TU154 out of Sochi is missing.
 

Russian military TU154 is missing after departing Sochi.

Said to be army plane with 70-100 souls on board, including musicians. Some info that they were on a flight to Latakia, Syria.

Russian military plane disappears from radar after takeoff near Sochi

Updated 12:22 AM ET, Sun December 25, 2016


(CNN)A Russian military plane carrying 83 passengers and eight crew members disappeared from radar Sunday morning after taking off near Sochi, a Defense Ministry spokesman told the RIA Novosti news agency.


A Russian military plane has disappeared from radar just minutes after take-off from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, local media have said.
They quoted a source at the emergency ministry as saying the missing aircraft was a Tu-154.
The country's defence ministry later confirmed its plane was missing, adding that 91 people were on board, Russia's news agencies said.
Unconfirmed reports said the plane was flying to Syria's Latakia province.
Interfax news agency reports quoted the emergency ministry source as saying the plane disappeared from radar 20 minutes after taking off from Sochi's Adler airport at 05:20 local time (02:20 GMT).
The aircraft went missing as it was manoeuvring over Russia's territorial waters, the source added.
Local news agencies later quoted Russia's defence ministry as saying that 83 passengers and eight crew were on board the plane.
Reports suggest a military music band and reporters were among those on board the aircraft.
A search operation was now under way, Russia's state-run Rossiya24 TV channel said.

The plane made a refueling stop in Sochi. Flight originated from a military airport near Moscow.

Russian Defence Ministry reporting debris found in the Black Sea.

Location appears not far from Armavia A320 crash in 2006.

This will likely mark the longest ever gap between TU-154 fatalities since its introduction in 1972 at almost six years (previously no more than three up to 2011).

And for six years the Russians have refused to return the wreckage of the Polish Airforce Tu-154.

Musicians aboard were from the Alexandrov Ensemble - aka the Red Army Choir. Due to entertain troops in Syria.
Russian military plane crashes in Black Sea near Sochi - BBC News

Eh. Tu-154 is notorious for it tendency to a stall and immediate transition to flat-spin afterwards.
And here we have fully loaded plane at low attitude and above treacherous coastline waters. It was almost certainly microburst or something.
To put an act of terror into consideration would be clearly exotic, is not Europe there you know.

If Da'esh PR read PPRUNE, they'll be busy editing the claim video right this moment ;)

Grauniad has this:
and I wouldn't be surprised.
The '154 apparently has a reputation of being a reliable aircraft, but the ones still flying are old & weary, and ru.mil kit tends to suffer from lack of maintenance across the board.

Airplane was 33 y.o.

LIVE: Tu-154 plane craches near Sochi en route to Syria
December 25, 2016 Gleb Fedorov, RBTH, TASS
LIVE: Tu-154 plane craches near Sochi en route to Syria | Russia Beyond The Headlines


Video of the same Tu-154 5 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzyU...ature=youtu.be

Photo of crashed Russian #Tu154 plane
RA-85572 - Russia - Air Force Tupolev Tu-154B-2 at Chkalovsky | Photo ID 752826 | Airplane-Pictures.net

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Not the same plane CHG1, the one doing the dance on the sky was 88563, the one which was lost now is 88672.

Surprising that it was a B2, I thought those had been grounded and only M variants still flying. But this B2 even had the new livery.

The world is a poorer place this morning. Anyone who's ever played Tetris will be familiar with the work of the Alexandrov Ensemble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBeeVKhPHE

Recorded ATC of this flight from engine start approval till the end.

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/ur...2016-0200Z.mp3

12:29 Moscow time: The Tu-154 plane that crashed off the Black Sea coast near Sochi on Sunday was manufactured more than 30 years ago and underwent scheduled maintenance this September, and was flown by an experienced pilot, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

"The Tu-154 plane of the military and transport aviation of Russia’s Defense Ministry was flown by experienced pilot Roman Volkov," the ministry said in a statement. Volkov is class 1 pilot who had more than 3,000 hours of flight.

