Sea offers little insight into Armenian air crash
Graeme Smith
Globe and Mail, Canada
________________
Moscow (Russia):
Recovery teams scoured the choppy waters of the Black Sea last night, dredging up human remains, floating baggage and pieces of aircraft but finding few clues about why a modern plane with a veteran crew plunged into the sea.
The crash happened around 2:15 a.m. local time yesterday, when the Airbus A320 arriving from Armenia was circling the airport at Sochi, a resort city on the Russian coast. All 113 people aboard are believed dead.
Rain and wind had reduced visibility to about one kilometre when the plane first approached the airport, and ground controllers initially warned the pilots to turn back. But the controllers reportedly changed their advice during a break in the weather, and the plane crashed six kilometres offshore during its second attempt to land.
Witnesses in the seaside city saw a flash of light on the water and heard a loud explosion.
Terrorism was quickly ruled out by officials from Russia, Armenia and the Armenian airline company, Armavia. No distress calls were heard before the plane disappeared off radar, travelling 250 kilometres an hour at an altitude of only 280 metres.
The Airbus A320 has a good safety record, with only six crashes in a fleet of 2,750 planes.
The plane had reportedly flown 28,000 hours since its manufacture, meaning it might have had roughly five years remaining in regular service.
May 04, 2006
Graeme Smith
Globe and Mail, Canada
________________
Moscow (Russia):
Recovery teams scoured the choppy waters of the Black Sea last night, dredging up human remains, floating baggage and pieces of aircraft but finding few clues about why a modern plane with a veteran crew plunged into the sea.
The crash happened around 2:15 a.m. local time yesterday, when the Airbus A320 arriving from Armenia was circling the airport at Sochi, a resort city on the Russian coast. All 113 people aboard are believed dead.
Rain and wind had reduced visibility to about one kilometre when the plane first approached the airport, and ground controllers initially warned the pilots to turn back. But the controllers reportedly changed their advice during a break in the weather, and the plane crashed six kilometres offshore during its second attempt to land.
Witnesses in the seaside city saw a flash of light on the water and heard a loud explosion.
Terrorism was quickly ruled out by officials from Russia, Armenia and the Armenian airline company, Armavia. No distress calls were heard before the plane disappeared off radar, travelling 250 kilometres an hour at an altitude of only 280 metres.
The Airbus A320 has a good safety record, with only six crashes in a fleet of 2,750 planes.
The plane had reportedly flown 28,000 hours since its manufacture, meaning it might have had roughly five years remaining in regular service.
May 04, 2006
