An Air India plane arriving from Dubai crashed Saturday morning after it overshot a runway while trying to land in southern India, and officials feared as many as 160 people on board were killed.
Television images showed smoke rising from the aircraft at the airport in the city of Mangalore as rescuers struggled to reach those inside.
MUMBAI, India, Jan. 11, 2006 – At a signing ceremony held today at Air India’s headquarters, Boeing [NYSE: BA] Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Alan Mulally and Air India Chairman and Managing Director V. Thulasidas formally announced an order agreement for 68 airplanes. The order, placed with Boeing in December 2005, is valued at more than $11 billion at list prices. It is the single largest commercial airplane order in India’s civil aviation history. Air India’s order consists of 23 777s (top and second from top) -15 777-300ERs (Extended Range) and eight 777-200LR (Longer Range) Worldliners - and 27 787-8 Dreamliners (bottom). Air India Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India, will receive 18 Next-Generation 737-800s (second from bottom).
I also saw the footage of the 747 landing accompanied by a huge fireball however Air India has confirmed it was a 737-800 operated by Air India Express
"Air India said the plane was a Boeing (BA.N) 737-800, with 166 people on board, including six crew members. Earlier estimates of the number of people on the plane had varied slightly.
Air India Express is a budget airline ran by state-run carrier AI.UL
“At least 160 passengers have died in the crash,” V.S. Acharya, home minister of the southern state of Karnataka, told reporters. “At least five to six people have been taken to hospital, their condition is not known.”
Pre-monsoon rains over the past two days caused low visibility in the area, officials said.
The airport’s location, on a plateau surrounded by hills, made it difficult for the firefighters to reach the scene Saturday, officials said. Aviation experts said Bajpe airport’s “tabletop” runway, which ends in a valley, makes a bad crash inevitable if a plane overshoots it.
After everyone got their crash souvenirs the public was asked to leave the area. Two men were arrested after a fight broke out about who got to take the black box home.
Seeing as the aircraft crash type (i.e. airline, general aviation, military/government) isn’t indicated, it’s actually more than that. There were over a dozen crashes in the USA of general aviation in the past week alone.
As I said in some other recent thread, very recent, major, newsworthy crashes seem to come in threes. That is the theory, I know it doesn’t hold water but it does seem to happen from time to time.
May 22, India
May 12, Afriqiya
April 10, Polish Presidents crash.
Then a break to Jan 15 Ethiopian in Beirut, before that:
2009
June 1, June 30, July 15
As I said, I don’t really buy it but 3 in a 6 to 8 week period…
Man!
