HZ-FAB A320 Possible Missile Attack Saudi Arabia

[Airbubba]

An apparent attack on A320 HZ-FAB by Houthi militia units after landing in Abha, Saudi Arabia.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/969x541/hz_fab_88e54c82f9d170a0996916b2c095999e0301df5d.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/983x538/hz_fab_2_0aa8ba42d4795ed45d6a5c255b896e41b6830281.jpg

Alekhbariya News on Twitter: "Video | The first pictures of the attempt to target civilians, from the #Houthi militia, at #Abha Airport #EKHNews_EN https://t.co/bMI98rnOi7" / Twitter

[Porto Pete]

What systems run through that area of the fuselage?

[DaveReidUK]

Airbubba

Conflicting reports suggest hit while parked.

[Nil by mouth]

I read about this earlier today but it was described as a fire
https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2021/02/10/breaking-news-civilian-plane-attacked-by-houthi-rebels-in-saudi-arabia/

[INSCRINIUM]

RT reporting drones carrying IEDs flown into the airport zone, suggesting HZ-FAB was on the ground when damaged...

[Airbubba]

DaveReidUK
Nil by mouth
INSCRINIUM

Thanks for the updates. :ok: I'm sure some of the confusion comes from translation. It looks like the plane came in from Dammam, Saudi Arabia at around 0930Z. Some reports say it was hit on the runway but that could be the taxiway or ramp. Were the pax onboard or was it parked empty on a turn with possibly some crew onboard? I doubt that the fuel truck in the picture was hooked up after the attack. But, having flown in the Kingdom, I'm not sure.

[Romasik]

Taking into account a connected fuel truck most probably it was hit at the stand. And with absence of passengers talking about it - with no passengers on board.

[Non Linear Gear]

Bang going into the airframe. Metal bent in. That is bang. Someone is nuts enough to attack an aircraft in that place. I wonder why?

[fdr]

​​​​​​There is no fragmentation penetration, just a localised overpressure. Fairly small device.

I'm thinking... this is not explosive, To fracture the skin, and fold it back, takes some force, but the markings around the area don't tie in with an explosive focal point. T-Bar may well be right about the ramp rash on this one.

[Cubs2jets]

IMO they do NOT look like two pictures of the same hole. The shape of the holes appear to be different.

[Winemaker]

No, I think it's the same hole, just at a different angle. There is a 90° sharp edge in the upper right in both photos, and the other edges seem to match if you incorporate a rotation in the view.

[jolihokistix]

Contains photos of what is left of the 'drones' on the tarmac.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1806911/saudi-arabia
Similar here:
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/10/Saudi-Arabia-says-Houthi-drone-used-in-Abha-airport-attack-a-replica-of-Iranian-UAV

[metro301]

fdr;

Not Ramp Rash... Puncture from a winged UAV that did not detonate or only partially detonated. Same type of UAV that has been used for years in the local area.

[jolihokistix]

Flying tin-opener more like.

[Nil by mouth]

Wild and inaccurate reporting aside, it looks like a fairly simple repair to get that A/C airworthy again?

[Non Linear Gear]

Can you do structural repairs? It is a BMS repair drawing. With the area of damage, a reskin is the safer option on the stress side of things. Because I would not CRS it. The repair has to survive the XXXXX number of cycles. It is not "Do a Trip"

[jimjim1]

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x671/a74d4ea6_923e_431d_b857_8fb0b69edd7a_d1484fb014fe6a843bfc910 093d760ad9c788d26.jpg


An image grab taken from undated footage aired by Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) televison on April 28, 2019, shows an alleged Iranian Revolutionary Guards' drone, named Ababil III, taking off from an undisclosed location.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x507/69da4ea8_bbe2_4ba7_806a_37c84c4408ff_39e3a1776131664e459823d 4479bc32265a36bee.jpg

[DuncanDoenitz]

Nil by mouth

Actually a quite extensive repair from the photos.

Replace fuselage pod, booms empennage, gear, ailerons. Then there's the engine overhaul and a new prop.

[metro301]

Don`t forget avionics. Might run upwards of $500USD total and a week in the shop.

[ATC Watcher]

What is a bit frightening with this info is:
1) how cheap and crude you can today make an effective ground to air weapon delivering an explosive charge..
2) This time it was against a parked aircraft with impact velocity in the 60 Kts range I am guessing . Now imagine the same impact and subsequent explosion with an aircraft doing 2 or 300 Kts
The only good news is that to catch a 300Kts moving object with a 60 Kts drone you can only do this opposite to each other , and will need very serious skills by the drone pilot that I doubts those idiots have.,

[INSCRINIUM]

If the history of warfare has taught us anything, it's that any sufficiently large population will contain individuals at the tail of the bell curve for smarts, out of the box thinking and technical brilliance.

The big challenge is for those people to be recognised, brought along and their insights acted upon. AQ was a good example of this (9/11 in particular). The Houthi insurgency? Who knows (but the Iranians are no slouchs, that's for sure...).

The enemy are not idiots (usually). Cemeteries are overflowing with those who underestimated the opposition...

[fdr]

fdr;

Not Ramp Rash... Puncture from a winged UAV that did not detonate or only partially detonated. Same type of UAV that has been used for years in the local area.

You are right. It is a bunch of weird markings though, without central foci, so there probably wasn't much of note in the way of an explosive charge, it looks like it is mainly kinetic., with a very small charge if any.

Against a cost of 200m/day for prosecuting the war, a small bit of gear like this looks pretty asymmetric and cost-effective as a strategic response. The volume that has to be defended is quite large and is only good against control systems that require video or external flight control and are not programmed to a GPS location. There are systems being developed in various countries, but it is still a problem for defenses. These are not sophisticated devices; if they become sophisticated, they will be a major irritant. Being unsophisticated, the defensive problem is only considerable, if it gets more advanced, then the issue will become a major burden to the receiving team.

[jmelson]

The volume that has to be defended is quite large and is only good against control systems that require video or external flight control and are not programmed to a GPS location.
Either the people who sent this got incredibly lucky, or they had real-time video from the drone, to steer it to a target. Anybody know? If they had real-time video, then the controller/pilot must have been close to the airport. At least, I don't THINK they have satellite links on these things.