Afghanistan: Dassault Falcon 10 jet crash Jan 2024
 

News reports of a passenger jet crash. Origin of jet India or Indian registered. Indian government confirms all scheduled commercial flights accounted for. Looking in to charter ops. Edit to add: Not Indian - Morocco registered.

https://www.khaama.com/passenger-plane-crashes-in-northeastern-afghanistan/

Link to article

Russian (illegally) registered Falcon 10, reportedly on an ambulance charter/

Ok. This thread will maybe get moved. Mystery recent reggo change to Moroccan from Russian.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d6f745254.jpeg

Flight originated from Utapao, Thailand (Pattaya airport). Refueled in Gaya, India and heading for second refueling to Uzbekistan. The wife, Anna, was very sick and husband received permission from Pattaya hospital to transfer her to Moscow. Sad.

Originated in U-Tapao-Rayong, Thailand and tech stopped at Gaya, Bihar, India. As they appear to have run out of fuel short of their next tech stop in Tashkent one wonders what happened during the refuel in India?

Here’s the Reuters report:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...ce-2024-01-21/

Uzbekistanian media are reporting this:
- plane was diverting to Kulob/Kulyab airport (UTKD) due to low fuel
- low fuel first reported 1405 UTC
- first engine flamout 1419 UTC
- second engine flameout 1429 UTC
- loss of contact at 1430 UTC, bearing 110 from UTKD at 57 kilometers distance (which would place it 200 km N/NW from the Zebak area reported)
- onboard 4 crew + 4 pax (in addition to the first 2 reported also 2 doctors)
- reported registration is RA-09011

Not reported, but some googling reveals the aircraft was "exported to Turkey" on Sep 20th, 2023 (registration N17CQ was cancelled on that date) so some funky business with the registration as CN-TKN should not have been a valid registration for this aircraft.

D.

Would refueling even be possible in Afghanistan? Maybe the plane was being stretched to take it all the way to a suitable fueling location.

There are unconfirmed reports that Talib SAR found the aircraft and there are survivors.

Four people have been found injured but alive, according to Russia's aviation authority, citing information from the embassy in Afghanistan, the fate of the others on board is still to be confirmed.

Wow - imagine low fuel warnings, followed by flames outs, having to fly it to the ground the best you can, then perhaps living!?

Guardian report
 

It is a bit sketchy but what is known so far - the passengers were not the owners of this aircraft, it was chartered commercially for medivac. The aircraft is not under AOC therefore it is illegal for them to operate commercially. The crew have flown positioning from Moscow to Utapao (2 pilots) on 18 hours duty. They had about 6-7 hours rest/stop in Thailand before departing back with a tech stops in Gaya and next one was supposed to be Tashkent (TAS). I have no idea of Falcon 10 range/performance but it is believed they ran out of fuel due to headwinds. With accidents like this one it is unlikely that something else will pop up which will change the picture considerably.

No, it was subsequently on the US register for over a year before going to Russia.

According Aviaforum.ru (basically the Russian and CIS PPrune), a renowned user has just posted (using my google translator)»»»

"The plane that crashed yesterday after two engines failed in Afghanistan was flown by pilots Dmitry Belyakov and Arkady Grachev. The first was 41 years old, the second - 42. The other two people listed as crew members were previously doctors who accompanied the sick Anna Evsyukova and her husband Anatoly during transportation from Pattaya (Utopao) to Moscow (Zhukovsky). It was a registered ambulance flight, but in fact it was a commercial flight. However, both pilots only had private pilot certificates, meaning they could not fly commercial flights. These certificates were issued to them by the North-West Territorial Administration of the Federal Air Transport Agency in September 2023. Dmitry Belyakov has a total flight time of 2.4 thousand hours, while Arkady Grachev has only 870 hours. On the Falcon 10, the pilots had minimal flying experience. Both trained for this type of aircraft only last year. The FlightSafety International training center issued them with a document confirming their training for this business jet in May 2023. The operator of the business jet that crashed in Afghanistan, Athletic Group LLC, did not have any certificates for flights. According to the Rosaviatsiya website, the company did not have certificates for commercial air transportation, aviation work, or a general aviation operator’s certificate. Accordingly, she could not operate commercial flights. Permission to fly the Falcon 10 was issued as a non-commercial one. The flight was declared empty, with no passengers or luggage, and only two pilots. Previously, air transportation of a married couple and doctors was illegal. PS: So you don’t even have to wait for Monday."

You can also see there some actual pics of this Falcon already with the russian reg RA- as well the takeoff video from a nearby Moscow aerodrome to destination Thailand two days ago.

This was at most about 1100nmi from Gaya and the plane has a range of 1500-1600nmi (with reserves, I believe). If it was just range reduction due to headwinds I'd think they'd have known well beforehand that they weren't getting to Tashkent. I wonder if it would have been legally or practically possible to refuel in Islamabad, since their fuel situation ought to have been apparent by that point.

Apparently the main plan was Utapao-Gaya-Dushanbe-Zhukovksky, and then the last leg was supposed to be Dushanbe-Zhukovsky non-stop; wich Falcon 10 seems (acc Dassault) the range for that leg its almost unable to do without breaking some rules.
So, running out of fuel, trying to beat headwinds to make it to first Dushanbe, and then to divert apparently to Kulob/Kulyab.
I keep my suspicions if they were indeed found alive, wich we all hope so...

That plane was a really nice DA-10, I looked at purchasing it some time back. The equipment in it was modernised. The DA-10 is many things, it is not however known for its extensive range, and the suggested route appears to be an impressive effort. If indeed both engines "failed" in flight, then I would be surprised if there was any "fire risk" at impact.

Shame, the DA-10 is a particularly nice example of Dassault's design prowess.

You get what you pay for as far as the operational competency is concerned.

Just ran a flight plan on the leg VEGY-UTDD, and it was marginal at all conditions due to the average HWC of 100KTS. Marginal, but not impossible, just needed full tanks and no alternate, and to fly range. The wind gradient on that leg is such that going lower doesn't lose much range, if any, so long as the aircraft is operated at LRC and not just at MCT or M080 or above.

Would be surprised if there was 8-POB, 6 would be a full load with any medical equipment and a stretcher in place. The aircraft did have a lifeport system back when, before the Moroccans sold it or leased it to... wherever it has ended up.

Sanctions
 

So Russians are buying N reg planes and using US companies for training (Flight Safety is owned by Berkshire Hathaway). How is Russian money paying for this?