737 Crash in Russia
 

Sky News reporting that a Boeing 737 carrying 82 passengers and 5 crew has crashed near Russia's city of Perm in the central Ural mountains.

Early reports on BBC world news state that the aircraft involved was a Aeroflot 737. Reports also that all 87 on board perished.

From RussiaToday : News : Plane crash claims 87 lives
September 14, 2008, 5:09 Plane crash claims 87 lives

More than 87 people have been killed in a plane crash near Perm in central Russia. Boeing 737 belonging was traveling from Moscow. 82 passengers and 5 crew members were on board. Seven children are thought to have been among the passengers. Emergency services say no one survived the crash.

The Boeing 737 aircraft was on a flight operated by Aeroflot Nord, an Aeroflot subsidiary company.

Emergency services say the plane was approaching its destination at an altitude of 1,800 meters when communication was lost.

The aircraft fell in wasteland and caught fire.

Going on an assumption here but if its SU821 the Aeroflot website claims
"In flight
Estimated landing time: 05:03 "

So at 0646 local time now that is not a good sign.

BBConline
 

BBC NEWS | Europe | Passenger plane crashes in Russia

Russian news agencies also say it was flight 821. Contact was lost when a/c was at height 1800m.
Addendum: According to RIA Novosti, the plane tried to do an emergency landing (ekstrennaja posadka), it came down near an industrial area in the vicinity of Perm.

Most recent reports state the possible casualties at 88 as per manifested pax / crew.

Involved is 737-500 VP-BKO according to local source
/A


http://www.avsim.su/forum/uploads/mo...1221349103.jpg

From Yahoo News:

Plane crash in central Russia kills all 88 aboard
9 mins ago
MOSCOW – A plane carrying 88 people has crashed in central Russia, killing all on board, an emergency official said Sunday.
The Boeing-737 traveling from Moscow to Perm went down around 3:40 a.m. Sunday, Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said.
The plane, operated by a division of Aeroflot, was on its approach to land in Perm when it crashed into an unpopulated area of the city, she said. A total of 82 passengers, including seven children, and six crew were on board, she said.
She said there was no damage or deaths on the ground and investigators were working to determine what caused the incident.
There was no indication of a terrorist attack, she said.
Perm is about 750 miles east of Moscow.
Perm emergency official Valery Tibunov said in televsied comments that the plane fell onto train tracks just a few dozen meters (yards) from an apartment building.
Russia and the other former Soviet republics have some the world's worst air traffic safety records, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Experts have blamed weak government controls, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality among many carriers that affects safety.
Sunday's crash was the second involving a Boeing 737 in the former Soviet Union in the past month. A Boeing flying from the Central Asian nation of Kyrgystan to Iran crashed shortly after takeoff on Aug. 24, killing 56 people.

It is Aeroflot-Nord (Aeroflor subsidiary out of Archangelsk). The plane only delivered to them in May, until then flew with Air China.

Ria Novosti reports:

According to security officials, the plane caught fire in the air and "blew up". A member of the police in Perm said, that the cause for the accident may be a non-functional and burning engine. Contact to plane was lost at 3:10 Moscow time (5:10 local time), when it was at a height of 1800 meter.

Experts speculating:=----I hear the whistle of the BS train:*

Time for a PpruNe accident investigation :zzz:

Lester:E


PS.
my heart goes out to the victims and their families:(--a plane crash is always a sad and tragic event---- therefore I hope some restraint can be shown here so that we can gather the truth and prevent another occurrence

PA

VP-B Registration?
 

If the aircraft has a VP-Bxx registration, does that mean it is registered in Bermuda? or is it a special Russian registration? Not related to the occurrence, just curious.

Thanks,

gearguy

VP-Bxx registries
 

It appears that the Russian Republic refrains from registering "western build" airplanes with its national RA-xxxxx type registry. I do not know the status of VP-BKO, which is probably leased by Aeroflot.
xxx
By the way, Aeroflot North is not a subsidiary... It is a "directorate" of Aeroflot, as Aeroflot domestic structure consists of separate regional "directorates" which are based in various Russian cities.
xxx
A few years ago (2005) I ferried as captain, the first 4 "TransAero" 747-200s from USA storage to Moscow Domodedovo. These airplanes were ferried (and now operate) with a Bermuda registry VP-Bxx, and their status is "leased" to TransAero, a Russian charter airline.
xxx
:)
Happy contrails

...tried to land along the railway track??? :ooh: - hard to imagine indeed.

this is the bird
 

OK Farrell, this is a not-so-fine looking picture of the airplane.
Do you have any smart jokes on that?

http://i38.tinypic.com/25am1rq.jpg

88 onboard that lost their lives, 9 Azerbadjizani, 1 French, 1 German, 1 Italian,
1 Latvian, 67 Russian, 1 Swiss, 1 Turkish, 5 Ukrainan and 1 US.
According to Swedish media.

VP-B Registrations.
 

More of a Tax, Over Sight and Lease issue than anything else. Also a lot of EI Registrations in the region for the same reason.