Burma military plane carrying 116 goes missing
 

A Burmese military aircraft reportedly carrying more than 100 people has gone missing, officials say.

The army said the plane was flying between Yangon (Rangoon) and the southern city of Myeik. Search and rescue efforts are under way. "Communication was lost suddenly at about 1:35 pm [07:05 GMT] when it reached about 20 miles west of Dawei town," the army said in a statement.

There were 105 passengers and 11 crew on board, an airport source told AFP.

Burma military plane carrying 116 goes missing, says army chief | The Independent

20 minutes - Un avion militaire avec plus de 100 personnes à bord disparaît - Stories

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40188801

The Andaman Sea is getting a reputation.

Shaanxi Y-8. Errrr how can they sqeeze 116 pax inside?

Unconfirmed reports of a few survivors.

BREAKING A Myanmar military plane Shaanxi Y-8 crashed into Andaman Sea | AIRLIVE.net

Seems indeed quiet high load... And did I read 17 crew?

The Y-8 is designed to carry up to 96 fully-equipped soldiers plus crew (about the same as a C-130), so the reported 90 civilians + crew isn't far fetched.

93 dead bodies found, 20 alive. Some still missing.
Pax mostly military but quite a few dependents/family, including children.

Do you have a source for that please?

Source is an army mayor who lost wife and children in this crash.

Thanks, I was hoping for a press source for use in the Wikipedia article. It'll come out in due course.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40197318

German media additionally reports it is now thought that probably no one survived aboard, and mentions monsoon weather conditions.

Beeb is showing 122 SOB.

That becomes a massive lump to control in monsoon weather.

CNN is reporting that wreckage has been found and yet they have a map showing the search area as SE of Yangon abeam Dawei on the track from Myeik to Yangon. Kyauk Ni Maw appears to be a similar distance NW of Yangon i.e. beyond the planned destination.

Wreckage of missing Myanmar military plane found - CNN.com

“The Chinese-made Y-8-200F transport plane lost contact 29 minutes after takeoff while flying at 18,000 feet (5,485 meters) over the Andaman Sea, about 43 miles (70 km) west of the town of Dawei, the military said.”

“The military said the plane was operated by "seasoned pilot" Lieutenant Colonel Nyein Chan with 3,162 flying hours, two co-pilots and a flight engineer.”

“The aircraft, bought in March 2016, had a total of 809 flying hours. It was carrying 2.4 tons of supplies, the military said.”

Bodies, debris from missing army plane pulled from sea off Myanmar | Reuters

Fairly new airframe.

Even if flying as a military op I guess it was fitted by FDR ?

Tail number 5820. One of two. The other Y-8F is tail number 5819.

Tail number 5819 has been seen in BKK on multiple occasions of freight charters.

Thaihawk, What about tail number 5816?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...xi_Y-8_MRD.jpg

Maybe to the operator, but was it secondhand ?

The Shaanxi Y-8 is essentially a 1950s Soviet-era Antonov 12 4-engined turboprop aircraft (same engines and props as the Ilyushin 18), semi-licence manufactured in China. "Semi" because, during the project in the 1960s, Soviet and China fell into disagreement, so some of the aspects were just reverse-engineered from Antonovs the Chinese had in stock. It had a range of initial handling difficulties where the reverse engineering was not quite right. The Chinese enlisted some help from Lockheed to fix the handling issues, although Lockheed mainly wanted to sell the Hercules to China as a replacement. Production, as with some other Chinese-built copies, appears to have been a handful or less per year over a lengthy period.

Appears not to have had any use other than the PLA Air Force and some foreign forces where the Chinese decided to give the aircraft away.