A321 explosion at Mogadishu
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Pilot was Vladimir Vodopivec (64) from Belgrade, Serbia.
Edited Google translation from very early Serbian media news, here:
EKSKLUZIVNO Srpski pilot spasao putnike posle eksplozije u avionu
EXCLUSIVE Serbian pilot rescued passengers on the plane after the explosion.
Pilot Vladimir Vodopivec (64) from Belgrade has managed this morning to safely lanad the plane with 74 passengers and crew at the airport in Mogadishu in Somalia after an explosion blew off part of the fuselage near the right wing of the aircraft, 'Blic' learns. International media assess that the pilot "did impossible work", because the incident passed without casualties.
- Half an hour after we took off from the airport in Somalia, at 3,300 meters high there was a terrible explosion. Passengers began to cry, and I immediately went back to the airport. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured - says Vladimir Vodopivec.
...
Experienced pilot had similar thoughts.
- I think it was a bomb, but fortunately it did not damage the control system, so I was able to come back and I land at the airport. This had never happened to me. We lost cabin pressure. Thank God everything ended well - said Vodopivec immediately after the incident to his friend.
Vodopivec, born in Belgrade, is an experienced pilot who worked in Yugoslavian and than Serbian JAT, then in "Montenegro Airlines", and in recent years in Africa, as employed in the "Dalo Airlines". Soon, says his friend, he would retire.
Edited Google translation from very early Serbian media news, here:
EKSKLUZIVNO Srpski pilot spasao putnike posle eksplozije u avionu
EXCLUSIVE Serbian pilot rescued passengers on the plane after the explosion.
Pilot Vladimir Vodopivec (64) from Belgrade has managed this morning to safely lanad the plane with 74 passengers and crew at the airport in Mogadishu in Somalia after an explosion blew off part of the fuselage near the right wing of the aircraft, 'Blic' learns. International media assess that the pilot "did impossible work", because the incident passed without casualties.
- Half an hour after we took off from the airport in Somalia, at 3,300 meters high there was a terrible explosion. Passengers began to cry, and I immediately went back to the airport. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured - says Vladimir Vodopivec.
...
Experienced pilot had similar thoughts.
- I think it was a bomb, but fortunately it did not damage the control system, so I was able to come back and I land at the airport. This had never happened to me. We lost cabin pressure. Thank God everything ended well - said Vodopivec immediately after the incident to his friend.
Vodopivec, born in Belgrade, is an experienced pilot who worked in Yugoslavian and than Serbian JAT, then in "Montenegro Airlines", and in recent years in Africa, as employed in the "Dalo Airlines". Soon, says his friend, he would retire.
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Ever since the ill fated Comet series early on, virtually every commercial passenger airplane has been designed with multiple crack stoppers, redundant load paths, etc. IOW the plane does NOT disintegrate like a punctured balloon simply due to overpressure OR a blown out panel/window, etc. And no - gert frobe type in a bond movie will not be squeezed thru a window.
For more details.
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"Somalia's ambassador to the United Nations, Awale Kullane, was on board the plane, Reuters news agency reported. He posted video of the incident on Facebook."
https://youtu.be/jMHWd5Mhh1g
Somalia investigates possible bomb blast on airliner - Al Jazeera English
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It obviously wasnt caused by a bad food fart.
Now,having never flown in and out of there,I guess airlines would stop serving that city/country until proper screening is done?
Now,having never flown in and out of there,I guess airlines would stop serving that city/country until proper screening is done?
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well knowing the Somali aviation authorities, the investigation will take the shape of " nothing happened, move along nothing here to see "
You are spot on about Turkish as I stated earlier. There is a lot more to this that I cant go into.
I do think the international community need to take the lead with this and take a good hard look at procedures in place, security wise and the real reasons behind this.
You are spot on about Turkish as I stated earlier. There is a lot more to this that I cant go into.
I do think the international community need to take the lead with this and take a good hard look at procedures in place, security wise and the real reasons behind this.
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Ever since the ill fated Comet series early on, virtually every commercial passenger airplane has been designed with multiple crack stoppers, redundant load paths, etc. IOW the plane does NOT disintegrate like a punctured balloon simply due to overpressure
Crack stoppers are required to stop a two bay crack (one frame/one stringer lost, two skin panels cracked). Initial damage beyond this might indeed cause full desintegration.
Many major news sites are beginning to accept that beside the two injured passengers, one male passenger in his 50s was lost through the gap, and his body is being brought to Mogadishu.
From the position of the damage it doesn't appear that the device was either at floor level or in an overhead locker, rather at torso level of a seated passenger. This could imply various things, from an deliberately fired explosive hidden on the person of a pax to a grenade accidentally detonated in someone's pocket - and Mog is a place where grenades are routinely carried. None of these obviously lend themselves to being a timed device. The choice of position, right over the wing, the strongest point of any aircraft, also does not indicate a bomber with much clue of optimising his efforts. If you had the gumption to make an explosive belt wouldn't you also know enough to set it off somewhere more vulnerable, or instruct your drone to do so?
