BREAKING NEWS Pakistan Plane Crash 152 on board

JUST BREAKING: An “Airblue” Airlines flight with 152 on board has just crashed outside of Islamabad - check back for updates

google.com/hostednews/ap/art … AD9H7S8104

UPDATE #1 : The aircraft was an A320 that originated in Turkey. “Airblue” is the second largest carrier in Pakistan. Crash site is a remote location. Aerial images show little left of the aircraft.

**UPDATE #**2 Flight was from Karachi to Islamabad - initial reports that it originated in Turkey have not been confirmed. Weather may have played a factor as hills shrouded in fog - this is the monsoon season. First responders have recovered 5 bodies so far

UPDATE #3 unconfirmed reports that 5 injured passengers have been rescued : huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/2 … 61637.html

UDPATE #4 Authorities now say that there are no survivors among the 152 passengers and crew. Two Americans are among the dead. The Aircraft is an A321 not 320 as earlier reported.

dunyanews.tv/newsite/live_st … ive_tv.php ‘live’ streaming video from crash site . . .

Airblue Airbus A321 flight ED 202 registration AP-BJB Jetphotos AP-BJB

Monsoon rains, limited visibility, crashed in hilly wooded area 10 kilometers from Islamabad Airport.

146 passengers, 6 crew.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airblue_Flight_202

Witnesses described the plane as being lower than it should have been.

The accident aircraft was an Airbus A321-200 with registration AP-BJB and Manufacturer’s Serial Number 1218, built in 2000. This was the first fatal crash for the A321, and the second hull-loss of the type. The aircraft had originally been delivered to Aero Lloyd and used by Aero Flight before being taken up by Airblue in 2006. It had accumulated approximately 34,000 flight hours in some 13,500 flights.

A previous incident to AP-BJB occured on 30 December 2008 when the aircraft was on an international scheduled passenger flight from Islamabad to Manchester, United Kingdom via Trabzon, Turkey. On Approach to Trabzon, it was struck by lightning which caused damage to the aircraft’s electrical systems. A successful emergency landing was made at Trabzon.

The METAR in force at the time of the accident was OPRN 280300Z 05016KT 2000 RA FEW015ST SCT040 BKN100 FEW030TCU 24/23 1006.5=.

Would the 2000 be in meters or feet?

That would be feet.

For confirmation on ‘feet’, go to Click Here then enter airport code; OPRN, then click Metars, and check raw data, and then translated.

SkyNews UK story and video - reporting no survivors.

:cry: Man. . .

Actually Rob, I think it is meters based on what you provide (GREAT link BTW). Note highlighed from the translation.

2000 feet would be about 1/4 mile visibility in rain. (rounded) if it was feet.

METAR text: OPRN 280300Z 05016KT 2000 RA FEW015ST SCT040 BKN100 FEW030TCU 24/23 1006.5
Conditions at: OPRN (ISLAMABAD (CIV/M, PK) observed 0300 UTC 28 July 2010
Temperature: 24.0C (75F)
Dewpoint: 23.0C (73F) [RH = 94%]
Pressure (altimeter): missing
Winds: from the NE (50 degrees) at 18 MPH (16 knots; 8.3 m/s)
**Visibility: 1.24 miles (2.00 km) **
Ceiling: 10000 feet AGL
Clouds: scattered clouds at 4000 feet AGL
broken clouds at 10000 feet AGL
few clouds at 3000 feet AGL
Weather: RA (rain)

When in doubt, climb? :open_mouth:

Always better to double check!!!

Might be RVR? hard to tell with that metar. Maybe John can pipe in

It’s feet. The only places that actually uses the metric system in their altitudes are central/eastern portions of Russia, Mongolia, and parts of China.

EDIT:

RVRs would generally be indicated with the R in front of the runway with the number of feet visible. And I am wrong. This is in meters, not feet:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METAR#Inte … ETAR_codes

Their example with LBBG has ‘1400’ listed. That would be the ‘2000’ here, and listed in meters.

BL.

EDIT - BL clarified…

Vis is given in meters in that area.
Altitude is in feet.

So it’s 2000 meters, a bit more than one mile vis.