The Tu-154 plane was manufactured in 1983 and had 6,689 hours of flight. "The last repair was on December 29, 2014, and in September 2016 it underwent scheduled maintenance," the ministry said.

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http://rbth.com/politics_and_society...i-coast_667721

Alexandrov Ensemble (Red Army Choir) - Whole Concert
Published on Feb 20, 2014
Ensemble Concert at the House of Music in 2009.
Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army - A.V. Alexandrov.
Chief conductor and artistic director - People's Artist of Russia, Professor Igor Raevskii.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ria6UZbSg

Thanks Kulverstukas.

Hope someone can do a transcript in English... don't understand enough to make head or toe of it. But it does sound like routine traffic until they start calling him quite urgently.

Which again makes us wonder if it was not a bomb onboard :(

Im wondering why they stopped in Sochi? While i dont know the 154 well, wouldnt it have the range to fly to Syria from Moscow ? maybe someone could enlighten me

We can't really say this or anything else with the facts we have now. Therefore it would be helpful to know what this ATC tape really says after the take off.

Fuel stop is what the consensus seems to be. Planned stop.

Disaster. They are all muscovites and could have flown by ordinary passenger airline to Damascus. Instead of by the centuries old defense ministry jet. It is called Russia army but which army. 9 journalists, 68 Alexandrov army music band, 1 doctor Lisa, Elizabeth Glinka, a very famous good woman. Head of internet based organisation, un-paid, who shout a call to look for lost people. It is called "Lisa Alert" in Russia. That you can shout my relative, a child, a pensioner, an ill person didn't return home, and then there's an internet shout given and locals , from the area,leave beds and go , look! Walk through trains, walk the city, walk, in lines, forest. They found hundreds of people this way - that police couldn't. Mother Theresa and Florince Nightingale combined, that is "Doctor Lisa". Absolutely harmless music band - all of it! must be. And a good heart doctor and woman.


In Syria half the people are lost, must be. That's why she flew, to start a movement there.
and - Christmas carols singing for Christian Syrians and for Russians there. aha.

Alice, in all fairness, this airplane was built in 1984 and had comparatively few flight hours if the numbers are correct. Neither is it centuries old nor are the TU's known for mechanical weaknesses.

Yes it is a disaster, a huge loss for the Russian people and indeed for the world.

But we have to be careful to jump to conclusions. A TU154, even a B2, doesn't fall out of the sky like this without a good reason.

Always a valid concern, but probably not that likely in this case. Would be quite the embarrassment for airport security with a flight like this.

Only 2 minutes after T/O, if stuff hit the fan it's likely there would be no time or spare capacity for a low priority radio contact.

Such a pointless tragedy though. Given Russia's defense budget why are they still flying this stuff in a less than ideal condition.

I was once at a concert of the Alexandrov Choir. Possibly the best concert I have ever been to, and trust me, my regular music is Rock made by men with long hair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85y0A7unMw0
What a loss!

You really dare to write this? The chairman of the Russian Federation Council defense and security committee has ruled it out almost immediately:
:hmm::ugh: So even if the bomb hypothesis were true, that would not be disclosed, I guess.

AN2 Driver, you're right, I haven't considered it's in defense ministry ownership, the airplane, means - wasn't over-used, no regular flights, most likely - was idle most of the time. Even - more mysterious. These days, when Russian Ambassadors got shot out as turkey-s ! I mean - our ambassador in Istanbul, in art gallery opening - can be any thing! But then - as I understand - no one would "plot" mean things for the jet in Sochi - as the fuelling stop over there was un-planned? They changed fuelling location when already in air, because of weather conditions in Mozdok? Who'd "expect" them, in Sochi?

Gosh! Must I prepare my GULAG outfit already?

Alice,

>>They changed fuelling location when already in air, because of weather conditions in Mozdok? Who'd "expect" them, in Sochi?

Oh, interesting. One tidbit of information that if it is correct is interesting to know.