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location of explosion
How about, as was suggested for the crash in Egypt, something stuffed in a life jacket pouch under a seat? That's below window level, pretty much at the level of the centre of the hole.
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How about, as was suggested for the crash in Egypt, something stuffed in a life jacket pouch under a seat?
I'm also curious as to how long the aircraft was on the ground prior to departure? Had it night stopped?
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You might notice most of the stains on the outside of the airplane seem to originate from the bottom of the hole then sweep upward along the path of the airflow over the wing. That would suggest to this untrained observer the initial punch through was there, and the balance of the hole might have been simple propagation of the failure. If that's true we can be glad the airplane was still climbing at a relatively low speed -- 350 knot winds could have done some serious peel back of the skin. .
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Damage tolerance and luck
See photo at # 40 for a bit more damage - and many improvements have been made since then in structural analysis. 
Looking at the crack protuding more than one frame forward, this might have already been far beyond the required damage tolerance capability and that crack my have grown up to the door if the fuselage would have been fully pressurized...
Crack stoppers are required to stop a two bay crack (one frame/one stringer lost, two skin panels cracked). Initial damage beyond this might indeed cause full desintegration.
Crack stoppers are required to stop a two bay crack (one frame/one stringer lost, two skin panels cracked). Initial damage beyond this might indeed cause full desintegration.
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Other decompression issues
Interesting article in Seattle Times today
Timeline: 8 emergency landings after explosions, structural damage | The Seattle Times
Originally published February 3, 2016 at 2:22 pmUpdated February 4, 2016 at 6:23 am
Goes on listing other similar incidents
Includes pics of the Hawaii convertible 737
Timeline: 8 emergency landings after explosions, structural damage | The Seattle Times
Originally published February 3, 2016 at 2:22 pmUpdated February 4, 2016 at 6:23 am
A pilot who made an emergency landing in Somalia’s capital after an explosion blew a hole through a jetliner says things would have been much worse had the blast occurred at a higher altitude. That’s because it could have led to explosive decompression on the Daallo Airlines-operated plane, which might have caused more severe structural damage and would have forced a faster descent because of limited supplies of oxygen to the passengers. The pilot said the explosion Tuesday was believed to have been caused by a bomb, but investigators have reached no conclusions. One man was missing but the other 73 passengers got off safely after the Airbus 321 landed.
Includes pics of the Hawaii convertible 737
I agree that the news is touting the pilots words about the luck of the explosion at lower altitude. However I fail to see a structural tie-in with this fact. Simply citing past incidents with different outcomes does not justify a conclusion.
Pressure differentials and blow-down rates need be considered vs structural concerns and routings of critical control cables etc.
I hope that we don't get too deep into this as it only helps the bad guys
Pressure differentials and blow-down rates need be considered vs structural concerns and routings of critical control cables etc.
I hope that we don't get too deep into this as it only helps the bad guys
I hope that we don't get too deep into this as it only helps the bad guys
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I think the pilot & crew deserve congrats - it sounds like a text book handling of a very non-standard occurrence
kept calm, got people away from the damage and landed in one piece
just goes to show good people aren't just with the big airlines......
kept calm, got people away from the damage and landed in one piece
just goes to show good people aren't just with the big airlines......
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Yes, they did a great job. And just look at composition of that group: The flight crew included Serbian pilot, Italian co-pilot, two flight attendants from Greece, two from Kenya and one from Bosnia.
"When we heard a loud bang, the co-pilot went back to the cabin to inspect the damage, and I took over the commands as the procedure demands," the Serbian pilot told AP, adding that the engines and hydraulics functioned normally so he had no problem flying the aircraft back to Mogadishu.
"Smoke came into the cockpit, but it was mostly concentrated in the back of the aircraft," he said by phone. "The stewardesses did a great job calming down the passengers and following the emergency procedure."
Kullane, Somalia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said in a social media post that he "heard a loud noise and couldn't see anything but smoke for a few seconds." When visibility returned, he realized "a chunk" of the plane was missing.
"I think for the first few seconds and minutes ... I was terrified and most people were terrified," he said. "Of course, we give credit to the pilot who landed that plane."
"When we heard a loud bang, the co-pilot went back to the cabin to inspect the damage, and I took over the commands as the procedure demands," the Serbian pilot told AP, adding that the engines and hydraulics functioned normally so he had no problem flying the aircraft back to Mogadishu.
"Smoke came into the cockpit, but it was mostly concentrated in the back of the aircraft," he said by phone. "The stewardesses did a great job calming down the passengers and following the emergency procedure."
Kullane, Somalia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said in a social media post that he "heard a loud noise and couldn't see anything but smoke for a few seconds." When visibility returned, he realized "a chunk" of the plane was missing.
"I think for the first few seconds and minutes ... I was terrified and most people were terrified," he said. "Of course, we give credit to the pilot who landed that plane."