew careened past buildings, clipped a highway and crashed into a shallow stream, killing at least 23 people.

TransAsia GE 235, a domestic flight from Taipei to Kinmen – a small archipelago near mainland China – crashed at 10.56am local time, according to Taiwan’s aviation council, about three minutes after it took off. Astonishing dash-cam videos posted online showed the turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft in its final airborne moments, turning vertical over a highway and clipping a taxi cab and a bridge with its left wing.

Rescuers are searching into the night for 20 missing people, after 15 were pulled alive from the wreckage.

“Several fire engines, ambulances, water craft and almost 170 rescue staff have been dispatched,” said a press release by the Taiwanese Central Disaster Response Centre. Local TV stations broadcasted footage of rescue workers in life vests and yellow helmets surrounding the plane’s fuselage in inflatable rafts.

At the moment, things don’t look too optimistic,” said Wu Jun-hong, a Taipei Fire Department official who was coordinating the rescue, according to the Associated Press. “Those in the front of the plane are likely to have lost their lives.”

The driver of the clipped taxi cab “has been sent to a local hospital”, an assistant to the Crown Taxi Company’s general manager who identified himself as Mr Yang told the Guardian.

“He has head injury and concussion, but all of his vital signs are stable.” Yang added that the company planned to raise the topic of compensation with TransAsia Airways at a later date.

Rescuers carry out rescue operations after a TransAsia plane crashed into a river in New Taipei City. Photograph: Pichi Chuang/Reuters

The last communication from one of the aircraft’s pilots was “Mayday Mayday engine flameout”, according to an air traffic control recording on liveatc.net.

A flameout occurs when the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted or when there is faulty combustion, resulting in an engine failure.

The flight’s black box has been recovered, according to local media.

“Weather conditions were good and the pilot had 14,000 hours of flying hours and the co-pilot 4,000 hours,” Lin Zhiming, a representative from Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

Among the passengers were 31 mainland Chinese tourists, travelling with two local travel agencies: Teyung Group, and Flying Tours.

Lin Liqing, manager of the Teyung Group, said that she had just arrived in Taipei to help with the handling of the incident.

“We are currently heading to the crash site and checking the passenger list with TransAsia Airways,” Lin said. She added that the passengers had been sent to eight local hospitals, and that she had not yet been able to visit them.

The manager of Flying Tours said that among 15 mainland Chinese tourists on the plane who were travelling with the agency, he had only confirmed one injured passenger – one of the two infants on board. He had no information on the remaining 14 people.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS showed rescuers pulling a toddler alive from the wreckage and rushing him or her to safety.

The chief executive of TransAsia, Chen Xinde, has publicly apologised for the crash.


Wednesday’s crash is the second by a TransAsia flight within the past six months — in July 2014, TransAsia flight ATR-72 crashed while attempting to land in the Penghu Islands soon after a typhoon, killing 48 people. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

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Our deepest condolences to friends and family of the passengers and crew members including those who are affected by this sad tragedy.

Our hearts are with you.

Congratulations to the Rescue Team for the prompt action saving so many survivors and those who are hurt.

(Nik Zafri & Family - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia)