PaperTiger, sorry for the confusion, but the very early news reports indicated all passengers having been swept out like the domino theory. Now we know that at least some clung on to webbing, netting, trucks and others. Poor people. What a terrible way to go.

Yeah, but don't they go unconscious at that altitude?

Not meant to be a flippant post, but they had a scene like that in a James Bond movie once. Hanging onto the net behing a C130 (or something similar).

The Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, has been found!
He has taken up a new job under a different name at the Ukraine Defense Ministry.


Full Story

:confused: :confused:

A similar incident took place north of Dubai, five or so years ago. Also an IL76, but a freighter, bound for somewhere north of PAPAR. Clam doors burst and some 4 - 6 tonnes of freight were lost. Can't remeber exactly, but the aircarft departed either SHJ or DXB. The pilot just asked to return due to a tech problem, no emergency declared. One door was blown out and the other was badly bent. The aircraft was some 30 north of Dubai when it happened, so obviously not at any great altitude.

I think it was an IL76 that crashed into the sea just north of Dubai, having taken off from SHJ, no survivors, that would have been about ten years ago.

Congo Accident
 

It's unlikely that the IL-76 had any seats. The "passengers" were most likely sitting on the floor, or on the cargo, or just milling-about in the back.

The African landscape is littered with the wrecage of these old Russian junkers that have been put out to work by the Air Forces of the bankrupt republics of the former Soviet Union to earn hard currencies.

These airplanes are not maintained to any kind of standard and are frequently overloaded. They would not be allowed to operate in any country where they would be subjected to CAA scrutiny.

This story plays out time an again in Africa. Recall the Antonov that crashed into the marketplace in Kinshasa a few years ago.

.dicksynormous , If you go to the french forum, you will note that the first post after the news is : "C'est tout simplement effroyable" ? That's mine, and it clearly means my initial thoughts are not technicals, but human

Re the altitude confusion, since this is a Russian aircraft it's altimeter will be in meters. The news people probably can't get their heads around this.

I wonder if the incident would have increased the nose-up attitude; this would have contributed to passengers gravitating to the back of the plane.

IL76 SEATS
 

IL76 only usually has a few side facing seats like in a Herc.
Crew were obviously strapped in well to this UCA aircraft!
What on earth were so many people doing in a cargo aircraft, so so dangerous but thats' Africa...
They are not built for so many people to be onboard, maybe someone landed on the "door open" handle by accident who knows.

Could have been worse?
 

Don't forget the IL-76 which crashed in Iran last February, allegedly killing 18 crew and 284 of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

Terror in plane as passengers get sucked out

May 11 2003 at 10:41AM




By Sapa-AP


By Eddy Isango

Kinshasa - Some survived by clutching onto military vehicles, others to ladders, but tearing winds and a pressure drop swept scores of people from the open door of an aircraft flying over the Democratic Republic of Congo's jungles, survivors said on Saturday.

Lieutenant Ilunga Mambaza said he clung to a truck, buried in cartons, when the cargo-bay door of a Russian-built aircraft carrying Congolese police and soldiers, and their wives and children, opened late on Thursday.

"When the back door opened, I fell down and lots of boxes covered me," Mambaza, a policeman, said.

"Lots of my colleagues were sucked out by the wind. I don't know how many, because I fainted," said Mambaza, who estimated that about 350 passengers were aboard the cargo plane.

The flight crew returned the plane to Kinshasa after it was stricken about 45 minutes into the flight. Only about 100 returned safely, Mambaza said. Confusion over the death toll persists.

Congolese authorities were trying to verify how many people died after the Ilyushin 76 lost a door at 10 000m in the air over the region near the city of Mbuji-Mayi, en route to the south-eastern city of Lubumbashi.

Two officials at the international airport said that 129 people were feared dead. A third official estimated the casualties were about half that, saying the exact figure might be difficult to determine because of an incomplete manifest.