Russian passenger plane crashes outside Moscow

[malaise]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/11/russian-passenger-plane-saratov-airlines-flight-6w703-crashes-outside-moscow-reports
<snip>
A Russian passenger plane crashed outside Moscow on Sunday, killing all 71 people on board, according to Russian media.

Saratov Airlines flight 6W703, an Antonov An-148 plane, had taken off from the Domodedovo airport en route to Orsk, a city in the Urals, when it crashed in the Ramensky district on the outskirts of Moscow.

Russian news agencies reported 65 passengers and six crew were on board. They also quoted witnesses in the village of Argunovo whoe said they had seen a burning plane falling from the sky.

A source from Russia’s emergency services told Interfax that the 71 people on board had no chance of survival. The same news agency reported that the wreckage of the plane was spread over a wide area around the crash site.
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Spare a thought for the passengers and crew

[kacekwl]

1. Very sad. I suggest

a close look at the passenger log to see who was onboard. Just saying.

[malaise]

2. That crossed my mind

Witnesses say aircraft was in flames when it fell.

[pdxflyboy]

3. Coming down in flames, immediately after takeoff?

Probably an explosive device on-board.

[malaise]

4. It's possible but I'm no expert

Too sad

[renegade000]

5. Certainly a possibility

Striking runway debris could be another explanation.

[DFW]

6. I've never flown on an Antonov

But I have flown on Ilyushin and Tupolev planes. I swear, those Soviet-era airliners are put together with Scotch Tape and Elmer's glue. VERY scary. I was once invited to do something with the government of Mongolia, but at the time, there was a SARS outbreak in the area, and the only connection that worked was on Aeroflot Soviet-built TU-154 planes, connecting through Moscow. The combination was a bit much, so I passed. I'd love to visit Mongolia sometime, and I'm sure that as a guest of the government, I'd get to see some cool stuff, but returning in one piece is a requirement they weren't in a position to guarantee me.

I was on a Cubana Airines Ilyushin 62 once out of Havana. After one aborted takeoff, they finally repaired the thing to where it COULD actually take off. After an hour or so, it banked and turned around, and it had to return to Havana. It dumped fuel before landing to avoid an explosion in case of a crash landing. I asked how long it would take to repair it this time, and they said we were lucky to have landed alive, and would have to wait until they could find another aircraft. Como inspirar la confianza de sus pasajeros.....

[malaise]

7. Damn - I had a friend and co-worker who survived a crash

in the Soviet Union when he was studying - he was one of about 28 folks who walked out alive but the majority of folks died. He said when they were going down the only thing he thought about was his then infant son.

[DFW]

8. On the plane in trouble, I was sitting next to a commercial airline pilot from Quebec

He was talking our row through the steps as the thing was happening. He was from out in the country somewhere, so his French was a little hard for me to understand completely, but he understood everything that was going on, so strangely, even though it looked scary, when he didn't panic, neither did we. Maybe the Cuban pilot had been through this kind of thing before with the Soviet-built planes, and was experienced with trouble situations. The only time I got nervous was when I asked on of the crew why we were returning to Havana (I wasn't content with the pilot's "por razones técnicas&quot , and he said there was trouble with the navigation system. I translated for the Canadian pilot, and he said the Cuban was lying his ass off.