Air Niugini Aircraft crash, Truk Lagoon

[armchairpilot94116]

Originally Posted by EEngr

TV news has shown footage from the navy divers (same ones first on scene) diving on the fuselage 70 feet underwater. They were the ones who recovered the one fatality as well.

I thought they went in to the aircraft while it was still floating and made a sweep to check for passengers. Where was this passenger? How come he was missed?

[robmckenna]

Checkpoint on Radio NZ today interviewed the passenger Bill Jaynes, Editor of the local Kaselehlie Press. He made the following observations regarding the landing and the misinformation being published: "...I could see the truck stop, dock, which is about a mile and half away [on the Port side of the aircraft], it was not raining, as the pilot claims, and every passenger and every rescuer will tell you that, and my thought as I was watching the vapour trails off the wing as we descended was, usually when we are this low we are on the runway but that's not happened, and then we were in the water. But I didn't know we were in the water, My personal opinion and the opinion of many of the passengers I have talked to is: Pilot error, he was too low, and at the last moment he made the most of a bad situation that perhaps he had created..."

[SnowFella]

Looking at the video's of when they got there the fuselage was already partially submerged so there's a chance the victim was already under water when before they arrived. Be pretty dark and hard to see down the back so rather hard even for a UTC diver without gear to check every seat by hand while the thing rather quickly is sinking.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by armchairpilot94116

I thought they went in to the aircraft while it was still floating and made a sweep to check for passengers. Where was this passenger? How come he was missed?

Missing PX passenger found dead

"Local Chuukese video blogger Matthew Colson reported last night that the Federated States of Micronesia police yesterday confirmed that the man had died.

Mr Colson, said to be an American Baptist pastor, who is fluent in the Chuuk local language, has been credited with reporting live from the crash scene.

He said the FSM police had confirmed the details with him. He reported that body of the man was recovered from the sunken plane. It was believed the man was trapped somewhere in the back section of the plane and he was reportedly still alive when the evacuation took place.

US Navy divers posted a video showing some of their personnel entering the plane after the crash but it seemed they did not venture into the aft section of the Boeing 737 800 jetliner."

[Slow and curious]

If he was still alive when they evacuated, he must have been unconscious.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by Slow and curious

If he was still alive when they evacuated, he must have been unconscious.

Or incapacitated and overlooked.

[LeadSled]

Folks,
A statement of the bleeding obvious, perhaps, but Lady Luck played a big part.
If the aircraft had landed short closer to the runway, and hit something a lot harder than the water, the outcome might have been very different.
Tootle pip!!

[portmanteau]

Air Nuigini's site reporting today that body was recovered from the area around the aircraft.

[readywhenreaching]

Airline confirms passenger was found inside the aircraft

This is the 1st ever fatality for Air Niugini in 45 years of flying. A remarkable safety record.

[gulliBell]

"Plans are underway for recover the black box from the submerged airplane. The FSM investigator in change said Papua New Guinea’s Aircraft Incident Commission has offered to assist FSM in downloading, decoding and analyzing the data from the black box once it is extracted from the airplane."

I wonder if that offer was accepted.

[portmanteau]

readywhenreaching: That's only what the headline writer wrote. Re-read it to see what the airline actually said ( from which it could be inferred that the discovery could have been inside or outside the aircraft). Never place any credence on headlines only.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by portmanteau

readywhenreaching: That's only what the headline writer wrote. Re-read it to see what the airline actually said ( from which it could be inferred that the discovery could have been inside or outside the aircraft). Never place any credence on headlines only.

If he had made it out of the aircraft, the chances of him having drowned in sight of all the rescuers seem fairly remote.

[harrryw]

Originally Posted by readywhenreaching

Airline confirms passenger was found inside the aircraft

This is the 1st ever fatality for Air Niugini in 45 years of flying. A remarkable safety record.

Amazing considering the terrain and weather conditions there and the get there atitiude that at least used to exist there that there were not more.. I have not been there for 40 years but as a passenger there were times it was a good thing the bar at Jacksons was close to the airport. (or the aero club one.)

[double_barrel]

Actually, I don't see any unambiguous reports that the body was found inside the aircraft, and I read somewhere* that the person was found in the water outside the aircraft and that they had been seen to board a rescue boat.

*sorry, can't find it now

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by double_barrel

Actually, I don't see any unambiguous reports that the body was found inside the aircraft

Link to such a report, albeit unconfirmed, in post #145

and I read somewhere* that the person was found in the water outside the aircraft and that they had been seen to board a rescue boat.

Those reports now appear to have been premature. It's hard to believe that he made it as far as a rescue boat and then fell overboard without anyone noticing.

[Shaman]

Originally Posted by robmckenna

Checkpoint on Radio NZ today interviewed the passenger Bill Jaynes, Editor of the local Kaselehlie Press. He made the following observations regarding the landing and the misinformation being published: "...I could see the truck stop, dock, which is about a mile and half away [on the Port side of the aircraft],..."

So, he says that the truck stop and the dock could be seen out of a LHS window; this should enable those who know this airport to conclude whether the approach was on to RW 04 or RW 22.

[red.sky@night]

Originally Posted by robmckenna

Checkpoint on Radio NZ today interviewed the passenger Bill Jaynes,......."

https://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ckpt/c..._found-128.mp3

[pattern_is_full]

Originally Posted by Shaman

So, he says that the truck stop and the dock could be seen out of a LHS window; this should enable those who know this airport to conclude whether the approach was on to RW 04 or RW 22.

Well, that's - entertaining! The Truk Stop (not truck - Truk is the former name of Chuuk) is a hotel, and it and the dock are close together south of the approach end to rwy 4.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/We...!4d151.8584892

But if the aircraft was still airborne - and they were visible off the left or port side, the plane had already missed the airport altogether - an overshoot of 22, not an overrun.

Unless one assumes Mr. Jaynes got his left and right confused in the heat of the moment.

[fdr]

Originally Posted by robmckenna

Checkpoint on Radio NZ today interviewed the passenger Bill Jaynes, Editor of the local Kaselehlie Press. He made the following observations regarding the landing and the misinformation being published: "...I could see the truck stop, dock, which is about a mile and half away [on the Port side of the aircraft], it was not raining, as the pilot claims, and every passenger and every rescuer will tell you that, and my thought as I was watching the vapour trails off the wing as we descended was, usually when we are this low we are on the runway but that's not happened, and then we were in the water. But I didn't know we were in the water, My personal opinion and the opinion of many of the passengers I have talked to is: Pilot error, he was too low, and at the last moment he made the most of a bad situation that perhaps he had created..."

The eyewitness account appears to be from a person who knows Weno well. If so, then looking out the "left" side of descending aircraft, which then you note apparently obvious landmarks placing the aircraft beyond the airport and still descending towards the water (you can see 1.5 miles, vs water immediately out your window) would probably have led to the realisation that they were about to go swimming. LEFT=RIGHT?

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by pattern_is_full

Well, that's - entertaining! The Truk Stop (not truck - Truk is the former name of Chuuk) is a hotel, and it and the dock are close together south of the approach end to rwy 4.

But if the aircraft was still airborne - and they were visible off the left or port side, the plane had already missed the airport altogether - an overshoot of 22, not an overrun.

Unless one assumes Mr. Jaynes got his left and right confused in the heat of the moment.