Armenian Jet crashes in Black Sea w/ 100 aboard

[Hovik]

Plane Crashes in Russia With 100 Aboard 13 minutes ago



An Armenian passenger jet with 100 people aboard crashed early Wednesday off the Black Sea coast shortly before it was to land in the Russian city of Sochi, Russian news agencies reported.

Wreckage from the plane was spotted not far from the shoreline, but no passengers or crew have so far been found, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, quoting Russian Emergency Situations spokesman Viktor Beltsov.

The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia, disappeared from radar screens at about 2:15 a.m. local time, the RIA-Novosti agency reported. It was carrying 92 passengers — including five children — and a crew of eight, ITAR-Tass reported.

[Hovik]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12601815/

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/02/russia.plane/index.html

[Hovik]

Plane Crashes in Russia With 100 Aboard

Plane Crashes in Russia With 100 Aboard
AP News
news.yahoo.com

An Armenian passenger jet with 100 people aboard crashed early Wednesday off the Black Sea coast shortly before it was to land in the Russian city of Sochi, Russian news agencies reported.

Wreckage from the plane was found not far from the shoreline, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, quoting Russian Emergency Situations spokesman Viktor Beltsov. The Interfax news agency reported that rescue teams at the site pulled the body of a woman from the sea.

The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia, disappeared from radar screens at about 2:15 a.m. local time, the RIA-Novosti agency reported. It was flying from the Armenian capital Yerevan to Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea in southern Russia, and was carrying 92 passengers — including five children — and eight crew members, ITAR-Tass reported.

Rescuers found parts of the plane nearly four miles from the shore, along with empty lifejackets — an indication that passengers had no time to put them on, ITAR-Tass quoted an unidentified local emergency official as saying. The rescuers were working in a driving rain, Russian news agencies reported.

[Hovik]

Plane holding 100 people crashes into Black Sea

Plane holding 100 people crashes into Black Sea
CTV.ca News Staff

An Armenian Airlines aircraft holding 100 people has crashed into the Black Sea, according to Russian media reports.

The aircraft was flying from Yerevan to the Black Sea resort of Sochi in southern Russia.

According to Russia's RIA news agency, the emergencies ministry said parts of the plane could be seen on the surface of the water.

The aircraft was an Airbus 320 and belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia. It was carrying eight crewmembers and 92 passengers, including five children, according to reports.

The aircraft disappeared from radar screens at 2:15 A.M. local time, ministry spokesperson Viktor Beltsov told reporters.

Rescuers dealing with hard rain managed to find wreckage about six kilometres from shore, but officials have not said whether any bodies have been found.

In 2004, a Tu-154 airliner carrying 46 people crashed while on its way to the same resort city.

Russian officials said the Tu-154 was the target of terrorism, after finding traces of explosives in the wreckage.

A second aircraft -- a Tu-134 jet - crashed almost exactly at the same time, shortly after departing from Moscow's Domodedovo airport.

Ninety people in total were killed

More to come...

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060502/aircraft_black_sea_060502/20060502?hub=TopStories

[Hovik]

Armenian jet crashes near Sochi

Armenian jet crashes near Sochi
BBC News

A passenger airplane flying from Armenia's capital, Yerevan, to the city of Sochi in southern Russia has crashed over the Black Sea, officials say.
The Airbus A-320 plane from Armenia's Armavia airline was carrying about 100 people, when it disappeared from radar screens about 0215 (2215GMT Tuesday).

Debris has been seen in the sea, about 6km (four miles) from the coast, says Russia's Emergencies Ministry.

Bad weather conditions are making the search for survivors difficult.

Life jackets have been found in the accident area, although no people have been found, said deputy head of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, Viktor Beltsov.

Among those on board were eight crew and five children, he said.

Sochi is a popular Russian seaside resort, near the border with Georgia.

[Tongue]

[Kharpert]

I thought Armavia went out of business?

[Hovik]

I thought Armavia went out of business?

Nope, never heard of that... maybe you're thinking of "Armenian Airlines"..?

[Gavur]

Armenia airline Armavia sets up HQ to probe Black Sea crash

10:02 | 03/ 05/ 2006



YEREVAN, May 3 (RIA Novosti) - Armenian air company Armavia said Wednesday it had set up an emergency headquarters to investigate a crash in the early hours of the day that is thought to have claimed 113 lives.

An Armavia A-320 came down about six kilometers off Russia's Black Sea coast while heading for an airport in Adler, which services the resort of Sochi. In all, 105 passengers and eight crew members were on board.

A spokesman for the company said the plane's crew had been informed about poor weather in Sochi and decided to land in the nearby capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. Air traffic controllers later told the crew that the weather had improved, but the weather was still bad when the plane approached Sochi. The pilot apparently decided to make a second circle after failing to land at the first attempt.

"At this moment it disappeared from radar screens," the spokesman said.

Rescuers said they recovered 25 bodies from the wreckage so far.

[Vogelgrippe]

Well, no matter how intensly we like to grab each other's throats, Turks and Armenians seem to share two common things: Plenty of accidents and natural disasters.

Having worked in the aviation sector until 2003, I know pretty well that several Russian airports do not meet FAA or EAA requirements, but I know too little about this recent accident to blame xxxxy air control equipments.

Another thing to notice is that most civil airline pilots (with the possible exception of Germany) happen to be former air force pilots, so they do not want to complain about air traffic control of civil airports, fearing that it would hurt their reputation as tough pilots. After all, they have been trained to land almost anywhere under any weather condition.

Regardless of the reasons and causes, air crashes have a devastating effect on both the survivors and the relatives of the victims. I recently read that the survivors of January 2003 Turkish Airlines crash are still undergoing psychological treatment.

Finally, and most importantly, may God have mercy upon the souls of the perished.