Russian plane disappears in demonstration flight in Indonesia

[pnosko74]

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Russia's newest civilian airliner disappeared Wednesday from radar screens during a half-hour demonstration flight in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, state-run RIA Novosti news service reported.

There were 44 passengers on board.

The plane went missing at about 2 p.m. in the area of Bogor, West Java, Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan told Metro TV.

The pilots requested permission to descend from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet, air traffic controllers said. After that, all radio contact was lost.

The plane began making its descent but vanished from radar screens at 6,200 feet in a mountainous area.

By the time the plane was due to return it should have burned up its fuel, RIA Novosti said.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 airplane arrived in Jakarta as part of a demonstration tour of six Asian countries. It had been to Myanmar, Pakistan and Kazakhstan, and was due to visit Laos and Vietnam after Indonesia, RIA Novosti said.

Sukhoi manufactures military aircraft and is known especially for its fighter jets. Its civilian aircraft is narrow-bodied with a dual-class cabin that can transport 100 passengers over regional routes. It flew its maiden flight in 2008.

In March, a Superjet 100 operated by Russia's Aeroflot Airlines was forced to abandon its flight to Astrakhan, Russia, and return to Moscow because of problems with the undercarriage, according to RIA Novosti.

A similar defect in another Aeroflot-operated Superjet 100 plane had to be fixed in Minsk in December.

Russia's state-run United Aircraft Corp. said the defect did not affect passenger safety.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/09/world/asia/indonesia-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[swiftus27]

I was just about to post it.

Uh oh...

starting to sound like it hit a mountain

[juanchopancho]

Yeah it sounds like CFIT

[swiftus27]

its been 6 hours...  either they've found a crashed plane or aliens got to them.

Could this be a squawk 7500?

This is the end of the Super Jet unless they discover what's wrong with it.

[alexgv1]

Part of me hopes there is some mechanical failure involved and not just pilot error. It doesn't add up to that, given the conditions.

Either way, I guess this isn't helping their sales pitch 

[swiftus27]

Either way, I guess this isn't helping their sales pitch 

... especially when the sales and purchasing people were aboard...

[alexgv1]

... especially when the sales and purchasing people were aboard...

BOOM! He went there 

Too early?

[swiftus27]

Seriously... they can't find the plane?  What happened to this a/c?

[Gleipner]

Heard something about bad weather over there, reminder the C130 that hit a mountain in Sweden some months ago took them a couple of days to find that one as well.

Lets hope it's a squawk 7500 situation and not CFIT. Better not be mechanical failure, nice to see something new over Europe.

[swiftus27]

I wouldnt fly below the highest peak in the area unless there was an ILS beam at the end of it.

[alexgv1]

I wouldnt fly below the highest peak in the area unless there was an ILS beam at the end of it.

It's Indonesia... most airports are non-precision approaches in mountainous regions with a monsoon climate, onto a runway in worse condition than our roads with farm animals on it (coming from a Lion Air F/O). I think CFIT would be more appropriate explanation in the regional airports but I find it hard to believe it would happen in the day time at the main airport, which has a CATI ILS on both runways (don't know if the pilots chose to use it) and MSA of 2000' coming over sea or 4500' over land (i.e. not that mountainous terrain). If this was a demonstration flight then these would have been some of the most capable pilots available to the company. Therefore I find it hard to believe CFIT in this case. Although I love the look of the SSJ and I hope to see and fly it some day, we will have to wait for the facts of the investigation, assuming the wreckage is found.

[swiftus27]

CFIT.  Damn.  And with that dies Russian aviation.

[michael]

http://www.smh.com.au/world/indonesians-find-wreckage-of-missing-russian-plane-20120510-1ydw4.html

wreckage found..

[Dave4468]

CFIT.  Damn.  And with that dies Russian aviation.

Does it? Comet's literally fell apart in the sky, the British aviation industry kept going after that.

[Jona L.]

Does it? Comet's literally fell apart in the sky, the British aviation industry kept going after that.

Yeah, but British aviation industry supplied other planes as well, and also they supply quality... for Russian industry you may have multiple companies, but none of them actually builds an aircraft of quality.

I am however sad for the loss of life, no matter what it was caused by.

[swiftus27]

Does it? Comet's literally fell apart in the sky, the British aviation industry kept going after that.

Big difference 60 years ago when they were flying.  And did they ever recover?  Boeing captured the skies with a less efficient 707.  BAC failed on the Trident (Boeing owned with the 727).  The VC10 was largely unordered.  Tell me which British a/c has really thrived since then?  It took the merger with Airbus before british aviation moved forward again.

This plane is built for a smaller niche market.  Its basically made to be a 'london city' type plane somewhere between a 737/320 and a crj/erj.  They can't afford much bad press after the undercarriage issue and now this.    A cockpit recorder will probably hear "terrain terrain" or "sink rate" hopefully as they slammed into a mountain 400 feet below their newly assigned altitude

[ArcherII]

Well, an A320 crashed during a show in front of thousands of people right at the beginning of its service life and a great majority where skeptical about it. I don't think the A320 crash put Airbus 6 feet under.

[swiftus27]

Well, an A320 crashed during a show in front of thousands of people right at the beginning of its service life and a great majority where skeptical about it. I don't think the A320 crash put Airbus 6 feet under.

A square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn't necessarily a square.

You simply can not compare these scenarios.  Airbus had a good track record, governments giving crazy loan terms/subsidies to prospective buyers....   Name the last truly successful Russian/Soviet aircraft??

[alexgv1]

Airbus didn't have a good track record back then (this was the 80s), it was their second plane after the A300... that's the plane that they then built their industry and reputation on.

[juanchopancho]

My gut says this was most likely pilot error. Either way it is only speculation, it will be a year before we know what really happened. I highly doubt it was a technical problem but more likely Russian pilots being Russian pilots. Thought they were good enjoying the scenery aks for a lower level, they didn't declare a mayday, found themselves in some clouds and whamo! Complacency in a region they didn't know well.