Afriqiyah Airbus 330 Crash
 

Heard reports that an Afriqiyah Airbus 330 crashed just short of Rwy 09 in TIP.

Hope that there are survivors.

Confirmed.
Rumored to be flight 8U 771

BBC World Service confirming the above.
105 on board including 11 crew.

Hllt 120720 Vrb02kt 3000 Br Few006 Bkn100 22/18 Q1009
Hllt 120650 Vrb02kt 3000 Br Few006 Bkn100 21/18 Q1009
Hllt 120630z 19004kt 090v240 3000 Br Bkn003 21/18 Q1009
Hllt 120620 Vrb03kt 2000 Br Bkn003 20/18 Q1009
Hllt 120550 00000kt 2000 Br Bkn003 19/18 Q1009
Hllt 120520z Vrb03kt 2000 Br Bkn003 19/17 Q1009
Hllt 120450z 26007kt 2000 Br Few003 19/17 Q1009
Hllt 120425z 27008kt 2000 Br Nsc 19/17 Q1009
Hllt 120420z 27007kt 5000 Br Nsc 19/17 Q1009
Hllt 120350z Vrb01kt 6000 Nsc 19/17 Q1008
Hllt 120250z 35003kt 6000 Skc 19/17 Q1008
Hllt Nil

not good news :(

http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8676758.stm

Libya plane crash 'kills all 105 on board'

A commercial passenger plane has crashed in Libya, killing all 105 people on board, airport officials say.

The Afriqiyah Airways flight from Johannesburg had been due to land at 0610 local (0410 GMT), they said. The plane crashed close to the airport.

The 94 passengers on board the Airbus 330 are believed to be of various nationalities, including British and South African.

The 11 crew were all thought to be Libyan nationals, an employee said.

The plane had been due to go on to Heathrow airport after stopping in Tripoli.


The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says it was not clear whether the plane was on the runway when it crashed, but she says that people she spoke to at the airport said they could not see the plane.

Ambulances have been going back and forth to the airport, our correspondent says.

She adds that the weather has been sunny and clear over the past few days.

Official statement on Afriqiyah Airways website says 93 pax, 11 crew - no details given re survivors

Afriqiyah Flight 771 crash

Dutch news source claims a Dutch 8 y/o child has survived the crash:

Ruim 100 doden bij vliegtuigongeluk Tripoli | nu.nl/buitenland | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl

translation by Google:

Google Translate

There are unconfirmed reports on another site of at least one survivor - rumoured to be a child from the Netherlands .

NOS Nieuws - Ruim honderd doden bij vliegramp in Tripoli

this one refers to the one survivor too. It comes from press agency AFP

AFP.com - International News, Photos, Videos, Graphics, World

Libyan Civil Aviation Authorities have been warned officially by EASA on falling below all acceptable standards.
This includes safety oversight on its operators (a.o. Afriqiyah) and their own organization.

Most likely the Libyans will now blame non Libyans, preferably Westerners, for this disaster.

Runway 09 is served by a VOR and an NDB approach...the NDB approach being the more accurately aligned with the runway.
In addition, patchy ground fog is quite common early in the morning during certain times of the year in TIP.
ATC services...poor, at best.
Weather reporting...likewise.

At the time, weather was on minimuns, 09 in use, aircraft landed ahead and aircrft behind went around, landed 27 right on minimun. 09 has vor and ndb approach only. Aircraft was heard to be going around. Sad day for all. Thoughts and prayers to families.

It seems that there are 2 survivors

9 year old girl survived
 

According to rtlnews.de a 9 year old girl from the Netherlands has survived and the plane was fully destroyed by explosion when landing

According to bild.de it was a 8-9 year old boy who survived, and the plane "crashed just a meter from the runway"

Flight was carrying on to LGW...not LHR as above

If reported time correct, accident happened one minute before sea level sunrise. With airport slightly higher, the approach would have involved transitioning between sunlit and shaded airspace. Visibility reports suggest dusty/hazy conditions rather than fog (it is the middle of the sandstorm season), with nighttime visibility 6000-5000m, dropping to 2000m (and staying there) after sunrise. Sunlit dust may produce whiteout conditions, even if reported ground visibility may have been 5000m, the sunlit part of the approach would have been flown virtually blind, at that time these conditions would have persisted almost till touchdown.

Several past TIP approach CFIT events skip to mind.

Indeed RWY09 badly designed non precision approaches (both of them). Afriqiyah's inexperienced crews. Experienced crews initially were all hired expats. Libyan pilots did not fly for decades during embargo and most of them did not get tested, got their way paid through their type ratings which they after failing multiple times barely made. Now they think they can fly but see what happens in a little reduced visibility, sad.
Add to that, the long-time continuous strange habit of Tripoli TWR who want the pilots to confirm "runway in sight" before giving landing clearance (even in 0 vis!) This might interfere decision for G/Arr.

I guess Airbus will sadly get the official blame in Libya as self criticism is non existing and that's the end of the story for them.

WASP9 wrote: I think this is a pretty inappropriate comment to make.

I think this was a comment made by someone who knows the Libyans pretty well, regardless how inappropriate it may have been...