PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Jet goes down on its way to Medellin, Colombia
Old 1st Dec 2016, 13:48
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A0283
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
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@LiveryMan
I'm having trouble visualising the crash sequence.
Only part of the accident site is covered by photos. There are at least 5 areas and only 1 is really covered by photos at this stage.

The first (area1) is the most photographed area of the aft fuselage and whole or half wing, To its right is a low ridge where the UH60(s) land(s). There are no images from the right side (area2) of that low ridge as far as i have seen. On the left is a hollow (area3) with thinly spread debris of the plane. And on that left of that hollow a rise with spectators on it. Back up the high ridge there indeed appears to be a wide scar (area4) going all up to the crest of the high ridge. And on the other side and top of that high ridge (area5) lies what appears to be the tail and or maybe a piece of wing. These last two areas are only covered by videos as far as i know (of low quality). I have not seen any photo that would conclusively tell me where the cockpit and forward section landed.

Looking at that the plane most likely came from behind the high ridge. Hit the crest of that high ridge. Unknown at this stage what was left there. Substantial sections and components probably sliding down the ridge (zero photos of that). And the fuselage wing part somehow landing in its location and partially sliding up the side of the other side. And somehow part of loose debris thrown out and landing to the left of that. Still not clear to me if the scars on the heli ridge are from the crash or natural or made by the rescuers.

The position of the inverted wing (ref flaptrack fairings) and part of the aft fuselage (ref registration number) could be explained in at least two different ways. The first is that it flipped forward and over. But another might be that the combination slid forward with the 4 engine mounts keeping it in straight direction until the mounts dug into the upslope. The fuselage then breaking loose from the wing and sliding forward. And the wing flipping over. So the fuselage rolling over the wing. My impression at this time is that the last thing happend, reason for that is the aft fuselage being on top.

So at this stage we have a large number of photos but many many more would be required to understand how the plane came in and broke apart. Which is no surprise.

It is surprising though that anyone survived. Reasons for that might be low initial impact speed as well as luck during the break up sequence.
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