Plane down near Almaty
 

Reuters are reporting a plane with 21 pax/crew has crashed near Almaty in Kazakhstan. No more details yet.

BBG quoting as Scat Airlines.

6 crew, 15 pax

Bombardie CRJ-200
DV 760

Plane was en route to Almaty from Kokshetau and came down near Kyzl Tu according to Reuters. Have no idea how close this is is to Almaty.

WX is very foggy it seems.

Kyzyltu is apparently just 12 clicks north-east of the terminal of Almaty Int. So just before arrival i guess :sad:

Metar: Uaaa 290930z 04002mps 0100 r23r/0150n r23l/0150n fzfg vv001 m01/m01 q1017 882/0150 nosig rmk qbb040
taf: Uaaa 290500z 2906/3006 05005mps 0800 fzfg fu vv003 tx00/2908z tnm04/3001z tempo 2906/2914 0200 vv001 tempo 2914/3006 0200 -sn fzfg vv002

Country or territory: Kazakhstan
Affected area(s): Almaty
Incident: Commercial airline incident


Incident description
A commercial passenger plane carrying 15 passengers and six crew members has crashed near Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty; all those on board have reportedly been killed. The plane, operated by the Kazakhstan-based SCAT airline, is believed to have been en route to Almaty from the northern city of Kokshetau when it crashed near the village of Kyzyl Tu.


Analysis
The cause of the crash is currently unclear; however, reports have suggested that the aircraft was approaching Almaty in low visibility due to fog. Salvage and rescue operations are ongoing at the crash site.

Not a good day for Aviation in KZ. Whilst I understand the reports have not been confirmed I hope they can find survivors...

I used to fly SCAT frequently in the past when I lived in Atyrau, albeit on the company's Antonov's. This has made Mrs Oiler nervous about visiting her parents, in the summer; particularly following last nights 6.3 earthquake in Almaty Oblast.

Sadly, there are people at the scene and it appears there are no survivors. There is a guy quoted as saying the plane just flew into the ground (no explosion, signs of engine failure) and he is blaming the weather, which was indeed foggy.

It appears to be MSN 7413 - flew with Cimber until last year as OY-RJA.

http://static.zakon.kz/img/040575/040575626.JPG

DV 760 KOV-ALA
CRJ 200LR (UP-CJ006) 2000 year, #7413
25707 hours, 22975 landings
Last serv 26/06/2011
Sertified till 20.09.2013

Yet another CFIT on approach by an Eastern Block airline.
There seems to be a culture of busting minimums and get-there-itis.

Commercial pressure, training issues or both ?.

Mrs Oiler wonders if there was any official from Kokshetau Oblast onboard demanding for the pilots to land ? For now we will not know, they should have diverted to Astana

Kaczyński Light?

More info here:
SCAT's Bombardier business jet crashed near Almaty killing 21, including 1 foreigner. Emergencies. Tengrinews.kz

Another sad day....
 

I note that SCAT appears on the EU Commission Blacklist of airlines, current as at 4.12.2012.

It seems that only Air Astana passes muster in terms of acceptable EU levels of air safety within Kazakhstan. This may well be more to the lack of western levels of regulatory oversight (in the US sense of the phrase)

What prospects are there for an unbiased and clear safety led accident investigation as per Annex 13?

Sigh....... yet another crash. I wonder how many smoking holes full of dead bodies will be required before the root causes of these accidents are ever addressed.

Why do they have 3 pilots on a such small jet? What is 3'rd pilot doing during the flight?

Maybe a supervisor or line trainer....

Is the CRJ usually CAT II or III ?

Ours were HGS equipped CatIIIa