BAKHTIYAR chaudry:

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Lets not rush into conclussions and wait for official report

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That is a reasonable position for a crash in a Western democracy. However, it doesn’t work very well for aircraft crashes in Tripoli or Islamabad. (two relatively recent crashes with a very high interest factor.) All we derive from the crashes are innuendo. So speculation is the order of the day for third world airline crashes.

To use a metaphor: what is fair for the goose is fair for the gander.

Useless advice
 

Pakistan does not issue accident reports, so the advice from the old PIA captain was the usual trash to be expected from them.

And any accident investigation from such places as Libya, Congo, Egypt, Yemen, or the like results in a whitewash favouring the locals...let's be straight about such matters instead of pc.

Tony_Wheeler, interesting blog, sounds like a real dodgy place to either fly or walk down the street with a camara in hand. I certainly wouldn't risk it. You take too many unneccessary risks mate. So what did it feel like to fly in a 46 year old airliner ? What nationality were the crew ? The owner is definately Greek with a name like Stavros Papaioannou.

Stavros Papaioannou is indeed Cypriot.

Having seen the state of a 727 from the DRC, I would not even take a Euro Millions winning ticket to fly in one.. They are rot boxes, ill maintained and illegally modified in some cases.. End of. Any westerner flying one must be desperate for work indeed to do so.

That's why they are banned from EU.

I will ask, but it is a possibility.

Probably just needlessly stirring the pot, but the plane DID make the flight and apparently crashed on approach, so the possibility of non-mechanical factors is certainly still entertained.

laus donanda ubicumque merita
and all that sort of thing...

Alber Ratman

I will put money on, that it was not mechanical failure that was the cause of this accident.

The chances of pilot error/misjudgement in the prevailing conditions are at the top of my list.

Pilot error/misjudgement will never ever be eliminated, anywhere.

A picture from a year ago. Then it looked not too bad...

http://www.airliners.net/FC_nowm.fil...hoN2o2cXdlcnR5

Couldn't wind shear be the cause of this accident? Not sure if that falls into the category of pilot error or not. 727s have been in several high profile wind shear crashes in the past -- most notably Eastern Airlines flight 66 in 1975.

Diamond Bob, it could be one or several of many factors. Neither you nor I nor the rest of the PPRuNer world will know until the accident has been thoroughly investigated by EXPERTS in the field of accident investigation and their report is published. Whether that will actually happen in the DR of Congo is another question!

Apparently he is Cypriot, according to a pilot friend of mine, but he cannot ever remember him having lived here.

I have made no reason to imply that this accident was due to technical failure as it propably was not. However I bet if you knew what the corrosion you find on frames of this age operating in this country, you would think twice about flying them.. The maintenance practices there are bad. Thats why EASA doesn't allow them to operate in European airspace, even sometimes on one way trips for heavy maintenance. Maybe the operations regime, training and other factors are not quite as good as you find in Europe too. :E

I agree with d.Bob...I have worked in the REPUBLIC of the Congo, not the DRC...
(and Angola and Cameroon)

I along with several other PPruners had a great time in Pointe Noir..You cry-babies who have never been there, or think we only go to places in the 3rd world for the money, you may be right...On the other hand, Africa is a lot like Alaska...A pilot goes there and it gets in one's blood. They never come back...

Africa presents many challenges for the Captain, the situation or country, SAFETY starts at home...

I've had some interesting moments working in Africa, but nothing ever came close to me fearing for my safety or wellbeing...

(Except for those 3 days ion Chad, but that's a whole different story...)

Indeed.

Flying in Africa can be great, often in challenging circumstances, but you need to keep a good lookout for your own bad habits as well as the stupidity of others who try to kill you with every idiocy from overloading to dangerous cargo. Regulation and enforcement vary between lax and non-existant so nobody is going to report you for busting minimums.
You are responsible for your own safety so just dont do it.

The loading idiots WILL put the heaviest pallet on last, just inside the door at the back, because there are too idle to push it forward. There will be bags that you battle to lift and babies big enough to grow a beard.

But you take it all in your stride, refuse to depart until it is all properly sorted, get a reputation for being an awkward nuisance, and SURVIVE.

The pay is crap, the hotels are worse, but you love every minute.

STAVROS
 

From what I recall Stavros was born in the Belgian Congo to Greek parents..........I stand to be corrected.
BTW he is an accomplished pilot and earned his wings the hard way.

As I ve posted in the african forum, the ATCcos seem to be arrested in Kisangani, I ve been informed from their colleagues in Kinshasa app, on strike this morning...
but I don t know anything about their real responsabilities in the crash...let s wait

Was - he died in 2009 (see the history of his Cypriot furniture company)