Algerian airliner vanishes over Africa

another missing plane, I wonder what is the real cause of these problems with planes.

Usually it's mundane, Pedro, bad weather or human error. Yesterday's crash in Taiwan appears to be weather-related:

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/story/5-things-know-about-penghu-site-taiwan-plane-crash-20140724

Penghu, a favourite destination for tourists, is the site of Taiwan's deadliest plane crash in 12 years.

A turboprop plane, run by Taiwan-based TransAsia Airways, was heading from Kaohsiung to the island of Makong, but crash-landed in Penghu due to violent weather on July 23. It was carrying 54 passengers and four crew on board. The majority of the passengers on board were Taiwanese. Two were French nationals and one passenger was from Hong Kong. The crash killed a total of 48 people. The crash was the latest in a series of air traffic accidents at the island chain.

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/story/5-things-know-about-penghu-site-taiwan-plane-crash-20140724#sthash.FSQ0JwVG.dpuf

I can safely say that this will never happen to me.

Me niether, Sabot. There was actually a time when I didn't mind flying - back when flying wasn't a total hassle - and then I was on a plane with engine trouble...not one of life's pleasanter feelings. I did fly again after that, but wasn't happy. Now, if I can't get there by road, train or boat, I ain't going.

It's being reported that Fidel Castro's niece was on the flight.

Me neither, Bonny. And I have flown half way round the world in my time, usually pissed. But you always have to fly back again, so any holiday that involved aeroplanes was always ruined.

And No, I don't want to be cured. I would rather have a run in with a Tarantula.

I love flying, but I also adore trains and now one can go right across Europe in one there is really no contest. When I was in the US I did a lot of train travel. You can see so much more of the countries you are passing through than in a tube at 33,000 ft. No contest really. Most times I travel by RV. LL

It's not just the crashing, which seems to happening more and more even without war zones, it's the hassle. Last time I was at Gatwick, there were armed police, etc., on patrol, and that was BEFORE 9/11.

I think I will cherish my memories of flying in civilized times, when seats had ashtrays and you put on your best clothes. Not a tracksuit, ready for combat in case you have to battle the crazy drunk/terrorist.

That's another thing, LL, yes, you get into a tube at one airport, get off at another one - and you have no idea where you've been on the journey. You can't look out the window at the changing scenery, nothing.

Lamplighter wrote:I love flying, but I also adore trains and now one can go right across Europe in one there is really no contest.    When I was in the US I did a lot of train travel.   You can see so much more of the countries you are passing through than in a tube at 33,000 ft.   No contest really.    Most times I travel by RV.   LL

From Europe, LL, you can drive and or train it around most of the norther hemisphere. Technically, that is. There is just that short bit between Russia and Alaska, and you can get a boat for that bit.

How many people have been killed in air crashes this week?

Four hundred plus, I think, Sabot. I actually saw figures for air crashes somewhere or other, and they are getting more frequent. It's still the safest way to travel, but I figure, I can swim, I sure can't fly....

bb1 wrote:Four hundred plus, I think, Sabot. I actually saw figures for air crashes somewhere or other, and they are getting more frequent. It's still the safest way to travel, but I figure, I can swim, I sure can't fly....

Humans can swim, but I have never seen one with wings.   Oh, unless you include angels and devils of course.    LL            

I can barely swim. But there are always Life Jackets.

I don't have much choice as the places I travel to have to be by air. I don't mind flying and have traveled many times around the globe in terms of air miles as that is necessitated by my life.

It is definitely not as pleasurable as it was, as flights are now always full no matter where you travel, even in first class.

More and more airlines are coming into existence in more and more countries as jobs and vacation spots open up there. The skies are so crowded and you can see just how by looking at flight tracker sites.   

However, I always feel so much for the people who are involved in crashes. I regret to say that they may become more frequent with this surge in flights and getting them turned around for the next flight etc. Plus, not all pilots are trained equally well as in earlier times and are too computer reliant. These are such sobering thoughts.

The poor people.....  

Too true, Lily. About pilots.

Whatever happened to the horse and cart?

Sometimes I do wonder what progress is? Is it actually that?

Some people reckon that the peak of human civilization was actually around about 1900. The things that made life pleasanter had been invented - electricity, plumbing, the telegraph and telephone, etc., but the really destructive things hadn't.

The Wright Brothers had barely discovered how to fly when the geniuses started chucking bombs out of the earliest planes, in the course of some Balkan war, I believe?

I found this Bonny as I didn't know the answer. Interesting....


http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1171-did-you-know-the-world-s-first-aerial-bombing-the-battle-of-topolobampo-mexico

about bad weather or human error, what I don´t understand is: if bad weather is in the area of where the airport is located why it is authorized to planes to fly?

human error, don´t they have radars to try to avoid that error of happening?

Pedro Silva wrote:about bad weather or human error, what I don´t understand is: if bad weather is in the area of where the airport is located why it is authorized to planes to fly?

human error, don´t they have radars to try to avoid that error of happening?

Difficult, Pedro. The weather can change within a couple of miles.

Just don't fly, is my advice.

Unfortunately, Pedro, human beings do stupid things. They ignore instrument panels and decide their 'guts' are telling them where they are in the sky. They decide, Oh, I've landed here nine times before in bad weather, it'll be all right on the tenth time.

One plane crashed because the guy filling up the tank had muddled up metric and imperial measure, and had fuelled it with, say, 1000 litres instead of 1000 gallons.

Never underestimate the ability of humans to f*ck up.

Sabot, I understand your words, I agree with it, I also agree with bb1.

Good Heavens! From:

http://news.sky.com/story/1307418/plane-survivor-crawls-out-of-fiery-wreckage

Plane Survivor Crawls Out Of Fiery Wreckage
After the aircraft slams into homes, the woman drags herself out of the wreckage - then calls her dad to come and collect her.

A woman escaped from the fiery wreckage of the TransAsia Airways plane by clambering through a hole in the fuselage - and then phoned her father to come and pick her up.

Hung Yu-ting was one of only 10 survivors when the aircraft crashed into houses near a runway on Taiwan's Penghu islands on Wednesday.

"She called me on the phone to say the plane had crashed and exploded but that she had already crawled out and I should come right away to get her," said Hung Yu-ting's father, who lives a few hundred metres from the crash site.

"When I was halfway there the fire was still really big, but it was smaller when I arrived on the scene," Mr Hung told reporters.

"There were two other injured outside and the first ambulance had already taken away three, including my daughter."

Hung Chang-ming helped rescuers put out the fire and dragged more people from the wrecked plane before later being reunited with his 34-year-old daughter.

She suffered burns to her arms, leg and back during her escape and is recovering in hospital.

Forty-eight people were killed when the twin propeller ATR-72, which had taken off from Taipei, crashed while trying to land in stormy conditions and low visibility.

Astounding that anyone survived this:



Poor woman, bless her for surviving that and phoning her dad.

Wow. Hope she recovers really quickly.

I agree with: "bless her for surviving that and phoning her dad." "Hope she recovers really quickly."