Sukhoi Superjet-100 hits mountain top
It has been a very long time since I piloted a plane, but was happy to find this forum. I live about 13 km NW of the point of impact. I can see Mount Salak on a clear day and perhaps could see the site with binoculars. I came across the forum, because of my problem to understand the coordinates given by search personnel on the local TV (61 seconds!?) in one of the coordinates. Using the decimal conversion proposed by another poster, which look to be correct and fit fairly well with a report from one of the search pilots who gave the altitude as 5,800 ft. Java lies E-W, with a chain of volcanic mountains along the island. Here in West Java Mounts Salak I (7,287 ft), Salak II (7,153 ft) Gede (9,705 ft) and Pangrango (9,905), all lie to the south. Flying from on the north coast to Pelabuhan Ratu, a small fishing village on the south coast would only take a few minutes and I suspect that was the plan. On the return the pilot had requested to descend from 10,000 to 6000 ft and that was before passing over the above mentioned mountains. Yesterday afternoon in the town of Bogor (400 m asl) it was overcast and I did hear an unusual sound above, but paid little notice because there is a nearby airfield. It is probable that the mountains were entirely covered by cloud. What I cannot understand is that, with a navigator on board, why the request to descend was made so soon. I also assume that he would be aware of the MOCA (at least 10,000 ft?). Also surely a new aircraft would have a ground proximity warning system. Would this help? Perhaps not if you fly into a vertical mountainside. Regarding the weather, Bogor is known as Rain Town and has the national record for lightning strikes. Although we used to have a dry period of several weeks or even months, we haven’t had a long dry period for a couple of years (climate change) and often get heavy rain especially in the afternoon. I can’t remember when I last saw the mountains. Retrieval of the remains will be an enormous problem and I guess it will take 6-8 hours on foot to reach the site from the nearest road.