With this kind of thing, speculation will arise almost immediately, that is natural and also well known. On the other hand, we have to realize that expeccially in this day and age, a proper investigation does take time. The first few hours after an accident are always full of misinformation, speculation and other wild guesses, it usually takes a few days before we even start to get an idea what went wrong.

"Don't know" in this situation doesn't sell any papers but it is exactly where we stand at this time. We, and for all proper purposes, and the investigators who start their job now, simply don't know anything else that this airplane crashed for reasons yet to be determined.

Also the original denial of suspicious activity could well be an act of human denial, "it can't happen to us" kind of thing. Understandable and human, I would not put too much importance into that either. We all once thought stuff like this is not possible and had to learn otherwise.

Looks like they have taken fuel in Adler to avoid refueling in Damaskus.

Source? Can you give explanation where this info is came from?

It looks like the airplane disappeared right after takeoff at about 600ft, it never made a contact with approach. They found tiny pieces and bodies scattered 5km over the sea.
Seems they were flying to Syria to celebrate victory over the rebels since they had military orchestra and members of propaganda media on board.

I do believe it could be an explosion, maybe they oveloaded the airplane with firecrakers?

From early morning russian web is swarming with propoganda trolls desperately trying to prove it was not an explosion. Usually it means the opposite:)

NSFW

Video from rescue ship

https://embed.life.ru/video/56a377e5...UwMDB9fQ%3D%3D

Alice and Kulverstukas,

you appear to be in Russia, do you speak Russian, if so, could any of you have a look at the ATC sound file posted earlier and maybe do a transcript? The time of interest is not so much before the departure clearance but from then on. What was said, particularly what was this big conversation about 3-4 minutes after the take off.

ntv.ru says the navigator of the "dancing tupolev" 85563, colonel Aleksandr Petukhov, was a crewmember on the crashed 85572 Ñðåäè æåðòâ êàòàñòðîôû Òó-154 îêàçàëñÿ ÷ëåí ýêèïàæà «òàíöóþùåé „òóøêè“» // ÍÒÂ.Ru
BTW, the 85563 was used on flights to Syria ?????? ??-154 ? ????? . RA-85563 (????????) - ??????? ?????????

What a terrible thing.

The TU-154 - especially a low-cycle mil pony - should be a pretty solid jet. I hope they get to the bottom of it quickly.

Destination was Khmeimim Airbase, not Damascus. They were supposed to make a concert for Russian Air Force and troops based there.

mikeepbc
Join Date: Mar 2009
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ntv.ru says the navigator of the "dancing tupolev" 85563, colonel Aleksandr Petukhov, was a crewmember on the crashed 85572 Ñðåäè æåðòâ êàòàñòðîôû Òó-154 îêàçàëñÿ ÷ëåí ýêèïàæà «òàíöóþùåé „òóøêè“» // ÍÒÂ.Ru
BTW, the 85563 was used on flights to Syria ?????? ??-154 ? ????? . RA-85563 (????????) - ??????? ?????????

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At the end of April 2011 at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow a Tu-154 belonging to the Ministry of Defence almost crashed. The crew under the command of Yuri Rodionov was supposed to deliver the aircraft to the repair plant in Samara, but the aircraft was almost uncontrollable. It was decided to land the plane, but the situation was complicated by strong winds.

The plane swerved in the air in different directions, it looked like it might collapse. However they still managed to land it. No one was hurt. Eyewitnesses filmed the incident on video. The Navigator in the crew was Colonel Alexander Petukhov. His name appears in the list of those who were on board the Tu-154 that crashed in Sochi.

:ooh:

At night over water at rather low altitude it doesn't take much more than one instrument giving wrong indications to get an otherwise perfectly flyable Airliner quickly into the Ground/Water. I wouldn't expect major/structural cause. Chances are Pilot error (conditions potentially conducive to spatial disorientation), Fuel contamination or something electrical/Flight instruments. Will be interesting to see if we will ever get to know the real cause.